AT SEA.
Sad and disastrous as were the effects of the blizzard on land on the
night of Monday, March 9th, they were in most cases of a nature more
or less reparable. At sea, however, the case was different, and from
the afternoon of the day on which the storm commenced to the end of the
week wrecks, resulting in the loss of over fifty lives, were strewn
along the coast from Start Point to Falmouth. In most cases, such
was the fury of the gale, but little help could be afforded from the
shore. Generally, to launch a boat or to use a rocket apparatus was
out of the question, and those on the shore, anxious to send help to
the doomed vessels, had great difficulty in escaping from being blown
into the sea. In many instances gallant services were rendered, and
all that courage and self-sacrifice could do with the hope of saving
life was accomplished; but the time was one of no common peril, and on
the Tuesday lives were lost in full view of the cliffs upon the rocky
fringes of which the vessels had been driven.
In Plymouth Sound, and the Hamoaze, well protected as they are from the
gales of winter, much damage was done on Monday night. In addition to
the accident to the _Lion_ and _Implacable_, and the critical position
of the Queen's harbour-master's cutter already briefly described,
the _Julia_, a small coastguard cutter, moored inside Drake's Island,
parted her moorings during the early hours of Tuesday morning, and went
ashore on Bottle Nose, a point eastward of Devil's Point. She was badly
knocked about, but there were no men on board at the time. Whilst the
heavy squalls were on Tuesday morning the _Impregnable_, training-ship
for boys, Captain Harris; the _Cambridge_, gunnery school ship, Captain
Carr, and the _Achilles_, battle ship, all dragged their moorings, but
not to any alarming extent. Staff-Captain Burniston, who, with the
dockyard tugs under his command, was afloat during the whole of Monday
night, and on Tuesday, under very trying circumstances, succeeded in
getting out fresh anchors and hawsers to make the vessels secure for
the night, a course which was wisely adopted, as the hurricane showed
no signs of abating, there being, on the contrary, another great fall
in the barometer. The men who were on board the tugs on Monday night,
speak of the weather as being the worst that they ever experienced, and
the manner in which they did their work under such trying circumstances
was, as was the case so frequently throughout that, and several
succeeding days, most praiseworthy.
Considerable damage was done during Monday night to many of the hookers
belonging to the fishermen of Kingsand and Cawsand. The full force of
the blizzard was experienced in Cawsand Bay, and ten of the hookers
which had been moored up for the night were driven ashore and sunk. The
only boat which rode out the storm was a craft owned by Mr. Andrews
of Cawsand. A pilot boat went ashore in one of the little coves just
south of the coastguard station, and a small fishing vessel was wrecked
close under Lady Emma's Cottage, at Mount Edgcumbe.
The captain of the Norwegian galliot _Falken_, from Shields, with coal
for Portugal which was found on Tuesday off Fowey, by the tug _Belle of
Plymouth_, half full of water, and with her sails blown away, stated
at the time that on Monday his vessel was caught in a kind of small
cyclone, and that whilst about twenty miles south-west of Start Point
he had a strange experience. The vessel was being driven along at a
furious rate by a north-easterly gale, whilst ahead, within sight, a
westerly wind was blowing. This bears out the theory of the cyclone
to some extent, as on other parts of the coast the gale was found
to blow only from the north-east or south-east, in rapid changes.
The Channel was very rough at the time, and the vessel was greatly
endangered. On Tuesday the boats were smashed, and the sails carried
away. Pumps were manned, and kept working so long as the crew could
hold out, the endeavour being to reach one of the ports. It was while
the _Falken_ was in this condition that the _Belle_ came opportunely
to her assistance, and towed her into Plymouth harbour, where she was
laid up alongside Bulteel's Wharf, in the Cattewater, to discharge
her cargo and be repaired. Several of the Lowestoft boats, and other
fishing vessels which had been out in the Channel on the Monday night,
returned to Plymouth on Tuesday, and reported having experienced very
bad weather. The sudden squalls encountered were terrific, and the
oldest fishermen on board declared that they had never experienced
such violent weather on the Devonshire coast.
During the height of the storm the schooner _Alice Brookall_, from
Swansea to Jersey with coals, ran ashore at Mutton Cove, near Godevy
Hayle. She ran so far in that the crew--five in number--managed to
drop from the bowsprit on to the rocks. The poor fellows had to pass
the night exposed to the fury of the storm, with no other protection
than they could mutually afford each other by huddling together. At
daybreak they climbed the cliffs, and managed to reach the shelter
of a farm-house. The vessel soon went to pieces. The schooner
_Perseverance_, of Preston, Dandy, master, from Swansea to Salcombe,
with coals, ran ashore a mile east of Hayle Bar. The crew of four
remained by her during the night, and landed at daybreak. Both vessels
experienced fearful weather on the way down Channel, the sea running
mountains high. No one knew of their position until twenty-four hours
after they struck.
At Exmouth, Dawlish, and Teignmouth, although the force of the wind was
great, and all three towns sustained damage, there were no calamities
at sea. Great injury was done to the pleasure and fishing boats at both
of the latter places, but Teignmouth was not so unfortunate as Dawlish
in this respect. Its harbour is almost land-locked, and from the beach
where the boats are moored, as well as from the quays, the eye glances
north-west and south-west upon a beautiful picture of river scenery,
of which the distant Dartmoor Hills and the Haldon Heights form the
background. The accompanying illustration, from a photograph by Messrs.
Valentine & Son, of Teignmouth, taken during the week of the blizzard,
depicts one part of this scene in as wintry a garb as any it has worn
during the last half century. The village of Shaldon, on the opposite
side of the Teign, lies exposed to a S.E. gale blowing across the
low-lying sands of the Teignmouth "Point," and here the owners of
fishing and other craft had much to lament in the way of destruction to
their floating property.
[Illustration: TEIGNMOUTH JETTY, WITH HALDON HEIGHTS.]
In Torbay a French brig, the _Emilie_, of Cherbourg, was driven ashore
at Hogg's Cove, under Berry Head, at about four o'clock on Tuesday
afternoon. The coastguards and Royal Naval Reserve, under the direction
of Mr. Drayton, chief officer of coastguard, and assisted by a large
number of fishermen, got out the rocket apparatus, and the crew, eight
in number, were quickly landed. They were at once invited to the house
of the Misses Hogg, at Berry Head, and provided with refreshments. The
vessel was badly injured, and became a total wreck.
The ketch _Sunshine_, of Faversham, from London to Exmouth, with
manure, was fallen in with on Thursday at noon, by the Brixham
fishing ketch _Inter-Nos_, Berry Head bearing north-west, and distant
twenty-five miles. She had her mainsail blown away, and her boats
and water-casks washed overboard. When fallen in with, the crew were
without water to drink, and their vessel was labouring heavily in the
trough of the sea. The _Sunshine_ was taken in tow by the _Inter-Nos_,
£250 being agreed upon for the service, and both vessels arrived at
Brixham on the same night. The fishing ketch _Gertrude_ arrived in
Brixham on Thursday, having on her deck the boat of the _Crusader_, of
Aberystwith, which she had picked up in the channel with eight hands on
her, and landed at Falmouth on Friday. The ketch _Annie_ also arrived,
with sails blown away, and her ballast shifted. The _Olive & Mary_ and
the _Pickwick_, ketches, had their sails blown away and their bulwarks
damaged. All the crews described the gale as the heaviest they had
ever been out in, and one skipper stated that he had seen four vessels
founder without being able to render assistance. Later news has not,
however, verified this story.
Some trawlers were reported during the week as missing from Brixham,
but in course of time anxiety on their account was removed, and they
either reached home or news of their safety was received from other
ports to which they had run for shelter. Some Plymouth trawlers were
also in difficulties, and it was feared that they had been wrecked, but
in a few days their whereabouts was ascertained, and it was discovered
that they had escaped with somewhat severe damage.
Start Point was on Monday night and again on the succeeding Tuesday a
scene of some heartrending disasters. Many vessels, including the iron
steamer _Marana_, 1,682 tons register, belonging to Messrs. George Bell
and Co. of Liverpool; and the full-rigged ship _Dryad_, 1,035 tons
register, owned by J. B. Walmsley, of Water Street, Liverpool, were
totally wrecked within a short distance of each other, resulting, it is
calculated, in an aggregate loss of over fifty lives. The _Marana_ left
Victoria Dock, London, at 11 A.M. on Sunday, March 1st, with a crew of
twenty-eight. She was bound for Colombo with a cargo of sleepers, but
was proceeding first to Swansea for coal. Whilst going down Channel
on Monday night she encountered the gale which, charged with blinding
snow, was blowing heavily from the S.E., and struck on the Blackstone
Rock, at Start Point. Seeing that the vessel must go to pieces very
shortly, the officers and crew took to the boats, most of them having
life-belts on. The starboard lifeboat, in charge of the boatswain and
with twenty-two men on board, proceeded in the direction of Prawle
Point, and was almost immediately followed by a smaller boat in which
were the captain, the chief engineer, the mess-room steward, and three
seamen. The latter boat was soon separated from the lifeboat, and was
never seen again. The lifeboat got under the coastguard station at
Prawle, but the appearance of the coast was threatening, and the crew
pushed off again. Almost immediately a sea struck the boat and capsized
her. A bitter struggle for life on the part of the twenty immersed
seamen succeeded, and those who had clung to the boat managed to get
her righted, and clambered on board, but soon after she was again
turned over. Once more she righted, and eventually drifted on to the
Mal Rock to the east of Prawle Point, where the four occupants--all
that remained of the crew of the vessel--contrived to get on to the
rocks.
After a while they climbed the cliff, three of them carrying the fourth
survivor, who was suffering from exhaustion and injuries, and after
heavy toil they managed to get near to Prawle. Here two of the men
agreed to remain with the shipmate, who to all appearance was fast
succumbing to exhaustion, while the other went into the village for
help. The man, like his three surviving comrades, was a Swede, and
consequently unable to make himself understood, but Mr. Perry, Lloyd's
signalman at Prawle, and the coastguardsman on duty, supplied him with
food and clothing, and then went to search for traces of the wreck
which had clearly taken place not far off. It was not until long past
midnight that the mates of the Swede were discovered, and then it was
too late to save the exhausted man, who died almost immediately after
their arrival. The remaining survivors were taken into Prawle, and
under kind treatment soon recovered.
Mrs. Briggs, wife of one of the lighthouse keepers at the Start, says
that she was looking out of her window a little after half-past five
o'clock on Monday evening, when she saw the steamer pass very close
to the east side of Start Point as if she had come out from the bay.
Seeing her great danger, and thinking it was impossible for her to
clear the rocks running off from the Point, she hastened to another
window, from which she had a view of the Blackstone Rocks. She then saw
the steamer broadside on to the rocks. She at once gave an alarm to
Mr. Jones, the head-keeper, who hurried out to give any assistance in
his power, but within a very few minutes the vessel parted in two, the
stern part sinking near the rocks, while the fore part washed away and
sank a short distance to the west of the Start.
Mr. Crickett, chief officer of Coastguards at Hallsands, has stated
that he received intelligence of the casualty at 6·40 P.M. by a
messenger sent by Mr. Jones, of the Start Lighthouse, who said the
vessel had struck the rocks about 500 yards south-east of the Start.
He immediately despatched a messenger to Prawle, a distance of nearly
five miles, for the life-saving apparatus. Another messenger he sent
to Torcross to Mr. Ridge, the chief officer of Coastguards there, and
Mr. Crickett then proceeded to the scene of the wreck, but on arriving,
nothing could be seen of the vessel, as she had totally disappeared,
and she was supposed to have gone to pieces five minutes after she
struck. The coastguard at Hallsands say that they saw the _Marana_
fully an hour before she struck, and she was then near the Skerries
Bank, off the Start, acting in such a manner that they considered her
steering gear was out of order. They saw her come into the bay and
afterwards go out again, and watched her very closely, but they thought
she had gone clear of the Start until they heard otherwise from the
lighthouse-keepers.
John Nelson, one of the survivors, said in the course of his evidence
at the inquest held on the first eight bodies recovered from the
wreck:--"On Monday, 9th inst., I had tea at five o'clock, and went to
my bunk. It was the first mate's watch. As I was turning into my bunk
I heard someone shout out, 'Land right ahead.' It was blowing a bit
stiff in the afternoon at three o'clock, and as the gale increased
the canvas was taken in. The vessel struck almost immediately after I
heard the shout, and the engines were going full-speed at the time. I
came out and stood in the forecastle door. The captain was then on the
bridge. The vessel struck first at the bow. When I came on deck she
struck aft as well, knocking her propeller and rudder away. The captain
then gave the order to get the starboard lifeboat ready for launching.
All the three officers were on the bridge. The wind was blowing hard,
and the waves were dashing all over the ship. It was daylight, but the
Start light was lit. We could see the land plainly enough, although
it was thick with heavy rain. There were two lifeboats, one on each
side of the ship, and two smaller boats. We lowered the lifeboat and
got into it, some 20 or 22 being in it, and got away from the ship on
the starboard side. The boat was in charge of the boatswain, and the
second and third engineers and the chief steward were in the boat. We
left on board the captain, the three mates, the chief engineer, and the
mess-room steward. Just as we were turning to get clear of the rocks,
we looked at the ship, and saw the captain and the others leave in the
other boat on the starboard side. They got safely away from the ship.
After the vessel struck we hoisted a red pennant with a white ball as
a signal of distress. When we got away it was getting dark, and we saw
nothing of the other boat afterwards, but supposed they were following
us. We pulled in shore to a kind of bay, but not thinking it safe to
land, we went out of that. We could see nothing but rocks on our coming
down, and in getting out of the bay our boat capsized. There was a
very heavy sea running up against the rocks. We got hold of the keel
of the boat, some twelve or fourteen of us that remained, and then the
boat turned over again. After that only four or five of us remained
sticking to the boat. We stuck to the boat until she broke up on the
rocks. When I let go the boat I could feel the rocks with my feet, and
I then walked on shore. There were four of us that came on shore, but
I could see nothing of any others. When we got on shore we walked to a
brake and got shelter. We had to help Rasmossen up, as he had no boots
on. He was living half an hour before the coastguards found us, but we
had been on shore a long time before they found us--about five or six
hours."
Many of the bodies of the unfortunate men were washed ashore within a
few days, and not far from the spot where the vessel went down. All
of them were not identified, as the survivors had joined the ship too
recently to be acquainted with all the officers and crew.
Another serious calamity in Start Bay occurred during Monday night,
and not many hours later than the wreck of the _Marana_, when the
ship _Dryad_, bound for Valparaiso, with a crew of 22 hands all
told, went ashore about a mile to the eastward of Start Point. When
the ship went on shore Mr. Hewett, with the life-saving apparatus,
had left Hallsands for Prawle, from whence rumours of disaster had
been brought, and he had got as far as Chevilstone Cross when he was
overtaken by a mounted messenger despatched by the chief officer of
the coastguard at Torcross, who desired him to return to the Start to
the assistance of the _Dryad_. He got to the scene of the wreck at
half-past two in the morning. By that time the vessel had broken up,
all her masts having gone overboard, and but little of her could be
discerned in the darkness. The place where she struck was right under
the high land of the Start where the cliffs are very precipitous. With
regard to this vessel, the coastguardsmen say that they saw no signals
of distress whatever, and it has been considered probable that she was
proceeding with a fair wind down Channel, and no land being visible in
the snow-filled gloom of the night, those on board were unconscious of
their proximity to the land until they found themselves on the rocks.
In this case there was, perhaps, no time to show distress signals, and
the ship may have been some time ashore before she was discovered by
the coastguards.
About midnight on the ninth, the storm was at its height, and all men
of Start Bay agree that they never remember such a violent storm, the
water of the bay being one mass of foam, it being almost impossible
to look to the windward. Mr. Jones, the head keeper of the Star
Lighthouse, says he was standing in the yard by his home a little after
midnight, looking in the direction of the Bay, when he saw right under
the headland, and close to the Start, what he considered to be a ship's
lights. He called the other keepers, and as well as they were able they
got down to the place where they saw the lights. It was at the risk of
their lives that they went down the cliffs, and it was only by holding
on to each other they were prevented from being blown away. When they
got down they could not discover a vestige of anything, neither did
they hear a cry of any sort. The coastguards at Hallsands also saw
lights, and fired off a rocket and burned a blue light to warn the ship
of her danger, but the vessel's lights were only seen a few minutes
before they disappeared.
In spite of all the efforts of those on shore no trace of a ship could
be seen, and it was not until daybreak the next morning that a man
was discovered lying on a low rock, known as John Hatherley's Nose,
some 500 yards from the spot where the _Dryad_ ultimately proved to
have struck. Help was at once sought for, and Mr. Briggs, one of the
keepers, and Mr. Pollyblank, the coastguard, then returned to the rock
with ropes. They threw the rope on to the rocks, which fell only about
a foot away from the sailor. He saw it and then slid down, evidently
with the intention to secure the rope, but he seemed to be afraid,
and instead of slipping on the lower ledge of the rock where the rope
was, he climbed on the top of the rock again, and laid himself flat on
it on his face and hands. He then seemed to lose his hold, and slid
down, holding on to the rocks for several seconds, when he fell head
over heels, and was washed away and drowned. Those trying to rescue
him, seeing how exhausted he was, had fetched a ladder to get to him,
and Mr. Briggs fastened a rope to himself to swim out to him, but in
the meantime he was washed away. He was a young man. Grave doubts
were expressed as to what vessel he came from, for it seems almost
impossible he could have got to the rocks from the _Dryad_; and there
was some wreckage visible near the rocks that did not appear to have
belonged to the _Dryad_. The coastguards at Hallsands said distinctly
that the lights they saw were a steamer's lights, whilst there is no
doubt that the lights the lighthouse-keepers saw were those of the
_Dryad_. Only a piece of the bow of the _Dryad_ was discovered in the
morning, but a large mass of broken wreckage was discovered along the
coast, and tons of it were washed out to sea by the next tide. Eight
bodies were recovered, and friends of those composing the crew of the
_Dryad_ journeyed to Hallsands for the purpose of identifying their
friends or relatives. There were no survivors, and consequently no
details are known, but a statement has been made that the channel pilot
had warned the captain that the ship's compass was two points out.
Whilst Mr. Crickett and some of the coastguards under his charge at
Hallsands were at the Start Point on the night of the 9th, trying
to render assistance to the stranded steamship _Marana_, they saw a
light in the bay, and they answered it by burning a blue light, and
one of the coastguards was sent back to try and discover the place the
light proceeded from. On the remainder of the coastguards returning
to Hallsands shortly after, a light was seen near Beesands, and on
reaching that place they found the schooner _Lunesdale_ stranded.
Mr. Ridge, the chief officer of coastguards stationed at Torcross,
had arrived with some of his men, and they, with the assistance of
the Beesands fishermen, were trying to effect a communication with
the vessel. The captain was in the fore starboard rigging, and the
remainder of the crew, four in number, were in the starboard mizen
rigging. All these men were thus on the weather side of the ship, and
the captain not being so exposed from his position as the others,
succeeded with the utmost difficulty in getting round to the other,
or shore side of the vessel. A fisherman named Roper, of Beesands,
then at the risk of his own life, made a desperate effort to save the
captain. He got a line with a lead attached to it, and threw it close
to the captain's feet, the latter succeeding, after a frantic effort,
to fasten the line to a lifebuoy, and attached himself to it, and was
then safely hauled on shore. The other seamen were not so successful
in changing their positions, and in their endeavours they were washed
away and drowned. All this time the seas were breaking right over the
vessel. The coastguards and fishermen remained by the vessel for nearly
an hour afterwards, shouting to see if they could get any response
from the crew, but getting none, all hope of saving them was given up.
When it was found that the Prawle life-saving apparatus, in charge
of Mr. Hewett, could be of no service to the _Marana_, a message was
left at Start farm for it to be brought on to Beesands to the help of
the _Lunesdale_, but it arrived too late to be of any service. The
_Lunesdale_ was a three-masted schooner of 141 tons register, owned by
Messrs. James Fisher & Sons, of Barrow, and was bound from London to a
Lancashire port.
While efforts were being made at Beesands to save the crew of the
_Lunesdale_, a schooner named _Lizzie Ellen_, 73 tons register, and
belonging to Mr. Samuel Coppack, of Chester, with a cargo of clay from
Charlestown for London, went on shore just opposite Hallsands. In spite
of the tremendous force of the wind and the blinding spray and snow
six fishermen, named T. Trout, George Stone, Robert Trout, James Lynn,
William Mitchell, and John Patey, at the imminent peril of their lives,
made a gallant effort to rescue the crew of the vessel, which consisted
of four hands. With great difficulty, and by the aid of ropes, these
men succeeded in lowering themselves to the bottom of the cliff. By
throwing lines on board the schooner the mate and the third hand were
saved, but the captain and the boy were lost. The captain, Robert Dood,
urged the boy, who was crying bitterly, to jump over into the sea, with
the chance of being drawn on shore, but he could not persuade him to
take the leap. At length the captain jumped himself, but at the wrong
time, and he was carried out by a receding wave. The boy, Frank Davis,
also perished.
For some time after this week of tempest, all along the coast from
Prawle to the Start, could be seen broken wreckage. Such was the fury
of the gale that everything seemed split to matchwood. It is supposed
that other wrecks than those of which some knowledge has been obtained
occurred on this eventful night. Mr. Crickett, a coastguardsman, picked
up on the following Saturday a board bearing the words "Nymph of
T----," it being broken off at the letter T, and it is conjectured that
this may belong to one of the vessels referred to. A painful sequel
to the wreck of the _Marana_ occurred on Wednesday, March 18th, nine
days after the catastrophe. A molecatcher of Prawle found at about
half-past eleven, in a field half a mile from a village named Furze
Brake, and about a quarter of a mile from the sea, the body of a man.
The corpse was lying flat upon its face, and was clothed in an oil-skin
coat in addition to the ordinary kind of seaman's dress. A life-belt
was lying close by, and the locality was not more than a hundred yards
from the spot where the two survivors from the _Marana_ had been found
supporting to the best of their power their dying comrade. Unknown to
the other survivors this man must have succeeded in reaching the shore,
but only to die. Undoubtedly he walked in search of help and shelter
until he sank from exhaustion, and was covered with a fall of snow
thick enough to screen his body from view until a thaw had set in.
The inquests held on the bodies of those unfortunate seamen who lost
their lives in the vicinity of the Start have had the effect of a
communication being made to the Board of Trade as to the necessity
of life-saving apparatus being placed at Hallsands. In the face of
a hurricane of almost unprecedented force, many gallant and eager
attempts were made to save life, but with only a very limited measure
of success, owing as much to the want of suitable appliances as to the
rugged character of the coast, and the merciless fury of the gale.
Along the coast, in the neighbourhood of Falmouth, which from its
exposed position was fully open to the strength of the blizzard, there
were more disastrous wrecks, and here also the loss of life was great.
The most serious calamity occurred at about half-past one on Tuesday
morning, and was that which, at Penare Point, near Helford River,
befell the four-masted steel ship _Bay of Panama_, of London, 2,282
tons register. This vessel, owned by the Bullock's Bay Line, was from
Calcutta, with a cargo of 17,000 bales of jute for Dundee. The captain,
David Wright, of Liverpool, his wife, all but one of the six officers,
four apprentices, and six of the crew, were either frozen to death in
the rigging or drowned. This made a loss of eighteen lives out of a
company of about forty all told.
At the village of St. Keverne, not far from Penare Point, it became
known at about noon on Tuesday that a wreck had occurred at the mouth
of the Helford River, and from there the first news of what had
occurred was conveyed into Falmouth, with great courage, and in the
face of tremendous difficulties, by Mr. J. H. James, of Old Vicarage,
St. Keverne. At one o'clock, Mr. James started on his pony for Helston
in the midst of a terrible snowstorm. His intention was to telegraph to
Falmouth, but all the wires were down, and communication was impossible
except on foot. This he undertook, and by dauntless perseverance at
length accomplished; but his experiences during the journey are among
the most thrilling personal incidents connected with the gale. After
proceeding for about two miles, he could only get along by crawling on
his hands and knees through the snow, and his face had become coated
with snow, and icicles hung from his ears. He at last found shelter
at a wayside cottage, and at daybreak next morning again set out,
reaching Falmouth at 9 o'clock, and giving information to Messrs. Broad
and Sons, who sent out steamers to the scene of the wreck. The _Bay
of Panama_ was discovered with her head to the north, broadside on to
the sea, and jammed under the Nare Head, close against the cliff. Her
mainmast was gone, and the sea was making clean breaches right over her.
Fortunately for the survivors clinging to the stranded ship, before Mr.
James had started on his adventurous journey to Falmouth, on Tuesday
morning, the rocket apparatus, in charge of the coastguard, who were
aroused by Mr. Nicholls, of Penare, had reached the scene from Helford.
The first rocket fired threw a line right over the ship, and within
fifteen minutes the whole of the survivors were safely on shore.
Chief boatman Fisher, of the coastguard, went on board the vessel
after the hands taken off to see if any one was left alive, but his
self-sacrifice was without result. Accounts of survivors, including
those of Mr. Fred Evans, boatswain's mate, Mr. Charles Higgins,
quartermaster, and Mr. Beresford, apprentice, relate that the _Bay of
Panama_ was 111 days from Calcutta when she struck. There had been
forty-two days of severe weather before reaching the western end of
the English Channel, and here severe snowstorms and heavy squalls were
encountered. At half-past eleven on Sunday night they sighted a light,
and being in a position of danger they burned several blue lights, the
captain thinking the light came from a steamer. The vessel was now
drifting to leeward without a stitch of canvas on her, and the captain
soon expressed the opinion that they were to leeward of the Lizard and
clear of all land. At half-past twelve the watch went below, put on
some clean clothes, and got into their bunks. The captain remained on
deck, his wife being in her cabin.
Within an hour from this time the ship struck and began rapidly to
fill. Most of those who had been below went forward, though the
forecastle had been burst in, and was flooded. Seas were breaking
over the vessel, and nearly all the officers were early swept away.
The second officer went to fetch a rocket, and was never seen again.
Attempts were made to get a line on shore, and one seaman is said
to have volunteered to swim the distance, but the former was found
impracticable, and in the latter case the other seamen held their
comrade back. Some of the crew took refuge in the rigging, and at
daybreak the second quartermaster died there, the mate died an hour
after, and the boatswain, in a state of delirium, jumped from the
mizzen-top into the sea and was drowned. Just before six o'clock in the
morning, the after-end of the ship broke in two, the mainmast having
previously fallen. It is said that, at the time the rescuing party
arrived on the scene, six men were frozen in the rigging. The survivors
were taken to St. Keverne Farm, which they reached at half-past ten
on Tuesday morning, and where they were kindly treated. They remained
there until four in the afternoon, when they were conveyed to Gweek
in a 'bus. From here it was absolutely necessary for them to walk to
Falmouth through the snow, and as many of them were thinly clad,
and had no boots, their trials were not over until Falmouth was
reached, where Messrs. Jewell and Burton, and Mr. and Mrs. Weir, of
the Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home, treated them with all the kindness
and attention they so much needed. Most of the bodies from the _Bay of
Panama_ were recovered, that of the Captain's wife having been found
lying on the shore early on the morning of the wreck.
Though this was the most serious wreck near Falmouth, it was far from
being the only one. Reports of wrecks and loss of life continued to be
received for many days following the beginning of the gale on Monday.
Near Porthoustock, on Monday night, the sloop _Dove_, of Topsham, was
lost, but in this case the crew were saved. The _Dove_ left Exmouth
Bight on March 8th, arriving at Plymouth Breakwater early on Monday
morning. Just after daybreak, in company with several other vessels,
she left for Falmouth. There was a strong wind blowing, which, as time
went on, increased with much violence, and was followed by a blinding
snowstorm. The captain and mate of the _Dove_, who were both at the
helm, could, they said afterwards, scarcely see their hands before
them. At about three o'clock in the afternoon the vessel was near the
Manacle Rocks, and off Porthoustock Cove, and here, while in a most
critical situation, the tremendous sea lifted the little craft clean
over the rocks, and she was washed up on the beach. The skipper threw
his little boy overboard, he and his mate following in the same way,
and all were rescued by those persons on shore. Near the same spot, the
ketch _Aquilon_, of Jersey, and the ketch _Edwin_, were reported lost
with all hands.
The steamer _Stannington_, from Newport to Exeter with a cargo of
potatoes, broke her shaft on Monday off the Longships, and was towed
into Falmouth on Wednesday afternoon. The barque _Frith_, of Lorne, 333
tons, from Hamburg to Glasgow, in ballast, was in a critical condition
on Tuesday, about ten miles south of the Lizard. She slipped from the
tug towing her, and was on her beam ends, and fast making water, when
she was picked up by the S.S. _Anglesea_, of Liverpool, and towed into
Falmouth. A German steamer, the _Carl Hirschberg_, from Hamburg to
Cardiff in ballast, drove ashore at Portscatho. The schooner _Agnes and
Helen_, of Beaumaris, went ashore on Tuesday morning in Bream Bay. A
steamship named the _Dundela_, from St. Michael for Hull, with fruit,
was totally wrecked at Portloe, near Falmouth, on Monday night. All the
crew, except a boy named Taylor, who was lost, were brought ashore over
the rocks by the aid of the fishermen and coastguard, who contrived
to get a line from the shore to the vessel. The brig _Crusader_, of
Aberystwith, from Carnarvon, with slate for Hamburg, was abandoned
at one o'clock on Tuesday off Trevose Head, with seven feet of water
in her hold. The _Crusader_ left Carnarvon at nine o'clock on Monday
morning, in fine weather. It remained fine up to six o'clock the same
evening, when severe weather was encountered. At nine o'clock, off the
Bishop, it was blowing a gale, and the brig was fast making water.
The pumps were kept going until one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon,
when it was found impossible to keep the water under. The brig was
therefore abandoned, having seven feet of water in her hold. The
captain and crew, seven all told, took to the boat, in which they were
tossed about for nineteen hours, enduring great privation. The weather
was bitterly cold, and the men were almost frozen. One of the crew,
Thomas Owen, succumbed to his sufferings at four o'clock on Wednesday
morning. "Another two hours in the boat," remarked Captain Williams,
"and we should have all perished." To keep the boat from being swamped,
she rode with sea-anchor out, and everything was thrown overboard,
including spare clothes. At eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, when
thoroughly exhausted, they were fortunately picked up by the fishing
smack _Gertrude_, about thirty miles off the land, and arrived at
Falmouth on the same day. The crew were received at the Sailors' Home.
The crew of the Netherlands barque _Magellan_ were taken into Falmouth
on the evening of Sunday, March 16th, the vessel having foundered on
the previous Thursday in the Channel, in lat. 47·48 N., long. 6·53 W.
A large number of minor accidents at sea occurred on this part of the
coast, and while the Channel outside contained numerous traces of
floating wreckage, disabled vessels of all descriptions were either
being towed or making their way into Falmouth. Rumours of missing
vessels were being continually received, and the time was one of great
anxiety. All the help that could be given was needed for those who
had escaped with their lives, and others who were known to be still
at sea, probably in situations of peril, and this assistance was very
willingly afforded. Most efficient and welcome aid was rendered by the
local Branch of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Aid Society to the distressed
crews. The captain and crew of the _Crusader_ (six men), the crew of
the _Agnes and Helen_, the crew of the _Dungella_ (eleven men), and
the survivors of the crew of the _Bay of Panama_ (sixteen men) were
provided with free railway passes to their several homes, and each man
supplied with food for the journey, by the hon. agent of the society at
that port (Mr. F. H. Earle), who also boarded, lodged, and otherwise
provided for the crews of the two first-named vessels, the men being
more or less destitute. The homes of the men were Bangor, Aberystwith,
and other places in Wales, and London, Liverpool, Hull, and Great
Yarmouth. At a public meeting held in the public hall on Tuesday
evening, many promises for subscriptions towards a fund in aid of the
boatmen were received.
Some dissatisfaction was expressed that during the wrecks at
Porthoustock and Porthalla, on March 9th, when about thirty lives
were lost, no life-boat had been launched, and the National Lifeboat
Institution sent to St. Keverne, about a fortnight after the
occurrence, Commander Biddors, R.N., who made inquiries into the
matter. It appeared on investigation that some of the life-boat crew
did not readily respond to the call signals, their explanation being
that they did not hear or see them. When they arrived at the life-boat
station the storm had increased, and it was dangerous to put to sea.
A proposal for the provision of a smaller life-boat, requiring fewer
oars, has been submitted to the life-boat committee.
Off Scilly, several accidents occurred, but they were neither so
numerous nor attended with the same fatal results as those on the
coast further east. The ketch _Aunt_, Bude, was taken into Plymouth
in a disabled condition, and with only two of the crew that remained
severely ill from frostbites. On Saturday morning, 14th March, when
in latitude 7·20 W., and longitude 48·7 W., about 233 miles S.SW. of
Scilly, the _Astrea_, Captain Burton, sighted the _Aunt_ some miles off
with her sails down and flying a signal of distress. She bore down upon
her, and Captain Burton sent alongside a boat's crew, who found the
captain, H. Hines, and a sailor named Jewett wrapped in the mainsail
in a shocking state, and scarcely able to speak. Their hands and legs
were also so much swollen from frostbites and exposure that they could
not handle anything or lift themselves up or stand. Brandy and medicine
were administered to them, and after a time they sufficiently recovered
to be able to inform their rescuers that the _Aunt_ was ten days out
from Sandersfoot with coals. Four days before a lad named Stapleton had
died from exposure, and his body was thrown overboard.
A serious collision, resulting in the loss of twenty-two lives,
happened during the week of the gale about 140 miles south-west of
Scilly, at 9 o'clock on the evening of Friday the 13th March. Two
vessels, the _Roxburg Castle_, of Newcastle, a steamship of 1,222 tons
register, and the _British Peer_, ship, 1428 tons, came into collision
just as the gale that had been blowing all the week was moderating, and
the steamer was struck with considerable force by the _British Peer_
a little abaft the funnel. She was almost cut in two, and filled so
rapidly that in about ten minutes she sank, losing twenty-two out of a
total of twenty-four hands. As a further result of the collision, the
_British Peer_ had her bows stove in, and carried away her bowsprit,
jibboom, and head gear. The forward bulkhead held good, and kept the
vessel afloat. After the collision nothing could be done to save the
lives of the crew of the _Roxburg Castle_, although their piteous cries
for help were plainly heard on the _British Peer_. Captain Tyrer, a
splendid swimmer, whilst in the water combated the waves, took his
clothes off in the water, and was picked up by the _British Peer_, as
was also one of the seamen, an A.B. The drowned men are reported to
be principally from Newport. After the _Roxburg Castle_ had sunk, the
_British Peer_ was fallen in with, about ninety miles south-west of the
Wolf Rock, by the steamship _Morglay_, of Southampton, Captain Hughes,
from Cardiff to Marseilles, and towed to off the Manacles, where she
was transferred to the tug _Triton_, and taken into Falmouth harbour.
Captain Tyrer was very much knocked about during his swim to the
_British Peer_.
The Hamburg American Company's steamship _Suevia_, 2,440 tons, had a
narrow escape in the Channel on Monday night. The _Suevia_ passed the
Lizard on Monday morning, and there were then evident indications of
a coming storm. At 11 A.M. the wind began to blow heavily from the
north-east, and at 2·30 P.M. it raged with hurricane fury, accompanied
by a blinding snowstorm. The seas ran very high, and the ship laboured
heavily. At about three o'clock, when eight miles east of the Start
Point, the engineer reported that the lower pressure piston rod had
given out, and that in consequence the machinery was disabled. An
endeavour was then made to work the other engine, but unsuccessfully,
and sail was then put on the vessel. By this means she was prevented
from driving ashore during the terrific squalls that were blowing
dead on the land. After a night and day of great danger, a schooner
was sighted on Tuesday afternoon, which the captain of the _Suevia_
considered went down in one of the squalls. On Wednesday the steamer
_Acme_ was fallen in with, and on her the chief officer proceeded
to Falmouth for assistance. During Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,
efforts were made to repair the machinery, and these meeting at last
with some success, by early on Friday the vessel was headed up channel,
and proceeded at a slow pace until the Eddystone was sighted. The
passengers of the _Suevia_ were landed at Plymouth, from whence they
were sent on to Hamburg. The distance the _Suevia_ drifted from the
scene of the accident until Friday at noon was 125 miles, and it was
very fortunate that they were able to keep clear of the coast. Steamers
from Plymouth, London, and Falmouth, the latter with the officer of the
_Suevia_ who had gone on shore for help, were looking for the vessel,
but happily their services were not required. But for the excellent
seamanship and mechanical skill of those on board, another dreadful
calamity would doubtless have been added to the long list already
recorded.