Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional
notes will be found near the end of this ebook.
[Illustration: THE LAST OF THE “LONDON.”]
WRECK
OF
THE “LONDON.”
[Illustration]
_Second Edition--Revised._
LONDON:
S. W. PARTRIDGE, 9, PATERNOSTER ROW.
The Publisher will be glad to receive any additional information from
those who had friends or relatives on board.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY P. 1
CHAPTER II.
THE IRON BEAUTY 5
CHAPTER III.
CAPTAIN MARTIN. 12
CHAPTER IV.
REV. DANIEL JAMES DRAPER 21
CHAPTER V.
THE LIST OF PASSENGERS 36
CHAPTER VI.
THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF DANGER ON THE DEEP 48
CHAPTER VII.
LAST STRUGGLES 57
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ANCHOR WITHIN THE VEIL 63
CHAPTER IX.
LAST WORDS 71
CHAPTER X.
THE LIGHT BEHIND THE CLOUD 84
CHAPTER XI.
THE ESCAPE 90
CHAPTER XII.
THINGS REMEMBERED IN THE STORM 97
APPENDIX 101
[Illustration]
WRECK OF THE “LONDON.”
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
[Illustration]
The opening of the year 1866 will long be memorable for that dismal
series of disasters at sea, which it ushered in with a frequency and
fatality that were truly appalling. The New Year was scarcely fourteen
days old when, from every part of the coast, from north to south, from
east to west, the telegraph flashed the melancholy tidings of ruin
and havoc among the shipping. We heard of ships being dismantled by
the storm, and obliged to put back to port; of others being beaten to
pieces, while their crews, escaping by the lifeboats, performed such
acts of heroism that the seaman’s name was covered with fresh renown.
Since the year 1859 never had such tempests raged, and such deeds of
gallantry been performed.
But disaster seemed indeed to crown disaster, when it was rumoured
that the _London_--one of Messrs. Wigram’s finest vessels, laden with
a valuable cargo, and having, it was first said, more than 300 souls
on board--had foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and that not a soul had
escaped. At first, many positively refused to credit the intelligence
that the noble vessel, which had only a few days left our shores, had
succumbed to the fury of the gale, and gone down a wreck. It seemed
impossible. Relatives and friends were loth to receive the terrible
truth that they had taken a last farewell of many, the grasp of whose
hand they still felt warm within their own, and whose last words of
love and friendship were still ringing in their ears. All were slow
to admit that there was no hope, and there was a general clinging to
the expectation that there had been some mistake. The _London_ might,
perhaps, have been injured by the tempest, and compelled to put back to
port; but that she could have foundered, or even if this calamity had
occurred, that her crew and passengers had been unable to effect their
escape--this indeed seemed almost beyond belief!
Too soon, however, the newspapers brought the sad and affecting story
before the eyes of all, and never did story of shipwreck, however
thrilling, excite a grief more sincere and wide-spread. It needed no
artistic craft to make the story tell, and to take it straight home to
the hearts of unnumbered thousands. “This awful wreck,” said Mr. O’Dowd
in commencing the inquiry directed by the Board of Trade, “has been the
theme of many a pen, and the topic of many a conversation since its
occurrence has been made known. Though the sympathies of our hearts
ought to recognise no grades of social position, nor any distinction of
education and intellect, we yet must feel the pang embittered by the
loss of some of the passengers, with whose names, accomplishments, and
virtues the public are now painfully familiar.”
As, day by day, the harrowing details became more accurate and
complete, the regret became more and more poignant, and almost assumed
a national character. Men soon thought little of the ship, magnificent
though she was, or of the cargo, valuable as that was; both ship and
cargo became insignificant in the presence of the vast sacrifice of
human life by which the wreck of the _London_ had been accompanied.
And then came tales of heroism and self-denial, of a lofty courage
and sweet resignation on the part of her passengers, officers, and
crew, that made it harder still to realize that the men and women who
had been capable of such noble behaviour had been buried beneath the
foaming waves, and that the world now was all the poorer and more
desolate, for their absence from it. Both the pulpit and the press
gave touching and eloquent expression to the grief which prevailed on
every side; and while the mourning relatives of our own land received
every mark of sympathy and consideration, those belonging to the
colonies, and on whom the news will burst like a terrible thunderbolt,
were not forgotten, either in the earnest prayers that were offered on
behalf of the bereaved ones, or in the words of genuine kindness and
commiseration which the knowledge of their heavy loss elicited.
It has been thought that there is much belonging to the Wreck of the
_London_ which entitles it to a more convenient place of record than
the newspaper, and that many, both in England and Australia, will be
glad to possess a simple, connected narrative of the ship’s doings,
and especially of her passengers’ behaviour from the day they left our
shores until the day of their foundering in the Bay of Biscay.
There can be no question that the heroism and piety displayed on the
occasion, demand a most distinguished place in the annals of the brave
and good. Unhappily, shipwrecks of the most disastrous character are
of only too frequent occurrence; but it is seldom that a Message from
the Sea has borne the character of that mysterious and sublime one
which the sinking _London_ wrote ere she went down. Many, too, will
perhaps be glad to possess portraits of those whose names will now be
historical for their behaviour amid the distressing circumstances in
which they were placed.
It is also in the sincere hope of administering some balm of
consolation, however slight, to the hearts of thousands mourning in
our own country and elsewhere, that we would now, avoiding, as far as
possible, technical terms and details, invite the reader’s attention
to the narrative of the Wreck of the _London_, first of all, however,
looking at the ship herself, her Captain, and her list of passengers.
[Illustration]