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VESSELS BUILT BY JOHN HARKER'S
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REBUS STONE
KNOTTINGLEY'S MARITIME HISTORY
DISASTERS AT SEA
by RON GOSNEY
| PART ONE
| PART TWO | PART THREE
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HOSTAGES TO FORTUNE
Following on from the previous article regarding the information
to be found in church burial grounds and local cemeteries, these are
some of the newspaper reports often describing incidents at sea in great
detail. It was not unusual for the ship's Master to have his wife and
family on board with him in addition to a compliment of crew. Whilst
operating in the coastal or foreign trade a mariner could be away for
many months, even longer, without returning to his family: and his only
alternative was to take them along with him. When this happened they
were "hostages to fortune" for no one could expect protection from unforeseen
calamities during a voyage.
Goole and Marshland Gazette - 1st November
1866
Schooner 'Cupid'
"Loss of a Goole schooner: The schooner
'Cupid', under the command of Captain Raddings, went ashore on Friday
night 16th November 1866 at Munsley, along with 3 other schooners belonging
Goole, and became a total wreck. The boy was washed overboard before
the vessel struck, and the Captain, Mate, Captains wife and two daughters
took to the rigging, and were there for five hours before they were
rescued by the lifeboat. They have lost everything that they had on
board, for within half an hour of the vessel striking, the cargo of
wheat, and everything she had in her was washed out. The Captain's wife
and daughters were in a pitiable condition, their clothes being nearly
all washed off their backs by the furious seas rushing over them while
in the rigging. The Captain arrived in Goole on Tuesday night having
been sent home by the Shipwrecked Mariners Society. The schooner was
owned by Mr. Charles Ackroyd of Leeds."
Goole and Marshland Gazette - 1st October
1862
Sloop 'Wesleyan'
"On Tuesday, October 21st 1862, the 'Wesleyan'
of Goole, from Portland to London, went down off Newhaven. Captain Green
of Knottingley, the Master of the 'Wesleyan' makes the following statement:
He left Portland on Thursday at about 3 o'clock, and early on Friday
morning experienced very heavy weather, in consequence of which she
sprang a leak. On board were his wife and six children. With his crew
of two men he worked incessantly at the pumps, but the water continued
to gain on them.
In the afternoon she was observed by the crew of the 'Wave' of Colchester,
under the command of Captain Dorman, about five miles to the Westward,
and nine miles S.E. of Newhaven. Perceiving that she was disabled, the
'Wave' ran as near the 'Wesleyan' as she could venture, and finally,
in the face of a sea running mountains high, Dorman the Master of the
'Wave', leaving two men on board his own vessel, launched his own boat,
quite a cockle-shell comparatively speaking, and with three other brave
fellows made for the 'Wesleyan'. The boat was nearly swamped several
times, but at last they managed to get on board, where here a truly
heartrending scene awaited them.
The bulwarks were all gone, the boat was stove in, and the sea was making
a clean sweep over them. The three men were utterly exhausted, and the
poor woman and her six children were sitting huddled together below
in nearly three feet of water which was pouring in from the deck. The
youngest child was only six months old [note: this would have been Abner,
born in April 1862, son of Jonathan Russell and Esther, nee Blackmore,]
and the cries of the poor little creature were so piteous as to unnerve
the strongest man.
Then came the difficult task of getting Mrs Green and the little ones
on board the 'Wave', but this was accomplished, although the boat was
half full of water. Dorman and his men, after working at the pumps for
three quarters of an hour without any diminution of the water in the
hold, abandoned her, and the crew were taken on board the 'Wave'.
In less than five minutes the 'Wesleyan' sank with everything belonging
to the poor creatures, except for the scanty clothes that they stood
upright in.
The 'Wave' beat up into Newhaven harbour, and landed the crew and family,
thus narrowly saved from death."
Sadly not every incident ended so felicitously. Often there was a heavy
loss of life with tragic repercussions for the families involved. However,
not all tragedies occurred far out at sea. In tidal estuaries such as
the Humber, the river, flowing towards the sea, would be met by the
incoming tide resulting in treacherous currents that could be the cause
of many unanticipated catastrophes. Mishaps regularly occurred along
the coast or nearer home, an indication that no stretch of water could
ever be considered safe.
The Times - 26th March 1846, page 6
FATAL SHIPWRECK
Sloop 'Bee'
Brighton, March 25: In The Times of Tuesday
we reported the loss of a sloop, which had foundered about three miles
off Shoreham harbour during the night of Saturday, leaving the mast
above water; and added an expression of our apprehension that the whole
of the crew had been lost, unless taken off by the 'Menai' steamer,
which left harbour for Dieppe at daybreak on Sunday morning. The 'Menai'
returned to Brighton this morning, and we now learn that five lives
were lost when the vessel foundered, and that only one of the hands
escaped, being taken off the rigging as was conjectured. The vessel
turns out to be the 'Bee' of Goole, bound from Portland to London, with
stone for the British Museum. She was a sloop or billy-boy, and had
on board John Johnson of Nottingley, Yorkshire, the captain, his wife,
and their son, a fine boy of eight years of age, William Allwood (the
mate), James Allen Cole (seaman), and Francis Noster (an apprentice).
The Vessel left Portland on Wednesday night, and was off Littlehampton
at 2 o'clock on Saturday. The wind was then blowing a brisk gale, which
increased in strength up to 10 o'clock, when the captain finding himself
to the eastward of Newhaven, stood westward, in order to make Shoreham
harbour. On arriving off the harbour at half-past 1 o'clock in the morning,
he found that there was not enough water to admit the vessel, and he
therefore cast anchor, with an intention of riding out the storm till
day-break. Soon after this, however, he found that the vessel was making
water very fast, and he had just remarked that he must either slip the
chain or get out the boat, when the vessel veered, fell broadside over,
and then gradually filled and went down. The captain and crew were all
engaged with the sails at the moment, and all of them, except the mate,
together with the captain's wife and child, perished. The mate was at
the bowsprit at the moment clearing the jib, and hearing the woman scream,
and feeling the ship to be sinking, he let go of the bowsprit, and as
the vessel grounded in six fathom water, he was carried into the rigging,
and secured himself in the crosstrees. The scream of the wife was the
only sound that met his ears, except the roaring of the wind and water.
For two hours he remained in this perilous situation, when, the tide
rising, the sea began to break over him, and he then mounted to the
topsail yard, till the 'Menai,' on leaving the harbour, sent out her
boat and released him from his perilous situation in a state of almost
exhaustion. He was treated with the greatest kindness by Captain Goodman
during the voyage to Dieppe and back, and a subscription is now being
raised to send him home to Yorkshire. From him we learn that the captain
had another child, four years of age, who, is with its grandmother at
Nottingley, the owner of the vessel.
This was John Johnson baptised 6th August 1815, son of Thomas/Hannah
and his wife Ann Sowersby baptised 5th February 1816, daughter of Martin/Amelia.
They married 20th July 1836 at St. Giles Pontefract, and the son also
lost would be William baptised 9th March 1837 and the other child was
Hannah baptised 2nd March 1841.
The Times - 5th June 1860, page 5
THE RECENT GALE
Schooner 'John'
Shields, Sunday Night: The weather came
on extremely rough again last night, a heavy sea roaring over the bar
of the Tyne, and threatening a second storm. It rained and blew all
last night, and has rained during the whole of to-day, the wind blowing
from the south-east. A number of laden ships sailed yesterday, and seafaring
people were very anxious last night with regard to them. There have
been many arrivals of light vessels to-day. All have got in safe. The
'Mary Muncaster' bark has arrived here to-day from London, in charge
of one of our most experienced captains, Mr. James Turple, an ingenious
inventor of a patent trysail. The 'Mary Muncaster' has brought in with
her the survivors of a schooner 'John' of Goole; the master and his
wife have lost their lives under most affecting circumstances. The 'Mary
Muncaster' left the Thames on Saturday night week, and encountered the
fearful gale of Monday morning between the Dudgeon and Cromer. Mr. Turple
states that the gale came on with immense suddenness and fury, and though
he has been at sea 30 years, and has encountered all kinds of hurricanes
in the China and Indian seas and on the Atlantic, and was out in the
Royal Charter gale last year, he never encountered such a fearful storm
as that of Monday. His vessel was speedily stripped of her sails by
the wind, and so violent was the hurricane that the crew were unable
to work their way up the rigging, and the vessel was taken out of their
hands in the hurricane. While drifting before the storm the 'John' hove
in sight, under balanced reefed mainsail, and, as the crew of the 'Mary
Muncaster' were powerless, the vessels came together. The master and
mate of the 'Mary Muncaster' hauled the mate and two of the crew of
the schooner into their ship; but the master of the schooner, Mr. Rhodes,
lost his life in trying to save his wife, who was on board. He had fastened
a line about his wife, but while the officers of the bark were trying
to haul her on board, the hitch he had made slipped, and she was carried
away by the waves and drowned. Mr Rhodes had fastened a line about himself,
and the mate of the bark was pulling him into his vessel, when the two
ships were suddenly thrown together by a fearful sea, and the poor fellow
was crushed between them, the line slipped from the mate's hands and
he sank. The vessels fortunately shortly after drifted asunder, else
it was thought they must both perish. During the storm the 'Mary Muncaster'
drove on to a sand, and thumped on the ground several times, but the
wind and sea raged so fiercely that she was carried over the sand and
saved. There have been many wet cheeks by the humble hearths of our
harbour towns to-day, as seamen have recounted their merciful deliverance
from death in this fearful storm; and some affecting scenes have been
witnessed as rough and hardy men have appeared at our places of worship
to thank the Almighty for their merciful deliverance from peril and
death.
Goole Weekly Times - 5th November 1880
Schooner 'Jessie'
"At the recent gales there has been a terrible
loss of life connected with Goole. Ten other persons have perished it
is feared with the 'Jessie', a schooner which belonged to Goole, and
was owned by the Captain sailing her. At the time the gale set in, she
was bound for Stockton with a cargo of wheat from Yarmouth. Nothing
has been heard of her, but her boat has been picked up full of water,
but otherwise uninjured off Spurn Point, by some Grimsby fishermen.
It was at a point about 7 miles outside the Spurn Point.
Captain Baldwin had, it is sad to say, his wife and five children with
him. His son was also mate of the vessel, and he is also perished, leaving
behind him a widow and small family. Two other sailors were also on
board."
The family lost, who originated from Knottingley were:
William Baldwin, father, 56, Captain
Hannah Baldwin, mother, 51
Albert Baldwin, son, 23, Mate
Aberner Baldwin, son, 21, Crew
Rachel Baldwin, daughter, 11
William Baldwin, son, 9
Tom Baldwin, son, 7
Lettie Baldwin, daughter , 5
Goole Weekly Times - 5th November 1880
Schooner 'Aguia'
"The schooner 'Aguia' of Goole under the
command of Captain Hargreaves of Knottingley, bound from Poole to Goole
with a cargo of pipeclay, had arrived safely in the Humber, but during
the violent storm of Thursday night (October 1880) she was blown ashore
at Stallingboro with five other vessels.
The mate Henry Lumley, 21 years of age of Goole, the son of the late
Captain John Lumley of Goole, and Mrs Hargreaves the Captain's wife,
were lashed to the rigging, but so violent was the gale that they were
both washed overboard and drowned. The Captain and the cabin boy were
later rescued in a prostrate position. The bodies of the Mate and the
Captain's wife were washed ashore.
The body of Mrs Hargreaves was interred at Stallingboro, and that of
Mr. Lumley brought to Goole on Saturday 30th October, where it was conveyed
to its last resting place in the cemetery on Monday 1st November 1880."
Goole Weekly Times - 9th July 1897
Schooner 'Pearl'
"LOST OFF THE WOLF ROCK
A KNOTTINGLEY SCHOONER SUNK
“On the night of the 5th June, when landsmen
were, or should have been, soundly asleep, a collision occurred off
the Wolf Rock, by St. Agnes, Cornwall, whereby three lives were lost.
The schooner 'Pearl' of Knottingley, was on a voyage from London when
the disaster occurred. At a coroner's inquest held at St. Agnes last
week, Capt. Horsted stated in evidence that although he had three lights
burning and continuously sounded his foghorn when he saw the 'Aral'
approaching, the latter came down at tremendous pace, and literally
cut the 'Pearl' in two. Mrs Horsted and two of the crew were drowned.
Other evidence was given to show that a proper look-out was not being
kept on board the steamer, but David Jenkins, the chief officer, and
other witnesses swore that every precaution was taken to avoid a collision.
The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against Capt. Linnell and
David Jenkins of the 'Aral', and Jenkins was at once arrested. Capt.
Linnell was not present at the inquest, and a warrant was issued for
his arrest.”
“The 'Syren' writes anent this case as follows:- A verdict of manslaughter
has been returned against the master and chief officer of the 'Aral',
a tanker of 2,160 tons net. The 'Aral' ran down the schooner 'Pearl'
off the Wolf Rock, Land's End, and two of the crew and the captain's
wife lost their lives. At this stage of the proceedings it would be
idle to discuss the navigational questions concerned. The atmosphere
was inclined to be foggy, the mist occurring in patches, and it was
on emerging from one of these that the 'Pearl' became visible at a distance
of 150 yards. It was, of course, too late to keep out of her way, and
so she was run down by the steamer and sank almost immediately. The
'Aral' alleges that her side-lights were just lighted when she was first
seen. But this statement is denied. Without, however, going into the
complexities of the case, we are of opinion that it would have been
more in accord with the principles of the administration of justice
had the coroner's court suspended its judgement until such time as a
Board of Trade enquiry court had settled the various navigational questions
upon which the question of culpability hinges. As it is, when the Board
of Trade hold their enquiry the unfortunate master and officer in charge
of the bridge will come before the court practically labelled large
with the intimation that a verdict of manslaughter has already been
recorded against them for an offence which the enquiry court is called
upon to investigate."
The Captain was George Henry Horstead and his wife Betsy Raddings, daughter
of Charles Raddings, and sister of Edward, who was drowned in the Firth
of Forth in 1888.
Ron Gosney
|
PART ONE | PART TWO |
PART THREE |
Also by Ron Gosney:
Christopher Rowbotham & Sons
John Harker Shipyard
Captain George Colverson
|
