Mariners-L Archives

From: "tony dalton" <>
Subject: [Mar] NE Coast Shipwrecks
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 13:46:21 +0000

How about this, then? (It's a bit long, for which I apologise).
.............

NORTH-EAST WRECKS

From The Illustrated London News, February 16th, 1861

On Friday and Saturday, February 8th and 9th, there was a tremendous gale,
and accounts from various parts of the coast show fearful ravages. It was
especially severe on the northeast coast, where several vessels have been
lost.

Accounts from Shields state that about half-past seven, on Saturday morning,
the schooner Fowlis, from Inverness, drove on to the Herd Sand and drifted
against the stones of the South Pier. No less than four lifeboats put out to
the assistance of the crew, and many a gallant struggle was made to get
alongside. The Providence lifeboat was stove in four places, but all proved
ineffectual to get alongside the vessel. It was attempted to throw a
lifeline from the shore. That did not succeed. The apparatus for saving life
was thereupon got on board one of the lifeboats, the Tyne, and fired, and a
line was got to the vessel by this means. The captain, Mr. Fraser, and the
mate, Farquhar Fraser, were saved, when the line broke. Peter McKenzie, a
sailor, swam to the lifeboats, and was also saved. George Patience,
Alexander Patience, and Hugh Fraser, were left on board. The intelligence of
the wreck had brought an immense concourse of people down, and there were
not less than 2000 persons assembled upon the pier end, and quite as many
more on the seashore. They cheered the pilots as, time after time, they
attempted to reach the vessel, and shouted to the poor fellows in the ship
to keep up their hearts. Shortly after eleven, the sea rose with the tide,
and swept with awful fury over the ship which, with her sails flapping in
rags, and rolling and groaning as each sea struck her, began gradually to
break up. Her cargo of battens and staves began to wash out and she appeared
to be parting, aft. Fraser, who seemed to be a brave and good seaman, clung
to a boy, and saved him several times as the ship heeled over. He and the
lad got upon the deck, which was breaking away from the main part of the
vessel, the cook clinging to the sides of the ship, when a sea, more fearful
than any that had come before it, struck the vessel, and she instantly broke
up. The scene at this moment was truly appallinghundreds of seamen standing
on the pier, sobbing like children, the great crowd assembled on the shore
being hushed to silence in the presence of the awful spectacle. The two men
floated away upon the deck amid a mass of wreck, and some hopes were
entertained that, if they drove a little to the north, and clear of the
dreadful stones, they might yet be saved by the lifeboats. But that was not
to be. Another heavy sea came roaring and thundering on towards the shore,
and swept them off the deck into the sea amid the floating wreck. Frasers
head and feet were seen for a moment above the water; the lifeboats dashed
at him, but he had then disappeared. The boy also was observed to hold up
his hands in the water, when another sea washed in upon him, struck him, and
he disappeared. The cook all this time remained upon this larger portion of
the wreck, and appeared to be holding on by a deck stanchion. The
Northumberland lifeboat, in making two attempts to save him, reared upon the
wreck twice, as a hunter rears at a gate, and nearly capsized. The wreck,
however, never got clear of the stones, and though the pilots threw lines to
the Patience, they could not get near him. He and the wreck, however,
gradually drove in towards the pier end. A score of men, at last, stripped,
and though the sea was breaking with tremendous fury, and bringing masses of
loose wreck in with it, several ran in up to their necks, holding by a line,
and succeeded, amid tremendous cheering, in bringing the poor fellow ashore.
He was immediately taken to the pier-office, and attended to by a number of
kind-hearted workmen and women, and was quite recovered. Frasers body drove
among the stones at the pier-head about ten minutes after he was washed from
the wreck. The Mayor and Dr. Stokes immediately attended him, but life was
extinct. The body of the other poor fellow has not been recovered. The wreck
of the ship was broken into fragments.

>From Hartlepool we learn that several wrecks have occurred, attended with a
great loss of life. The scene in the bay, and on Middleton Sand, and near
the entrance to West Hartlepool, was most distressing. Between forty and
fifty sail of vessels were to be seen, all in a state, more or less, of
disaster.

At Whitby, five vessels were wrecked, the crews of four of them being saved
by the lifeboat which, in endeavouring to succour a fifth, upset, and twelve
out of its thirteen gallant crew were immediately drowned. The boat,
unfortunately, was not constructed on the principles of the Lifeboat
Institution, and the only man saved owed his escape to wearing one of the
Institutions buoys; the rest had those on another principle. An eyewitness
states:

The scene will never be forgotten. The brave fellows had on cork belts,
which kept them up for a short time, and they struggled hard for their
lives, and that within forty yards of the shore and pier. A rocket was fired
over them, but the line was not reached by any of them. Thousands,
regardless of the sea washing over them, lined the pier and shore, and among
them were the wives, children, and relatives of the poor, drowning, men.
Some were restrained only by force from jumping into the sea in the vain
hope of saving their dear relatives. The shrieks of the women and children,
as the poor fellows disappeared one by one, were most heartrending. No
assistance, however, could be rendered. Ten widows, and more than forty
children, are left totally unprovided for by this distressing calamity.
...............

From The Illustrated London News, February 23rd, 1861

On the northeast coast of England, a gale played terrible havoc with the
shipping near land. From Shields the following account is given of the
wrecks at the mouth of the Tyne

About half-past seven on Saturday morning, February 9th, the schooner
Fowlis, from Inverness, drove on to the Head Sand, and drifted amongst the
stones of the South Pier Four lifeboats put off to the assistance of the
crew, and many a gallant struggle was made to get alongside; but all proved
ineffectual. The Providence lifeboat was stove in four places. It was
attempted, in vain, to throw a line from the shore. The apparatus for saving
life was thereupon got on board one of the lifeboats, the Tyne, and fired,
and a line was got to the vessel by this means. The captain, Mr. Fraser, and
the mate, Farquhar Fraser, were saved, when the line broke. Peter McKenzie,
a sailor, swam to the lifeboats, and was also saved. George Patience,
Alexander Patience, and Hugh Fraser were left on board, and in the presence
of an immense number of sympathisers the lifeboats struggled on for three
hours in their endeavours to save them. They could not succeed. The tide
rose, and the wind continued to rise with fearful violence. The waves lashed
and beat over the doomed vessel, the men clinging to the rigging and deck
until the vessel began to break up. Alexander Patience and Hugh Fraser clung
to the deck, George Patience to the side of the vessel. About half-past
eleven, the vessel parted, the two last-mentioned men being swept away
amongst a mass of wreck, and, within a hundred yards of the shore and in the
presence of 1500 people, perished. The scene was awful. One of the lifeboats
made several gallant attempts to save the other man, but could not reach
him. He drove ashore, holding by the stanchion of the deck, caught a line,
was dragged to land, and was saved amidst immense cheering. The vessel is
broken into fragments.

Earlier in the morning the Minerva, of Whitby, bound from London to Seaham,
went ashore. The Providence lifeboat put off, manned by pilots, and, after a
gallant struggle with the fearful seas, got alongside, the waves driving
them back several times before doing so. In heaving a grapnel aboard the
vessel, the hook struck a seaman and wounded him in the face. One boy, John
Storm, in attempting to jump into the lifeboat fell into the sea, but he got
hold of a rope and held there for ten minutes, until the lifeboat came
alongside and saved him; but, in rescuing him, one of his legs was broken.
The crew were all saved and brought ashore. Soon afterwards the Minerva
broke up.

The Sarah Ann, of South Shields, drove ashore about two oclock in the
morning, and her crew were nobly saved by the lifeboats.

About half-past twelve in the afternoon a laden brig, the Indus, belonging
to North Shields, in attempting to reach the harbour, drove on the fearful
Herd Sand. Two lifeboats put off to the rescue of the crew, and the men were
got into the Northumberland and gallantly brought ashore.

The Csar, of Whitstable, a laden schooner, on running for the Tyne, also
drove on the Herd Sand. The lifeboats were again manned by pilots, and
pulled off to the rescue of the crew. They succeeded in getting their boats
alongside this vessel and brought them ashore.

The Treaty, of Goole, laden with potatoes, went ashore on the Herd Sand in
the evening, and her crew were also taken off by the lifeboats. It is
considered that fifty sail of vessels went ashore between South Shields and
Whitby.

The loss of life and shipping in Hartlepool Bay was great. Many ships
entered the two tidal harbours and were saved; but in the course of the day,
upwards of fifty ships were wrecked, and of these about thirty were total
losses; of many not a vestige remained, and eight foundered with every soul,
while thousands of persons on shore were looking on unable to reader
assistance. Not less than 150,000 worth of property, and a large number of
valuable lives, were thus sacrificed in Hartlepool Bay alone in a few hours
of broad daylight.

A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, writing from Hartlepool on
Sunday, says: On visiting, this morning, the scene of yesterdays
disasters, I witnessed such a sight as I believe was never before seen here,
and which neither the tongue nor the pen can adequately describe. The south
end of Middleton Sand was covered with wreck of every description, whilst
hundreds of persons were employed either in stripping the vessels not quite
destroyed, or carrying away portions of the wreck.

Two of the Hartlepool lifeboats and one of the National Lifeboat
Institutions boats, stationed at Seaton Carew, were instrumental in
rescuing twenty-six shipwrecked crews, at least 120 persons.

The Whitby district was the scene of serious calamities. The gale being from
the northeast there was no chance for any craft to avoid the iron-bound
coast. Seven ships were driven ashore on Saturdaythe Gamma of Newcastle,
the Clara of Memel, the Utility of London, the Roe of Dundee, the Merchant
of Maldon, the Urina of Sunderland, and the Tribune of Brixham; and on
Sunday morning the Memnon of Shields went ashore. It was whilst attempting
to save the crew of the Merchant that the brave fellows of the Whitby
lifeboat were lost: when proceeding on their fifth errand of mercy, a
violent sea caught the boat, which was capsized, and twelve out of thirteen
of her crew perished within twenty yards of the shore, where thousands were
assembled unable to render the slightest succour. An eyewitness thus
describes the thrilling scene The Merchant was driven to the beach just
to the north of the pier. The lifeboat was again immediately launched, and
manned by the same noble fellows who had saved the lives from all the
wrecked ships. The sea was now dreadful, and the danger imminent. The men in
the life-boat were warned not to go; but, undaunted, they proceeded, and had
got to sea, when it was observed from the shore that the schooner Roe, lying
between the Merchant and the coast, greatly obstructed the management of the
lifeboat, and in consequence it was carried to the stern of the Merchant,
and, while attempting to get the boat to the leeward side of the vessel, she
was upset by a tremendous cross sea between the stern of the Merchant and
the shore, and the unfortunate boatmen were immediately immersed in the
raging sea. The scene will never be forgotten. The brave fellows had on cork
belts, which kept them up for a short time time, and they struggled hard for
their lives, and that within forty yards of the shore and the pier. A rocket
was fired over to them, butt the line was not reached by any of them.
Thousands, regardless of the sea washing over them, lined the pier and
shore, and among them were the wives, children, and relatives of the poor,
drowning, men. Some were only restrained by force from jumping into the sea
with the vain hope of saving their dear relations. The shrieks of the women
and children as the poor fellows disappeared one by one were most
heart-rending. No assistance, however, could be rendered. One of the crew
succeeded in getting on the bottom of the lifeboat, which never righted,
and, after clinging to it and receiving fearful seas, was dashed off and
perished. Only one out of the crew of thirteen succeeded in reaching the
shore, and this is attributed to a cork waistcoat which he wore in addition
to the ordinary belt. Eleven widows and forty children are left totally
unprovided for by this distressing calamity, one only of the crew being
unmarried.
...............

Tony



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• [Mar] NE coast shipwrecks by lecky1 <>

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