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From: "tony dalton" <>
Subject: [TSL] COSPATRICK
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:48:08 GMT


Regarding the recent postings on the *Cospatrick* the following details
might be of interest:

*COSPATRICK* . Shaw, Savill & Co., Lombard St., London. Built at
Moulmein, Burma, in 1856 and was first employed as a troopship to India. She
then passed into private hands and was used in the coolie trade to Demerara.
After belonging to Duncan Dunbar & Co., she was purchased by Shaw, Savill &
Co. Length 190, Beam 34, Depth of hold 24, 1220 tons.The ship sailed from
London on September 11th, 1874, bound for Auckland with 429 emigrants, four
independent passengers and a total crew of 44. She was under the command of
Captain Alexander Elmslie. At midnight on Tuesday, November 17th, 1874, fire
broke out in the fore-part of the vessel. She was then in 37.15 South, 12.25
East, west-by-south of the Cape of Good Hope. The ship had no steerage-way
on her, got her head to the wind and the flames quickly ran aft. The boats
first lowered were capsized and all in them, 160, were drowned. The ship
sank on the afternoon of November 19th, Captain Elmslie, his wife and child
going down with her. Two boats kept afloat, one under the command of Mr C.
Romaine, 1st Mate , with 32 occupants and the other under the command of
Charles Henry Macdonald, 2nd Mate, of Montrose, with 30 occupants. Mr
Macdonalds boat was picked up on November 27th by the British Sceptre, of
Liverpool, and landed at St. Helena on December 6th. Of the 30 occupants,
25 had died of hunger, thirst and exposure. There were no women in this
boat. They had no food, no fresh water, no mast or sail and only one oar. A
girls petticoat was rigged upon the oar for a sail and this enabled the
boat to go before a southerly wind. Some of the occupants were driven to
insanity before dying and it is known that the survivors sucked the blood
and ate the liver of several of their dead companions. Two of the five
survivors, one a passenger and the other a seaman, died onboard the British
Sceptre. The 1st Mates boat was never seen again ,although it was hoped
at the time that it might have reached Tristan dAcunha. HMS Sappho was
despatched from the Cape Verde islands on December 6th to explore this
possibility.The fire is supposed to have started in the boatswains locker
which contained rope, oakum, cotton waste, tar, paint, and oil. Near this
were several casks of fat and some kerosene with seventy tons of coal in the
forepeak. There were also forty tons of spirits onboard.The three survivors,
out of the total onboard of 477, were Charles Henry Macdonald, 2nd Mate,
Montrose; Thomas Lewis, Anglesey, Quartermaster and Edward Cotter, 18, of
Kensington, ordinary seaman. The emigrants onboard were mostly agricultural
labourers from the Midlands and Eastern Counties. They consisted of 177
adult males, 125 women, 58 boys, 53 girls and 16 babies. There were also
four independent passengers.

Best wishes

Tony
West Wales
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