Category: Shipwrecks

Posted on

Disappearance of Cheekpoint schooner Chase

By Tomás Sullivan

This guest blog is brought to us by Tomás Sullivan. It is a glimpse into the days of sail in the harbour. It is also a tragic tale so common in seafaring communities. The story is of Captain Daniel Sullivan of Coolbunnia, Cheekpoint and his vessel the schooner Chase.  Daniel was married to Rose nee McCarthy and they had six children. Bridget, Edward, Charles, Maria, Daniel and Thomas. 

Sullivan Family

Daniel was born and raised in Cheekpoint. Like many others in the village, he probably started his working life fishing in the river.  His earliest sailing record places him aboard the Waterford-owned Mary Jane.  Daniel is listed as Mate. It’s a role he would not have attained without lots of experience. He is serving under Captain John Phelan of Mary Street in the City. Waterford coal merchant and ship broker John E Angle, Hanover Street, Waterford owned this ship.

A pencil sketch of the likely layout of the schooner Chase by marine artist KB Cleare

Schooner Chase

According to Lloyds Register of Shipping the sailing schooner Chase was built for Daniel Sullivan in 1876/7 by Hodges Boat Yard Cardiff.  The details listed are as follows:

Accessed from Lloyds Registar[i]. 

Sailing ships such as the Chase were competing at the time with larger and more reliable steam-powered vessels. Many of the cargos that she could hope for were bulky goods that were not considered time-sensitive. Cargos such as coal were typical for which there was a significant Irish market.  The return trips could carry various goods such as pit props for the Welsh mines. Agriculturalproducts also such as barrels of oats and barley and sometimes ballast. 

Chase ports of call

The Chase took cargo from where she could and was a regular into the ports of Waterford and New Ross. The vessel called to Cheekpoint, Passage East, Arthurstown and Dungarvan.  Other destinations recorded in the ship logs are Cork, Wexford Wicklow, Dublin, Derry, Liverpool, Milford, Bristol and Portsmouth.

Pilots Licence

Daniel applied to the Waterford Harbour Commissioners pilot committee to be examined for a pilot’s licence in 1878.  This application would allow him to bring his ship into port without the cost of a river pilot.  The move was understandable given that he had known the harbour since childhood.  An exemption would allow him the freedom to sail when he decided.  It was also a crucial factor in reducing the costs of his vessel. Not paying pilotage, gave him a better margin on his cargo and reduced his outgoings.  His application was referred to the Board of Trade. The following March 1879, following an examination before the Board, Daniel was awarded a pilot exemption for the entire harbour.

Crew of the Chase

The following is a list of those recorded as shipping out on the Chase as crewmen.[ii] 

Accessed from NLI Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1860 – 1921

Last trip

According to family lore the Chase departed Waterford for Cardiff in Wales on the 28th of August 1884.  Aboard was a cargo of pit wood.  Fatefully, Daniel decided to stop at Cheekpoint, perhaps to wait for favourably wind and/or tide.  His two sons came to see their father off, Daniel jnr and Thomas.  Their older brother Charles, aged 20, was already serving as Mate on the family vessel.  Another Cheekpoint man, Michael Nugent was serving as an able seaman.  Michael was aged 22. 

Image and text of last recorded returned Ships log in December 1883. Accessed from the National Archives.
Schooners at anchor off Cheekpoint circa 1899. Photo AH Poole Collection – NLI

Daniel managed to talk his father into taking him on board.  As he was then 14 he probably argued that it was high time for him to “learn the ropes”. Thomas, aged 12, must have been sorely disappointed not to have been aboard when the Chase headed away downriver.

Some days later Rose Sullivan was out in the yard of their family home in Coolbunnia, overlooking the estuary.  Suddenly she started screaming and crying saying she could see her husband and son Daniel Sr and Junior. She claimed that they had just passed through the yard.  Not long after official word reached the family that the Chase was overdue.[iii] 

Source: UK REGISTER OF DEATHS AT SEA  1884

Overdue in a storm

What was officially known was little.  The schooner had made good time on passage over and departed Cardiff on September 5th 1884. Aboard was a cargo of coal, their destination was Passage East.  Although they left in favourable conditions, the weather was changing. Soon the ship was sailing into a westerly gale as it headed out of the Bristol Channel.  It is speculation but it seems that the Chase ran for shelter, steering a course for the protection of Milford Haven.  Many other ships were in difficulty, including the Triumph which saw two crewmen washed overboard. The pilot cutter Blue Eyed Maid was lost. Further north on the Welsh coast the St Dogmael’s lifeboat rescued three crew and the captain’s wife of the wrecked smack Ellen.[iv]

Nothing was ever heard from the Chase again.  A coastguard man later reported finding “…a head-board with CHASE painted on it, and a female figurehead”. The information provided to the Receiver of Wrecks for the area included the siting of other wreckage. This was seen between Sheep Island and Linney Head on the Pembrokeshire coast. This included “…a mainboom jaws upwards, with a piece of mast and some heavy weight, probably sails, under water which rendered it unmanageable [to retrieve] by small boats”.[v]

What efforts the crew of the Chase employed is unknown.  Whether the ship’s boat was launched, or any tried to swim for it is unknown.  Given the location, it was thought likely the ship had overturned in the gale.  In the circumstances, those aboard would have had little time to consider their predicament. Or for Daniel to think of his family on board or at home in Cheekpoint. 

Conclusion

Chase, most likely foundered sometime on the 6th or 7th of September 1884.  She was finally listed as missing in February 1885. Prior to this she was considered by authorities as overdue.[vi]. But long before then, Rose Sullivan knew she had lost the main breadwinner of her home, two of her sons and the family’s investment.  

Like many other families in the area, the sea was one of the main forms of employment.  But it came at a cost, such as with the Chase and the Sullivan and Nugent families.  Edward, Sullivan was lost while crossing the Atlantic on another sailing ship.  Bridget Sullivan would later lose her husband James Clawson on the SS Formby in 1917.  Michael Nugent’s brother William died while serving aboard the schooner Elizabeth Cowman while sailing down the Suir.  A later Nugent descendant, Edmund, was lost at sea in 1941.

There are no flowers on a sailor’s grave
No lilies on an ocean wave
The only tribute is the seagulls sweep
And the tears upon a loved one’s cheek
Fear not for those who go down to the sea in ships
For as sunset draws near and dawn breaks afar
We remember those who have crossed the bar

PAUL HOLLAND

I want to thank Pat O’Gorman for his generous assistance with this piece and his endless hours chatting with my late father Tom Sullivan, discussing Cheekpoint’s seafaring history.   Thanks also to P.J O’Shea for all the information on the Nugent family.   Finally to acknowledge the assistance of Alan Jones from Shipwrecks UK.  Tomás Sullivan 2024

Would you like to be part of the ever-growing Tides and Tales Community? If you would like to join our regular monthly MailChimp email list, please complete the form below and hit subscribe.

[i] https://archive.org/details/HECROS1884/page/n247/mode/2up

[ii] Accessed from NLI Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1860 – 1921

[iii] These apparitions were very common in seafaring communities.  A“Fetch“ appears regularly in Irish folklore. See for example Michael Fortune’s post at Folklore.ie https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1175277146956289

[iv] Western Mail – Monday 08 September 1884; page 3

[v] Bridgend Chronicle – Friday 19 September 1884; page 4

[vi] Liverpool Weekly Courier – Saturday 07 February 1885; page 5

Posted on

Fate of the sailing barque Etta

On a wild windy winter night in December 1888, the Belfast Barque Etta, rounded Hook Head in search of shelter, the lifeboat was signaled, but the ship was driven onto the rocks of Creaden Bay before the lifeboat could reach the vessel. Miraculously all but one were rescued from the vessel, thanks, in no small part, to the knowledge and seamanship of the ship’s captain James Arthurs. This is the tale of the Etta, which grounded in a gale on Friday 21st December 1888 sometime between 11 and 12 midnight.

According to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1890[i] the Etta was built in Quebec in 1863.  She was registered under the company name of the Etta Ship Company, JS Wright, Belfast and was part owned by her master, Captain James Arthurs.  She arrived in St John NB via Montevideo on November 5th 1888[ii]and after loading timber, sailed for the port of Fleetwood on Nov 29th.[iii]  The ship encountered a succession of gales crossing the Atlantic and as they approached the Irish coast, a decision was made to run for shelter.

David Philip Jones, First mate of the barque Etta, later gave the following first person account of their situation. 

“…We intended coming into Waterford Harbour and knew our position well. Coming in we could see the Saltees and Hook Lights. We put in here through stress of weather, preferring this harbour to Queenstown under the circumstances. We…[came]…in here about 8 p.m… on 21st…We were under two lower top sails, reefed foresail and fore top mast stay sail. The master was in charge all through. When we got within about three miles of Duncannon we let go the starboard anchor… We had a stopper at about 47 fathoms. The chain parted…We then let go the port anchor. We had a stopper of new rope on the cable at 45 fathoms, This cable parted after it had all run out all but one fathom. The cables were each 90 fathoms on deck. Neither anchor brought the vessel to a stop or checked her in the least… We had three bower anchors, a stream anchor and a kedge anchor. I cannot say the weight of any of them.  After the cables parted we backed all the yards, thinking that she would go astern. We set the main and fore lower topsails, reefed foresail and fore top stay sail. Wind hauling a little to the westward, she did not lay off. We tried to slip the cables and failed, and soon after she struck. The lead was going all through, the last cast being a quarter less six about the time the anchor was let go. We showed signals of distress, blue lights, rockets, and flare-ups…”[iv]

Lloyd’s List – Wednesday 02 January 1889; page 3

As it transpired, fate played a hand.  It was close to low water and rather than crash into a vertical cliff if the tide was in, the Etta grounded on the somewhat level, if jagged, rocks on the old red sandstone shore. 

Creaden Head and the bay, I can’t with any certainty say where it grounded but I would think somewhere from the ripened field of corn inwards is most likely. Author

The Dunmore East lifeboat had spotted the distress signals and the crew of the Henry Dodd, rowed with all their might to the rescue.  Although they could not get near the wreck in the conditions, they managed to rescue five of the sailors who had set off from the Etta in the ship’s boat, apparently before she struck.  The timing of their leaving or what their crew mates thought is not described. 

Meanwhile, locals ran along the cliffs, fields and roadways to lend what assistance they could.  RIC Sargent Thomas Sutcliff was guided down to the wreck scene by a local labourer named James Redmond.  They managed to get a line aboard the stranded vessel which was grinding and thumping into the jagged shoreline.  Although news reports differ it seems that there were likely 12 remaining crew, Captain James Arthurs and his wife.   

Sutcliff seems to have played a leading role in the proceedings, there is no mention of the Coastguard in the reports, even though they most certainly brought the rocket apparatus and equipment, that would eventually bring the crew and Mrs Arthurs ashore.  Redmond again proved his worth, when he plunged into the surf to assist the captain’s wife who seems to have become overcome in the chair.[v]

Some accounts state that despite the pleas of those ashore, Captain Arthurs refused to leave his vessel, perhaps determining that his ship would survive the merciless pounding on the shore.  Captain Arthurs from Islandmagee, on the east coast of County Antrim, was 2/3rds owner of the vessel and perhaps he gambled that if he stayed with the vessel he would not lose his profits on the trip to any salvage claim.  The news report claimed that the cargo was not insured.  It also stated that he was familiar with Waterford, so perhaps there was an element of calculated risk in where the ship came ashore? Alas, in full view of his rescuers, his crew and his wife, a breaking sea washed him off his feet and over the side never to be seen again.[vi]   

An illustration of the Breeches Buoy in operation sourced from The County Record. [volume 1], October 21, 1897, University of South Carolina

The local police as well as many from the surrounding locality “…rendered valuable assistance in attending to the shipwrecked crew and Mrs Arthurs. They were all subsequently taken charge of by Mr Edward Jacob, local secretary of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society, and forwarded to their homes at the expense of that benevolent institution…”[vii]

The ship, however, survived.  The wind seems to have moderated on the flood tide, and the next morning the Etta was seen hard aground but upright.  Later the local tug Dauntless put a crew aboard which stripped down the masts and rigging and tried to hold the vessel together.[viii]

An effort to sell the wreck fell through, as most bidders felt the ship and cargo were doomed.  Several attempts were made to refloat the vessel, in a desperate scramble to salvage the ship and the cargo before the weather turned again.  Eventually, on Monday 31st December 1888, it was reported locally that the tug Dauntless and the PS Rosa managed to haul the wreck off the shoreline.  I’m presuming that the weather had stayed calm, and with spring tides and some patchwork and bailing, the vessel floated clear. [ix]

The Etta was brought to the relative safety above Creaden Head where she was anchored.  Soon afterwards, the vessel, lying on her beam end, was towed up to Cheekpoint by the Liverpool based tug Pathfinder. [x] It would appear she was grounded at the village, perhaps along the Strand Road.  Some of the cargo was removed and presumably, an assessment of the hull took place.

SS Pembroke February 1899 grounded at Cheekpoint following a similar incident where the vessel was inspected and made ready for towing to Liverpool. AH Poole photo

In early February two tugs were in position at Cheekpoint, but had tried unsuccessfully to get the Etta off the shore.  The owners of the Etta, J S Wright & Co, Corporation St., Belfast had decided that the vessel could be towed back to her home port following some repairs to the hull.[xi]  The floating nature of the cargo may have also played a role – earlier plans to remove the timber cargo and sell it in Waterford had been changed. Perhaps the cargo was employed as an aid to buoyancy?  I am only speculating here of course. 

Eventually, the ship was towed clear and was taken by the steam tug Rescuer out the harbour to bring her home.[xii]  But that wasn’t the final drama because the tug ran into stormy weather in the Irish Sea and later it was reported that the waterlogged Etta was labouring badly in Belfast Lough and the tug was having a difficult time getting to her home port.[xiii]  The Etta was made of strong timbers however, and in March the cargo that had taken so long to reach its destination was finally advertised for sale, although the advert did caution that the timber was a little darker, as the vessel that carried them had been ashore. An understatement for sure, given all that had transpired[xiv].

An image that might give some sense on the towing of the Etta to Liverpool, Steam Tug Rescue, Capt. Robert Lumley Cook, Towing the dismasted Brig. Rapid of Shoreham, into the South Entrance Sunderland Oct. 29th 1880 by artist John Hudson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The only victim of the Etta was her master, Captain James Arthurs.  There were hopes that when the vessel came clear of the rocks at Creaden his corpse might float clear too.  Indeed it was widely reported that his body was retrieved from near the wrecksite that same day.  A follow-up report however confirmed that no body had been retrieved and an appeal was made for people to keep an eye out.  Perhaps as an inducement, it was reported that the “hardy old sailor” had £200 in gold on his person when he was lost over the side.[xv]  I could find no record of his body ever being retrieved, however.

Not the Etta, but the barque Gunvor wrecked on the Cornish coast in 1912 in a very similar circumstance, image sourced from google – Photo: E. A. Bragg, photographer of Illogan.

The only mention I could find of Captain Arthurs in the local papers of Antrim gave the following, scant detail.  “…The members of Islandmagee Masonic Lodge, No. 162, heard with sincere regret of the sad loss at sea of their worthy brother, Captain James Arthurs, who for many years was a faithful and honoured member of their lodge, and at their first meeting since his death desire to express their sympathy with his bereaved widow and sorrowing friends, and pray that the Great Architect of the Universe may comfort and sustain them under their sad bereavement.”[i] 

As is so often the case, the fate of the Etta and her crew gets lost in the mist of time. One aspect of the story however is the role that Captain Arthurs played. He decided to run for shelter, he, it seems, knew Waterford harbour well. Did he also know the lay of the land at Creaden Bay and that he was sailing to the ship’s doom, but that there was a fighting chance of survival? Had he weighed up the odds, and thought there’s a fighting chance given the wind, tide, and the geography of the shoreline in the specific part of the Bay he grounded. It seems to me that he did, but perhaps that is the romantic in me looking for a nice hook to the story. If any reader could add anything to the man’s career which might corroborate or dismiss such a conclusion I would be delighted to have it.

Below is a new initiative to try pinpoint each wreck using google maps which I will update as new blogs are completed and which I hope will cover the entire coast of Waterford in years to come

For a different account and in particular, the award for bravery given to Sargent Sutcliff see David Carroll’s book on the Dunmore East RNLI – Dauntless Courage.

[i] https://archive.org/details/HECROS1890/page/n87/mode/1up   Accessed 22/12/2023

Posted on

Christmas time sailing “before the mast”

Christmas is just another time of the year for seafarers.  The oceans and seas of the world carry much of the goods that we consider essential but this desire never ceases.   This was just as true in the days of sail and to give a sense of the struggles faced by sailors at the time, I want to describe the Christmas adventures of two sailing vessels in this golden era for sea travel.  Neither vessel was unique, or in any way noteworthy but they both provide an insight into the struggles endured and the dangers faced at sea under sail.  One is the tortuous slow progress of the Waterford vessel Glide.  The other is the toil of the crew of the Hilda, coming into Waterford harbour.  A related article on the Moresby tragedy at Dungarvan at Christmas 1895 is linked also.

However before this, here’s just one report from a newspaper at Christmas 1855 to set the scene on what was admittedly a wild and windy week.

During the past week we have had some severe storms… the brigantine Isabela, 200 tons burthen, which was lost an Tuesday night… on a rock called the St. Patrick’s Bridge (Kilmore Quay)…The crew, composed of six persons and the captain, got on the stern, the sea breaking over them terrifically. One of the men, named Leary, was washed overboard and drowned…Towards morning the stern of the vessel broke away, and the captain and remaining five men held by it. After some time they were washed ashore. They suffered considerably from cold and injuries received…The schooner John Bull, (of Youghal) 120 tons burthen, coal laden, bound from Newport to Youghal, was driven ashore at the bar of Dungarvan on Thursday night, and shortly after sank. There is no report of the crew…the schooner John Webb, laden with iron ore, drove ashore inside the bar of Dungarvan on Thursday night. It is feared she will become a total wreck. The brig Thistle, lying at Passage East, Waterford, was driven ashore on the Seedes bank on Wednesday.

Glasgow Courier – Thursday 27 December 1855; page 4
Image: Off the Coast in a Snow Storm – Taking a Pilot, published by Currier & Ives (undated). Accessed from https://classicsailor.com/2017/12/christmas-at-sea/

I wanted to include this as it gives a sense of how matter of fact the newspaper reportage was, and how common it was for seafarers to get to sea in all weathers and times of year. But now to the two vessels at hand, and firstly the Glide.

The brig Glide (1837) was a Waterford-owned vessel, over 80 feet long, and 20 wide, and her stated tonnage was 154 tons.  Over Christmas 1867 the Glide departed the Waterford Quays with an undisclosed cargo for France.  The Master was John Commins, of Ballyhack, and his crew were predominantly, if not completely local. On Friday, Dec 20th, 1867 the ship was loaded at Waterford City quays. The vessel departed on Sat 21st, sailing downriver on an ebb tide and coming to anchor at Passage East, where they waited on favourable winds.  On Sunday 22nd they sailed, rounded the Hook, and ran into a strong SE wind.  On Monday the weather was worsening, and when they eventually got a sighting of land, they had travelled backwards and were off the west Waterford coastline at Mine Head lighthouse.  As the storm increased the crew struggled to make it back to the shelter, eventually arriving back to Passage East where they anchored at 5 pm that evening. 

Captain and crew of the Glide spent Christmas 1867 at anchor. However, apart from the weather, the ship’s log records nothing of the holiday, any gifts, special meals, or religious observations.  As Commins was a local, and some of the crew were from the Hook, it’s hard not to imagine that he went ashore to spend a bit of time with family, although a watch would have been required on the Glide. Hopefully, they enjoyed it, because as bad as the weather had been thus far for the crew, it was only going to get worse. 

The weather finally settled and on Sat Dec 28th they again sailed from Passage East but it would be another 3 weeks before they finally arrived at their destination, the port of Boulogne in northern France. In the interim, they had endured storms, lost an anchor, damaged masts, rigging, and sails and worked without sleep for days on end manning pumps to keep their vessel afloat. 

The Glide continued her noble calling until February 1874. Departing Cardiff laden with coal the ship had run into fog just after sunset.  The fog was so dense nothing could be seen within a cable length of the vessel.  At some point the vessel grounded close to Kilmore Quay and broke up on rocks, the crew getting away safely.

Another ship just a few years later got closer to Waterford but met a similar fate. 

The Hilda was a small schooner, owned by Fredrick Leigh Hancock, of Hawarden, Flintshire in the UK.   Registered in the port of Chester, the vessel was built at Connahs Quay in 1893 and registered at 91 tons.  At some point over Christmas week in 1897, she sailed from Swansea with a cargo of coal. Her port of destination was New Ross, the cargo consigned to a Mr. Power.  This was a familiar journey to the ship, the harbour of Waterford was seen as a haven after crossing the Irish Sea and the dangerous approaches along the Wexford shoreline.

Having departed, the weather turned foul, and rounding Hook Head on Monday 27th December they must have hoped for better luck as they ran ahead of a SE gale and stinging sleet showers. As they headed up the harbour leaving the worst of the wind astern the vessel came close to Duncannon Fort but unfortunately, it was there that a combination of wind and tide drove the Hilda off course and onto the jagged rocks of the Fort.

No details were later recorded in local newspapers from the crew about their journey from Swansea. There would likely have been no fuss or bother made about a Christmas dinner or indeed an exchange of gifts!  Such vessels were competing with much faster and more regular steamships for cargo and any break in the weather would have meant they would sail.  Once at sea, the normal routine of watches would be in place, but in bad weather, all hands were required, often meaning there was no time for cooking, or sleeping. 

Having rounded the Hook, normally a pilot would have boarded, but in such weather, it was common that the pilots, themselves in a small sailing pilot cutter, would have been sheltering up the harbour.  The master of the Hilda may have thought he knew the area well enough to make it to Passage East for safe anchorage and later be piloted to Cheekpoint, and from there another pilot would take them on to New Ross when the weather and tides would suit.

Now, as their ship sank beneath them, the four-man crew took to the rigging, calling out to those ashore for salvation.  Luckily the Coastguard unit was at hand, only a few miles upriver at Arthurstown and a rocket apparatus was brought to the scene post haste.

The rocket originated from the work of George Manby.  At the time of the Hilda incident, a breeches buoy was in use which was part of a rope-based rescue device which was used to take sailors or passengers off wrecked vessels.  The breeches buoy was probably deployed from around Duncannon Fort using a rocket system to shoot a line into the ship’s rigging.  This line was used to haul stronger ropes to the ship and once these were secured to something solid like the ship’s mast, the system could be used to take people ashore one at a time in a chair-like device. 

The apparatus as seen in Hook Head currently

Although the four-man crew were rescued they were now formally unemployed, owning only the clothes on their back, with no pay or place to call home.  They were most likely cared for locally that night in Duncannon but probably left on the paddle steamer Vandeleur the next day on her daily run to Waterford, and from the city took the next available ship back to Wales to find another ship. Any pay due to them was only to cover the period up to when their vessel was lost. The master probably waited around to determine the fate of the vessel and his cargo.

Hilda sunk off Duncannon Fort. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Wigham

One of Waterford’s worst tragedies of the sailing era of course was witnessed in Dungarvan Bay on Christmas Eve 1895 when the Morseby was wrecked. It all played out in front of the town and had a deep impact. The ship had sailed from Cardiff on Dec 21st bound for Pisagua in South America and ran into a bad storm off the Waterford coast. Of the 25 aboard including the Captain’s wife and child, only 5 of the hardy sailor crew survived. The County Museum has retained the story for posterity both in display and in words. The Mary Sinclair was lost the day before at Balinacourty.

Morseby off Dungarvan

Although the modern seafarer has little of the challenges faced by sailors in the days “before the mast” it is still a time of family separation and loneliness.  So this Christmas as you enjoy the festive spirit, spare a thought for the seafarers around the world.  Their work may have become safer and easier, but the distances from home are still vast and the work no less essential in the modern era.

Below is a 19th C Christmas carol of which there are many versions:

I saw three ships come sailing in, On Christmas in the morning; Three goodly ships came sailing in, On Christmas in the morning; And what was in those ships all three? On Christmas in the morning; The holy babe and sweet Mary, On Christmas in the morning; I saw three ships come sailing in, On Christmas in the morning; Three goodly ships came sailing in, On Christmas in the morning; But whither sailed those ships all three, On Christmas in the morning; They sailed straight into Bethlehem, On Christmas in the morning; Now all the bells on earth did ring, On Christmas in the morning; For in the heavens the angles sing, On Christmas in the morning; And all the souls on earth shall sing, On Christmas in the morning; And all of us rejoice amain, On Christmas in the morning;

The Zigzag Series by Hezekiah Butterworth (1880)

If you would like to subscribe to my mailing list add your name and email address below

Posted on

Egeria – A True Story of Shipwreck

By Dorothy McMahan

With excerpts from On Shipboard by Anne Starrett Craig

Information gathered by Dorothy McMahan and Chuck McMahan

Olivia Murray, a page regular with a family connection to the Waterford coast, brought this guest blog to my attention. The story is one of those wonderful accounts that can be so easily lost, or remain as a footnote in history unless someone, very often a family member, has the resolve to go out and do the hard digging. Mind you in this case it’s generations of family. I am indebted to the kindness and generosity of Dorothy and Chuck McMahan for what you are about to read. It offers a unique glimpse into one human story and how it impacts a family, just one of thousands associated with wrecks that have happened along the Waterford coastline in days past.

This is a true story that needs to be preserved in the annals for the descendants of Captain Henry A. Starrett. Our knowledge of the factual information of the story has been expanding over almost 150 years and over four generations. As I retell it here I will add the various chapters in the chronological order in which they unfolded, beginning with the oral history as I heard it in my childhood and beyond.

The best way to begin is by quoting from my grandmother Anne Starrett Craig’s booklet of her memories of life On Shipboard with her parents, Captain Henry and Ellen “Nellie” Starrett. This is basically the oral history with which I grew up living in the same household
with her in Belfast. We children heard many other stories of her childhood but this is the one we most vividly remember.

…While the ship {was in port}…my mother and I usually managed a visit to the small New England town which we called “home”, because there my mother’s relatives lived, with their latch-string always out to us. One autumn it was decided that we should spend the winter there, my father making the trip to Liverpool without us. My first taste of school and of a New England winter was a pleasant adventure to me. But my father’s adventure was the most disastrous of his life as a sea captain. In late November there came to us from the owners of our bark, “Egeria”, a telegram; “Cable dispatch. Egeria totally lost. Captain Safe at Waterford. No particulars.”

The particulars, which came to us later, were these–Off the Irish coast in storm and fog the vessel had been driven ashore in spite of all that could be done. The anchors would not hold. The shore was sheer rock. The ship at the last was thrown by each oncoming breaker against a high detached boulder—some of the men had already been washed overboard. My father saw only one possibility of escape –to jump onto that rock as the ship was dashed against it. He watched his chance, and succeeded in keeping his footing on the rock. The little group of men set up a cheer an one by one they followed his lead. But even then they found themselves far from safe—on an isolated rock, with the tide rising toward them and the fog still dense. If only the fog would lift!

And it did lift, and the vigilant coast guards, ever on the look-out for ship-wrecked sailors, saw these men in distress. They shot them a line, and soon were able to bring them all safe to shore. Not long afterward the tide had completely covered the rock on which the men had stood. My father reached home just in season to join the large family gathering about the Christmas tree. And the next fall saw us sailing again, on a long voyage this time, bound around Cape Horn for San Francisco. We were all going, including my small brother.
On Shipboard
Anne Starrett Craig
Published by Courier-Gazette, For Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME 1961

It would be well to digress here and relate a few facts about those “relatives” Anne mentions. The “small New England town” is Belfast. The “relatives” were the Peirce family, a prominent Belfast family in those days. Nellie Starrett’s sister, Maria, was the wife of Hiram Peirce. Their house stood approximately where the present Belfast Area High School is now located. There were several other Peirce families in the neighborhood. I have always understood that the Christmas gathering in Anne’s memories took place in the large brick house on High Street opposite the end of John Street.

It was with Hiram and Maria that Anne and her mother were staying through this winter of 1871. Hiram was quite an entrepreneur with several business operations in the town. Possibly the most innovative was an electrical generating plant at the mouth of Goose River in East Belfast. Evidence of this is still visible from Searsport Avenue, and the property between the shore and the road is presently owned by Central Maine Power Co. Hiram also owned a mill on Goose River on Swan Lake Avenue. The present Mill Lane is a connecting road between Searsport Avenue and Swan Lake Avenue and would have been a link between the two businesses.

Shipyards at Belfast, Maine 1905. Accessed from Wikipedia public domain

Before we leave the Peirce family it is important for the family story to understand that the family name Peirce, spelled E before I is pronounced to rhyme with ‘nurse’ or ‘purse’. Far be it for me to commit the error of pronouncing it otherwise. However in the present time, it has been changed in many places to the more common Pierce. It seems to be erroneously so in Grove Cemetery Interment records. One landmark that holds true to the original is the Peirce School on Church Street, founded by the estate of one Lena Peirce and named for her.

Moving forward, we leave the 1800s and jump into the electronic age of the 1990s. My five years of work with the Starrett papers at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport yielded new insight into many of the stories I had grown up with. My computer spot was in the stacks looking down over the library offices and if I stretched my neck I could catch a glimpse of Captain Starrett’s model of the Frank N. Thayer. Finding bits of information often had me laughing loudly enough to catch the attention of those below. Imagine my delight at finding ‘bird seed’ among the stores put on board for one long voyage. Grandma Craig’s telling of her canary came to life. The loan of a fire pump to a coal-carrying vessel on fire in the Pacific was well documented as the loan was repaid later in port. The news was that the vessel had survived the fire and made it to port.

The Model of the Frank N Theyer: Image courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum, PMM Image # 2008.1.

But the most rewarding of all came when I discovered papers regarding the wreck of the Egeria. Up until then, we had only known that it was near Waterford, on the Irish coast. Here was a copy of a letter from Captain Starrett to the owners dated Nov. 22, 1871, saying that he would be going back to Ballymacaw in the morning to arrange for the sale of the Egeria and cargo – a salvage operation. There was also an invoice for new clothing (a pretty complete wardrobe!) as well as other letters concerning drawings of the wreck. A flyer advertising a steamship offering passage from Cork to New York was a clue as to Captain Starrett’s return across the Atlantic.

Missing were the usual papers concerning the details of leaving a port and arriving at a new port. From these papers, it is possible to establish the dates of leaving and of entry. These would have been in the cabin on board so of course were lost with the sinking of the Egeria. No mention of what the cargo consisted of was present.

Sadly, also gone were Captain Starrett’s charts. These can be used to establish dates of departure and reach a destination. In those days charts were usually the property of the captain and represent a substantial outlay of funds.

So then we knew the destination of the voyage was Liverpool according to Anne’s writing, the date of the wreck, and the exact location. It might be presumed that they had not had time enough to reach Liverpool and be on a return voyage, given the usual time spent off-loading and loading new cargo, whatever that cargo might have been but not much more.

Enter once more the electronic era. My son Chuck and I searched and found a website maintained by a family who actually spent vacations in Ballymacaw in the very buildings of the Coastguard men who rescued the Egeria crew. We corresponded by e-mail, saw photos, and learned more about the area. They had access to the Coastguard records and we were able to match our knowledge with the dates and information in those records. It is a beautiful area but a truly forbidding coast – sheer rock as Anne says. All this was exciting and brought the story to life in a really wonderful way. But then the website was taken down and we were without answers once again.

Recently Chuck has once again made contact with the originator of the website through Facebook. He has learned more about Ballymacaw. Through her, he found the following news item from the Irish Times of Nov. 22, 1871.

An excerpt from the Irish Times of the tragic loss of five lives and the rescue of many more. Sourced from Olivia Murray.

At last! So many questions were answered. The cargo was flour which may be how the inlet came to be known colloquially as “Flour Hole.” She inward bound for Liverpool and departed from Boston in September, about two months crossing the North Atlantic. One has to wonder what happened to the eight other men who survived. Were they able to find other berths? And who notified the families of the men washed overboard? But for us, it puts to rest so many questions we had wondered about over the years.

The Flour Hole, Ballymacaw, Waterford. Photo Chuck McMahan
Olivia’s cousin Jimmy Nolan gave us an intimate guide to the Flour Hole. Photo Chuck McMahan
We imagine this is the rock that the crew lept to and were rescued from. Photo Chuck McMahan

To return to Anne’s booklet – she closes this story with the sentence “We were all going including my small brother.” The “small brother” obviously arrived during the winter or spring. The women in our family have been known to speculate that Nellie, having given birth in a ship’s cabin once, did not care to repeat the experience. Anne was born in Singapore harbor in April 1865. Her brother, Francis (Frank), was born in Belfast in May 1872, in a comfortable house with friends and family to offer help.

But what if that decision had not been made in the autumn of 1871? If Nellie and Anne had been on board the Egeria, would they have been able to jump to the rock? Would Henry have jumped himself? Would the men have jumped if their Captain had not shown that it was possible? So many unanswered questions! However, if the answers to any of the above had been “no,” I would not be writing and you would not be reading this story.

What we do know is that Captain Starrett spent the early months of 1872 raising money to buy shares in another vessel. It was customary in those days for a captain to own at least a small part of the vessel. Without easy communication between ports on opposite sides of the oceans, it was an incentive for a captain to share in the profits or losses that the vessel might incur. He needed to make good business decisions on his own.

However, he was able to raise the funds and the voyage Anne speaks of was on the Frank N. Thayer. They were six months from leaving New York on September 9, 1872 (per the date on the ‘Crew List’) to arrival in San Francisco on March 3, 1873 (per ‘Inward Pilotage’ receipt).

The model that Captain Starrett built is of the Frank N. Thayer which is presently in the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. The family oral history says that both Nellie and Anne helped to create parts of the rigging and the tiny American flag that used to fly from the masthead.

The late Elizabeth “Libby” Mills, sister of  (Right) Dorothy “Dot” McMahan.   The two grew up in the house in Belfast with their brother Edward..  Libby just finished a lifelong project of transcribing and publishing her Great-grandmother Nellie’s journal from Nellie’s first two years at sea, known as Nellie’s Diary.  Limited private publication.  More information on that project is here Photo Marti Stone
Dorothy (Dot) with the oldest and youngest of her seven grandchildren, Rebecca McMahan-Leyva, and Robin McMahan. Photo Marti Stone

Over the years I have tried to picture Henry’s homecoming and “the family gathering around the Christmas tree.” Was it a total surprise or did they have enough communication to know that he was on his way? Who got the first and biggest hug? There must have been both tears and laughter with the sheer relief that he was safely home. We know that there were to be twelve more years of voyages with his beloved family aboard before his retirement from the sea in 1884 to settle in Belfast in the house where my mother and then my siblings and I grew up and where we heard all these stories and more from our grandmother, Anne Starrett Craig.

Dorothy (Dot) McMahan Photo: Marti Stone

My thanks again to Dorothy and Chuck for allowing us this truly unique glimpse into their family archive and putting flesh on the bones as it were of a shipwreck and a coastal placename. Thanks also to Olivia Murray for the assistance. I am open to publishing guest blogs from time to time – once they help to promote and preserve the maritime and fishing history of the community.

Post Publication edit. This story was published on the 5th of September on the occasion of Dorothy’s 98th Birthday. Despite her ill health her son Chuck said she was thrilled to see the story published. Dorothy later passed away on the 25th of September. But her story of the Egeria lives on here now, as will her memory for all her loved ones. Thanks to Chuck and Dorothy for sharing this, and Rest in Peace Dorothy.

Posted on

Hilda shipwreck at Duncannon, Christmas 1897

In March I was lucky enough to deliver a talk for the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers at Poolbeg and after the talk Jonathan Wigam came up to me with some images that were taken in his great grandfather’s time –Edward Jacob, an agent for Lloyds of London based in Waterford.
Jonathan made me a present of a few and one, in particular, caught my eye. It was a familiar image to me, the wreck of the Hilda at Duncannon. But I could not recall why it seemed so familiar. I promised Jonathan that as soon as I had any further information I would revert to him.

Hilda sunk off Duncannon Fort. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Wigham

Some days later I had the chance to explore a list of shipwrecks that I have been compiling for the last few years. It’s an excel spreadsheet and I have three lists – Ships lost in the harbour or near it, including the Waterford coastline, Waterford ships lost elsewhere, and ships lost elsewhere coming to or sailing from Waterford. The list is based on my own research with David Carroll but also draws on the work of many others including Ivan Fitzgerald, Edward J Bourke, and John Power of Wexford. I guess we all in turn mine the work that others have done including Jonathan’s great-grandfather.

Anyway the Hilda popped up in 1898 as did detail – in this case drawn from both Edward and John. On reviewing John’s books, I found the photo of Hilda. And that was what I had found so familiar in the image Jonathan had given me. For John’s image was inverted. I had seen it before but was confused by the perspective it gave of the wreck site.

This issue is very common with glass plate images that were taken with the early cameras. Before processing, glass plate negatives have an ‘inverted’ appearance and when developed the correct image is displayed. However, with old glass negatives, it can be difficult at a hundred years remove to work out which was the correct way around. This is a regular enough occurrence, and it can really throw a person, even someone really familiar with an area.

Now can I just say here, that this is in no way a criticism of John’s fine body of work. His three books on the Maritime History of the Wexford coast will stand the test of time. We all make mistakes, and I only hope my work will be as valuable a contribution to the local history of the area that Johns has.

A present-day view of the location. Not quite from the same perspective however. I needed to get closer but my foot wouldn’t co-operate…long story

So to the Hilda.

The Hilda was all over the newspapers of 1898, but in fact, most of the reports were repeated news items, some weeks old from the original report. A report from the Waterford Chronicle of Saturday, Jan 1st 1898 stated that the schooner had come to grief the previous Monday, 27th December 1897.

This and other reports gave me further details. The schooner Hilda was sailing from Swansea to New Ross with a cargo of coal for a Mr Power of that port. When coming up the harbour running ahead of a SE gale and a heavy sea, she grounded and sank just off Duncannon Fort. (All the newspaper accounts mentioned that it was off Duncannon pier).

At this stage there must have been a general alarm sounded, there were four crew aboard and the papers mentioned that the coastguards from the adjoining station arrived on the scene with the rocket apparatus. This sounds like the Coastguard was based in the village. I can’t recall hearing of a station or a Coastguard presence in Duncannon. The two stations I was aware of that are nearby are Arthurstown and Fethard Coastguards but the detail is not in any of the accounts that I read*.

The rocket apparatus mentioned (and I saw an example at the Hook Lighthouse when I last visited) originated with the work of George Manby. At the time of the Hilda, a breeches buoy was in use which was basically part of a rope-based rescue device that was used to take sailors or passengers off wrecked vessels. The breeches buoy was probably deployed from around Duncannon’s strand using a rocket system to shoot the line into the rigging of the ship and once secured could be used to take people ashore. See Lugnud.ie for a good description of the system. For more on the lifesaving activities of the Coastguard visit the coastguards of yesteryear site

Winslow Homer, The Life Line: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A couple of reports afterward mentioned that the vessel was from Bridgewater. However, there were actually numerous vessels similarly named at that time including 11 in the UK alone. It would appear that the correct vessel was owned by Fredrick Leigh Hancock, of Hawarden, Flintshire. Her official number was 96284. Registered in the port of Chester, and built at Connahs Quay 1893 and registered at 91 tons.

On the 8th of January, the Enniscorthy Guardian stated that the ship had become a total wreck and that her cargo was at that point advertised for sale by public auction. I could find nothing more on this – was the cargo on the ship and expected to be salvaged, had it been brought ashore, had the Hilda washed ashore…so many questions that I am sure the answers exist but are outside my grasp for now.

But was the ship a total wreck? Well on January 15th the New Ross Standard stated that the Hilda had been sold. “The Hilda was, as announced in the last issue, sold on Friday, at Duncannon, when after spirited bidding it was knocked down to Mr J A Stephens for £86.”
If the Hilda sailed again, perhaps she was renamed but I could not find her. Just as likely, she was sold for scrap value and broken up. (I later found an Abraham George Stephens in my notes when looking up a query for an author from the UK into the wreck of the SS Kinsale at Broomhill in 1872. Stephens from Duncannon gave evidence to the Board of Trade inquiry and spoke up for the locals of the area who had been castigated in newspapers and called wreckers after the tragedy, Stephens evidence was clear and unambiguous in exonerating locals’ conduct) (Post publication – David Carroll tells me there is a lot more info on the Stephens family in the 2023 On The Hook publication)*

Whatever the aftermath, I’m sure the four shipwrecked sailors and those that went to their rescue took some time to celebrate their deliverance from the choppy waters off Duncannon, Co Wexford. I am hopeful that more of this story may emerge. Just this week I got a comment on a story I wrote several years ago giving more details on the SS Hermoine shipwreck at Dunmore East. Just like Jonathan’s photo, these stories send out ripples and its amazing how far they can reach in the internet age.

  • *I mentioned David Carroll’s tip about further information on the Stephens family in On The Hook. This annual publication edited by Liam Ryan is chock full of current and historical details including much to be admired by maritime history enthusiasts. I eventually picked up my copy on the 6th July 2023, and there is a very detailed piece about the Stephens family and their business interests in it (pp49-54) by Eileen Cloney. The family were corn and coal importers amongst other interests. Elsewhere (PP -18-26) Tom Martin gives a terrific synopsis of the history of the Fethard Coast Guard unit, to use the current spelling of the service.

If you would like to get my blog directly to your email every month, you can subscribe to my mailing list by putting in your name and email below and clicking subscribe.

Proudly powered by WordPress