Earl of Beaconsfield Archives - Waterford Harbour Tides & Tales

13/02/202213/02/2022

Loss of the Stowell Brown

On This Day in 1884 the fully rigged sailing ship Stowell Brown came to grief on the sand bar above Creaden Head, one of several ships caught out in a terrific February storm almost 140 years ago. A regular and popular guest contributor to our page, David Carroll has the story.

The Irish coastline suffered severe weather during February 1884. The Waterford Standard of February 13th, 1884 described the storm on the previous day as being one of the severest that hit the Waterford area for years. The newspaper reported that high tides were experienced, and flooding was widespread. Fields at Kilbarry in Waterford City were underwater. At Tramore, the weather was equally severe, with a considerable portion of the storm wall washing away.

The newspaper also reported that a large four-masted vessel, name unknown, had gone ashore off the Wexford coast and that the steamship SS Waterford, which had passed the stricken vessel was unable to render any assistance due to the severity of the weather. On arrival at Waterford, Captain Pearn of the steamship immediately informed Lloyd’s Agent of the sailing ship’s plight. We now know that this was the Earl of Beaconsfield [which we featured before].

***Earl of Beaconsfield*** following salvage at Buttermilk Castle close to Cheekpoint. Poole. Andy Kelly Collection

The SS Lara, belonging to the Waterford Steamship Company, caused considerable anxiety in the city as she was very much overdue on her passage from Liverpool. The vessel departed from Liverpool on the previous Friday morning and did not reach Waterford until 2 o’clock on Monday, being towed into port by the tug Dauntless. Having been at sea for about nine hours, the ship lost the power of one of its boilers and became disabled. The Waterford Standard newspaper brought news of the overdue voyage, reporting that a hurricane was blowing at the time and a very high sea ran all day on Saturday followed by a gale on Saturday night. The newspaper went on to extol the intrepidity of Captain Walsh and his crew, reported not to have left the deck during the three days that the perilous voyage lasted.

But that was not the end of the dramatic events at sea during that storm. On the same day that the Waterford Standard was being read throughout the city and environs came news of a further maritime mishap in Waterford Harbour. The Creadan Head coastline and the nearby notorious Duncannon Bar, a scourge to sailing vessels for many years, was to claim yet another victim; the Stowell Brown.

Stowell Brown was a wooden sailing ship of 1370 tons and over 200 feet in length, built in St Martins, New Brunswick, Canada in 1873 and was registered at St John in New Brunswick. Her master was Captain Alfred Kimble Smith. The Stowell Brown was described as a full-rigged ship. It appears that the name of the ship was in recognition of Hugh Stowell Brown, born in the Isle of Man in 1823, a Baptist Minister, renowned preacher, and social reformer. He was known for his public lectures and work among the poor in the seafaring city of Liverpool. He died in 1886. A statue in his memory, originally erected in Liverpool, shortly after his death, was restored and re-sited in 2015 at Hope Street in the city.

Baptist preacher Hugh Stowell Brown, Wikimedia Public Domain Image

In early 1884, the Stowell Brown sailed in ballast from Liverpool and loaded a large cargo of coal in Penarth, near Cardiff bound for Rio de Janeiro. The Waterford Standard, on Saturday, February 16^th, 1885, described her ill-fated voyage as follows:

WRECK OF THE STOWELL BROWN

With regard to this vessel which sank at the mouth of the harbour on Wednesday evening, inquiries have elicited that the ship left Cardiff for Rio de Janeiro on the 5th instant, with a crew of 23 hands all told under the command of Captain Smith. After leaving the port , very severe weather was experienced. The wind blowing a very stiff gale from southwest. The ship experienced the full effects of the weather and is reported to have made about two feet of water during the passage. The crew had great difficulty in managing the ship, the hands being greatly occupied with working the pumps. Seas of a heavy character broke over the ship at intervals and added much to the perils of the crew, who were in occasional danger of being swept away. The weather continued so boisterous and the ship laboured so heavily that the captain at length decided to run for Queenstown Harbour (now Cobh), which he expected to be able to make. On Wednesday morning, however, the Saltees lightship [1]was sighted, and it was then determined to run inside the Hook for shelter. The mouth of the harbour was reached in safety, and the vessel was anchored for some time. It was at this time that the pilot cutter bore down and, it is stated, directed the captain of the Stowell Brown to follow in its wake. The ship did follow and shortly afterwards ran aground on the Bar. The crew stood by the vessel which did not sink for some time after. Before this happened they were all taken off by a fishing boat. Most of them lost all effects. On arriving at Waterford, their wants were attended to by Mr Edward Jacob, local agent to the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.

The Waterford Standard of Wednesday, February 20^th, 1884 carried the following advertisement:

Courtesy of Mr Brian Ellis, Hon. Librarian, National Maritime Museum

At this stage, the Earl of Beaconsfield had been towed to the safety of Buttermilk Point further up Waterford Harbour from where the Stowell Brown had been lost. The two wrecks had obviously created a great deal of local interest. The Waterford Standard, in the same issue,advised its reader about an excursion from Waterford to view the wrecks would take place:

Trip Round the Wrecks: – We observe that the Waterford Steamship Company’s steamer Ida will start for a trip around the wrecks, to Creadan Head and back, to-day at eleven o’clock. The fare charged is moderate, and a good number is sure to avail themselves of the opportunity of viewing the scenes of the recent shipping disasters in the harbour.

Perhaps the busiest person in Waterford at the time was Mr Edward Jacob,[2] Lloyd’s Agent, representative of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society. An ironmonger by trade and a member of the Society of Friends, Mr. Jacob was from one of the many well-known entrepreneurial Quaker families living in Waterford. Altruistic deeds such as taking care of distressed seafarers would have been very much in keeping with the ethos of his religious beliefs. he same newspaper reported as follows:Shipwrecked Mariners-

The sailors belong to the “Earl of Beaconsfield” and the “Stowell Brown” to the number of fifty-eight, one woman, and one child, had their wants well attended to by Mr. Edward Jacob, hon. Secretary at Waterford to the Shipwrecked Mariners Society, who had them comfortably lodged at Mrs Ryan’s, the Quay, and Mrs Delaney’s, Bailey’s New Street, during their stay in Waterford. On Friday the first batch of them was forwarded to Liverpool and on Saturday another portion of them proceeded to Glasgow. On Friday, Saturday and up to last night, when the last of them left Waterford, parties of the men were sent to Cardiff and Swansea.

A newspaper report, dated February 26^th, 1884, headlined ‘CASUALTIES AT SEA’, gave the following information:

London, Monday. – The Board of Trade have requested their solicitor to take steps for holding formal investigations into the circumstances connected with the stranding of the ship Stowell Brown, of St John’s N.B., near Creadan Head, Waterford harbour on the 13^th inst.; the abandonment of the ship Earl of Beaconsfield, of Glasgow, off Fethard, County Wexford, on the 13^th inst.; the loss of the steamer Emily of Sunderland, on Brigg’s Reef, County Down, on Feb 11.[3]

The Board of Trade Inquiry into the stranding and loss of the Stowell Brown opened on March 7^th, 1884 at St George’s Hall, Liverpool with Mr Raffles, the stipendiary magistrate, assisted by two nautical assessors, named as Captains Ward and French. Mr Paxton appeared to conduct the inquiry on behalf of the Board of Trade, and Mr Squarey (instructed by Messrs Forshaw and Hawkins) represented the master of the vessel, Captain Alfred K Smith. Mr Allingham, clerk to the Waterford Harbour Commissioners, watched the inquiry on behalf of that body.

The following reported evidence has been extracted from the Liverpool Journal of Commerce, dated March 8^th, 1884:

She left Liverpool on the 8^th of January and went to Cardiff, where she loaded a cargo of 2,094 tons of coal, and sailed on the 6^th of February, bound for Rio de Janeiro, with a crew of 22 hands. Some days afterwards the weather became extremely stormy, and on the 10^th, whilst wearing, a heavy sea broke on deck, smashing two of the boats and doing other damage. The captain then decided to run into Queenstown, but finding the wind heading him he changed course and ran for Waterford Harbour, thinking to shelter there until the storm abated, and to proceed to Queenstown afterwards. He anchored about three miles from the bar of the harbour, with two cables down, and, according to his own evidence, whilst so at anchor a pilot boat came up and warned him not to remain there, but to slip his cables and run into the harbour. Having doubt in his own mind as to whether there would be water sufficient to enable him to cross the bar, he asked the pilot boat particularly on this point, and received an answer that there was plenty of water, and that his vessel and all on board would be lost if he remained where he was. Upon that assurance, he slipped his cables and ran for the harbour, but before properly reaching the bar itself the vessel touched the ground in the “dip” of a heavy sea, and ten minutes afterward went hard aground, where she speedily became a wreck. No lives were lost.

The master was the only witness examined yesterday, and it was intimated that his evidence as to the statement alleged to have been made by the pilot boat would be contradicted by the pilots themselves.

The inquiry concluded on Monday, March 10^th, 1884 and the following is extracted from the reported judgement delivered by Mr Raffles:

The Court considered that the master, having made up his mind to go into a port, committed an error of judgement in not attempting to get into Queenstown, being within so short a distance, the wind being fair and the night clear. The anchorage at the mouth of Waterford Harbour was too exposed to be safe or proper with a gale from the southward or westward, and, unless the last resorted, the master should not have attempted it. The Court considered that the master of the pilot cutter, under the circumstances, might have been quite justified in refusing to send a pilot on board the Stowell Brown as she lay at anchor. He led her up the harbour and sent a pilot on board as soon as he could. The evidence at this point was contradictory. The Court was inclined to think that the account of what had passed when the pilot cutter hailed the ship, as told by the master of the cutter and the pilot, confirmed to some extent by the cook and steward of the ship, was more correct than the account given by the master and mate of the ship. It might be that the master did not, in the opinion of the Court, take proper measures in navigating her up the harbour. The Court decidedly thought that he was not justified in refusing the assistance of the tug. On a careful review of the whole evidence, the court concluded that the ship had not struck when the pilot boarded the vessel and, if so, the master was certainly not justified in refusing his assistance. The Court considered that the errors of the master in the navigation of his ship up to the time when he slipped his cable at the entrance of Waterford Harbour were errors of judgement only, but they pronounced him in fault in not accepting the assistance of the pilot and tug in the navigation of his vessel up the harbour, his anchors and cables being gone. Even if the vessel had taken the ground, as the master stated, before the pilot came on board or the tug offered assistance, he was wrong in refusing their offers. The Court suspended his certificate for six calendar months and acquitted the master of the pilot cutter. The master of the Stowell Brown was offered but declined a mate’s certificate during the period of suspension.[4]

That was not quite the last matter to be reported on the Stowell Brown. At the monthly meeting of the Waterford Harbour Commissioners held on April 7^th, 1884, it was noted that the pilot committee had received a bill of £240 from the firm of Messrs Jute, Coulson, and Co. for blowing up the Stowell Brown. The amount was agreed to be paid, minus a 5% discount.[5]

[1] This lightship was better known as ‘Coningbeg’.

[2] Mr Jacob, (1843- 1924) who lived at ‘Ardview’, Tramore, was also Honorary Secretary of Tramore Lifeboat. He had a particular interest in the hazards of Tramore Bay, and this led him to make notes and gather news cuttings connected with local shipping. An article based on his records, entitled, ‘Records of Vessels Wrecked in Tramore Bay, 1816 – ’99’’, written by Maurice J Wigham, appeared in ‘Decies’ No 12, September 1979.

[3] Belfast News-Letter, February 26^th, 1884.

[4] Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Tuesday, March 11, 1884.

[5] Waterford Standard, Wednesday, April 9, 1884

25/09/202028/10/2021

A Blighted Barque- Earl of Beaconsfield

When the owners of the four-masted iron hulled sailing barque Earl of Beaconsfield (1883) saw their new ship enter the River Clyde, they must have hoped for a handsome return on their investment. But although fate has a large role to play in anything to do with shipping, the owners could never have foreseen just how blighted, ill-fated if not damned this ship would be and that within the year she would be sunk after several major incidents at sea, and have never successfully made a single trip.

An example of a four masted barque rigged vessel of the era **SV Herzogin Cecilie** . By Allan C. Green 1878 – 1954 – State Library of Victoria. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10540452

The Earl of Beaconsfield was launched by Russell & Co, Port Glasgow on the 5^th of December 1883 for the firm of A. McAllister & Co, West India Dock Rd, London. The vessel was 269’ 1″ long by ×40’2″×24’3″ and had a tonnage of 1960 GRT and 1893 NRT.[i]

Her maiden voyage started from Glasgow under Captain Kerr and a crew of 31 with freight of coal and general cargo. Her trip would take her down the Irish Sea to the Tuskar Rock along the southern Irish coast where the deep-sea pilot Captain Warden would depart, and then southwards through the Atlantic to Cape Horn and subsequently up the American coast to San Francisco.[ii]

Captain Warden departed the vessel as planned and the ship set her sails for the South Atlantic but the weather had other ideas and as the wind picked up and the seas rose, the crew of the Earl of Beaconsfield found themselves facing a serious test of their new ship. Despite their best efforts, the crew was unable to make any appreciable headway and ultimately they found themselves bearing down on Ballyteigue Bay, Co Wexford on Tuesday evening 12th February. Both anchors were dropped and as the winds continued unabated the ship’s cargo shifted causing a serious list to port which only added to the threat of the mountainous seas that crashed aboard.[iii]

All through the night, the crew battled to stay alive. As the storm persisted the ship became increasingly damaged. The bow was stove in, spars snapped and rigging fell onto the deck. Rockets were shot from the ship into the night sky. Although seen, there was nothing those on shore could do to help except to raise the alarm. A message was sent to the lifeboat station at Duncannon which dispatched the lifeboat overland to Fethard arriving early on Wednesday morning.[iv]

Duncannon lifeboat station. Authors collection.

Duncannon’s lifeboat was a self-righting rowboat called the Richard and Anne. The station was founded in 1869 and served on station for 17 years until 1886. Duncannon was closed as two new stations were then operating at Dunmore East and Fethard on Sea.[v]

The GWRC steamer Waterford passed close by on Wednesday morning and attempted to get close to offer assistance, signals were exchanged but it was deemed too risky to get close. Meanwhile, the Duncannon lifeboat was rowing towards the scene, but because of the gale could not render any immediate assistance. They returned subsequently when the winds moderated and dropped the crew of 32 and a stowaway, to Fethard where they were cared for by locals and an agent for Lloyds.[vi] According to information supplied by Nick Leech author of The Lifeboat Service in Ireland, Station by Station the crew of the lifeboat didn’t get back to Duncannon until almost 9pm on the 14th, a 26 hr rescue. (Although this does not tally with the details I have, I’m also working to try piece together another rescue of the crew of the Stowell Brown. This may account for the discrepancy as this occurred at or around the same time). The crew of the Earl of Beaconsfield were subsequently transported to Waterford and then by the Clyde steamer Skerryvore directly to Glasgow.[vii]

*An oil painting of the Lynmouth lifeboat Louisa, by artist Mark Myers.©RNLI*. *A contemporary craft of the Richard and Anne*

A view of the scene from Fethard Dock recently. Authors collection.

Meanwhile, the Waterford Steam Navigation Co has dispatched the tug Dauntless (which a few years later would play such a courageous role in the failed attempt to save the crew of the Alfred D Snow) and the Duncannon steamer PS Tintern to salvage the wreck. A telegram summoned the tugs Stormcock and Cruiser of the Liverpool Salvage Association too. On arrival at the scene, the Waterford boats were met by a group of Kilmore fishermen who had rowed to the scene and carried out some work on the hatches to help maintain the ship. An agreement was reached between the parties. The anchor cables were so taut from the strain they had endured that extra expertise had to be brought from the Neptune Ironworks in Waterford to release the anchors and then the long tow to Waterford commenced. [viii]

The ship was towed to a safe anchorage at Buttermilk Castle. Having being unloaded and patched up, the Earl of Beaconsfield was subsequently brought back to the Clyde by the tug Stormcock, but this was not without incident. For at 4 am on the 6^th March both the tug and the barque each in turn collided with the schooner J M Stevens. The schooner subsequently sunk in the Firth of Clyde. The crew was saved having managed to scramble aboard the Earl of Beaconsfield.[ix]

Following repairs, the barque was again readied for San Francisco, and a report from the 12^th May 1884 stated that “…She is commanded as formerly by Captain Kerr…and the entire crew, 33 in number, were engaged at Greenock….[she]… carries to the outport about 2,700 tons cargo, principally coal. She is despatched by Messrs T. Skinner Co., Glasgow“[x]

Having negotiated the southern ocean and rounded the Horn, the Earl of Beaconsfield caught fire in the pacific just weeks away from finally reaching San Francisco. On the 13^th of August, the cargo of coal combusted. The vessel was subsequently destroyed by fire in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles west of Santiago, Chile. The crew took to the lifeboat and were subsequently picked up by a passing vessel and landed at Valparaiso. Amazingly, in recording the demise of the ship, a local paper recorded two other incidents with the ship and bad weather before she ever reached Wexford in February at all. If ever there was a case of an unfortunate vessel, surely the Earl of Beaconsfield has earned the title.[xi]

Following publication of this blog, I got the following email from Kevin Brice:

I just wanted to thank you for your blog entry of the 25/09/20 concerning the barque Earl of Beaconsfield which I only came across recently.

Many years ago, sometime in the early 1970’s, my father brought home a very large book he had found in a skip on his way home from work (he always cycled to and from work so I guess it was always easy for him to see what was in the skips he passed). Anyhow the book, on closer inspection, turned out to be a ships log book written up by the Mate of the Earl of Beaconsfield. Even as a teenager I was fascinated by the beautiful writing and spent a lot of time trying to read the text and understand it.

Obviously this was a time way before the internet so it took a long time to find out any information about the ship. Eventually a query to the National Maritime Museum in London cast some light on her and her voyage, this being the second one in your story, taking coal from Greenock to San Francisco, catching fire off the coast of South America which resulted in the crew being rescued. This info, whilst being really helpful, didn’t really extinguish my desire to know more about the ship and her history.

I’ve kept this log book ever since and, over the years, have found out little snippets of information about the ship from the internet and every so often go back and make another trawl to see if anything extra has been added, so it was wonderful to come across your account of her short but undeniably fascinating life including a photo of her.

How this log book came to be in a skip in Worthing, Sussex some 90 years after the crew were brought safely to Valparaiso in Chile is anybodies guess but it has become one of my treasured belongings so thank you once again for adding another layer to her story.

The cover of the Log Book which was retrieved from a skip. It covers the last journey from Grennock to San Franscico unfortunately, from a local perspective it would have been interesting to have a first hand account of the incident

I would like to thank David Carroll for his help with the details of the Duncannon lifeboat Richard & Anne for this story. David is busy finalising his history of the Dunmore East Lifeboat station, further details here.