The Briton was a brig, which is a two masted square rigged ship, and was built at Maryport in the yards of John Peat & Company. It was a fine coppered and copper fastened vessel of 111 tons burthen per register, its name was depicted by a full length carved figure of an ancient Briton with spear and buckler. It was built for Captain Mason of Seaton and was intended for the St. Domingo trade.
In 1846, following repair, she was then put up for auction on 13th April at Mrs. Rennick's Senhouse Arms Inn, at Maryport. The boat was described as 'ready for sea' at the time of auction, the auctioneer was George Lister.
She was once again put up for early auction on 26th January 1847 at The Golden Fleece, Whitehaven. The vessel was now mastered by J.W.T. Middleton, and advertised as fully coppered and repaired at Whitehaven, in September last. However, it was listed, still under the deposition of Joseph W. J. Middleton, in Lloyd's on 16th December that year as sailing from Newport for Dublin.
She was again to be auctioned on 30th August 1859 at Whitehaven and it was adverted that she was in 1st class order and £1,200 had been spent on her. Through her life she would undergo many auctions of the ship itself, or shares of her.
In January 1866 an application to remit a portion of the dues owed was made by the then owner, Mr. Thomas Kelly of Whitehaven, who had lost a man overboard at St. Bees Head on the night of 30th December. The Briton had then missed Whitehaven, but got into Maryport harbour. The trustees agreed to so remit part of the dues, as it had neither discharged nor taken on a cargo at its intended harbour.
In February 1882 she was now found to be registered at Kirkcubbin, of Strangford Lough, Ireland, and commanded by J. M'Kay.
Sunday 12th February was one of the finest and mildest winter days ever known in Maryport, but this turned into a tremendous storm through the night. On the morning of Monday 13th it was reported that a West to South West wind of Force nine was billowing and it was raining, with very limited vision. Some described it as a hurricane force wind; waves were breaking over the pier, with slates and chimneys being blown off roofs.
At 4 am, Harbour boatman Wilson Beck went down to the south pier to light the tidal light; this would signal to shipping that there was 8 feet of water to enter the harbour in, the tide then being 4 hours flood. He saw two bright lights at sea, a little to the west of Flimby. It was later known to be The John, and the captain was signalling for a tug. Wilson alerted John Brown, the mate of the 117 tons gross weight, iron steam-tug called the Florence, who informed its commander, Captain Mounsey. This vessel was owned by The Maryport Steam Shipping Company Limited, and it then set out from the harbour to offer assistance. As they passed down the harbour channel, driven by the 70 horsepower engines, they came abreast of the light and stopped the engines, so not to proceed into the huge waves at too great a speed. Suddenly they spied a topsail, then a vessel, coming into the harbour. Mounsey shouted an urgent command of, 'Full speed astern!' to his engineer, although the helm wasn't altered. He then called out to the vessel, 'Hard a Starboard!' The two ships soon collided with the Florence struck on the starboard bow and her mast was carried away. The other vessel was The Briton, and it then drifted damaged down the channel, going ashore on the north bank of the harbour and immediately broke up on the rocks. The crew of three and the captain took to the rigging in an attempt to save their lives.
Following the collision the Florence captain had instructed the engineer to 'Turn a-head' with the intention of proceeding to the original vessel, the John, that had signalled for assistance. Unfortunately the mast and its stays had become entangled in one of the paddle wheels and the steamer had to move a'stern and return to port to clear this.
The next vessel to try and make the harbour was The John at 4:45am, but she was blown onto the shore a quarter of a mile beyond the harbour and beached. At 5am the North Branch attempted the harbour entrance and missed, though managed to drop her anchor, and brought herself up at the end of the north pier. The Ottawa then attempted to enter after ten further minutes and also missed the entrance. She narrowly passed the North Branch and beached on the shore near the north pier. She was within 30 yards of the stricken Briton and saw her crew crying out for aid in the rigging, but could offer no help. The Briton crew were known to have hung to the rigging for an hour and a half before their strength failed them and they were lost to the crashing waves; all four men were drowned.
The next ship, called The Allies, later tried to make the safety of the harbour, but struck the North Pier and remained there until the following day. This ship and the Ottawa, both of Maryport, were eventually wrecked, although there was no loss of life from those two vessels.
The inquest was opened at the police court on Wednesday 15th and Adam Palmer, the father-in-law of James Gaw gave evidence of identification. He also told the inquest that the brig had sailed the previous Sunday, 11th.
James Wilson Ogle, an out-door officer of customs, was on the hill at 9 am and saw the ships beached. He went down and helped recover the first body, then another three. Two locals were able to board the stricken Briton at 11 am, and not before due to the danger. The eventual verdict on th efour bodies was 'Found Drowned' and the main inquiry into how the accident happened would be an issue for a later maritime inquiry. The bodies of four deceased crew were released after identification by the coroner and were placed in coffins for transport back to their native Ireland. The bodies were arranged to be transported by rail to Barrow for shipment, at £5 per coffin. Thus would have been a significant cost to the bereaved families but now the owner of the s.s. Black Diamond, crewed by naval reserve men, was telegraphed and agreed to transport the bodies free of charge. That departure was from Maryport as the ship was engaged in the transport of coal, and was sailing to Belfast. She was owned by Mr. Wood, the brother of John Wood, who owned the Maryport Hematite Iron Works, and was a Trustee for the town and harbour. The coffins were loaded for a 5pm sailing; the whole town turned out in reverential respect to fellow departed sailors.
On Friday 17th, all four crew members were buried in their native graveyards. James Gaw (36), the owner and captain, was buried at Glastry; Francis Filston (35) in Kirkcubbin; James Ross (36) in Ballyhalbert; and John Dorrian (21) in Lisban graveyard. A subscription of £50 was raised for the widow and orphans of Filson and Ross.
Coastal towns live with tragedy at their door and soon recover. That a terrible shipwreck had occurred was undisputed, but hand in hand with coastal catastrophes and loss runs their bedfellow, namely salvage. The contents of the Briton were auctioned at the Custom House Yard, Maryport, on Monday 20th of that month. Following the contents auction the remains of the vessel itself were further put under the hammer. It had been clear from the later inspection of the wreck that the stern had suffered catastrophic damage.
A Board of Inquiry was commenced on Friday 24th March, to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy. It continued on 25th and concluded on 27th. It was held at the Athenaeum and chaired by Mr. Rotheray, the Chief Commissioner of Wrecks with The Board of Trade. The Maryport Steam Shipping Company, and the Briton owners were each legally represented. Two assessors were also appointed under 'The Shipping and Casualties Act, 1879'. They were Captains Murdoch, Parish, and Rear Admiral Moresby, RN. It was said the Briton was 68 feet long, 19 feet broad, and 10 feet deep. She had sailed from Portaferry on 12th and was laden with twenty tons of stone ballast, eleven and a half tons of potatoes and five of hay and bound for Whitehaven. James Gaw had owned her for a year and it was a seaworthy vessel and not overloaded.
The Board immediately honed in on the weak points of those who tried to clear their actions. Captain Mounsey came in for the particular criticism of The Board who stated that The Briton was coming into the harbour quite properly. The 'Hard a-Starboard' shout was a violation of the rules of the road at sea. Then after the collision there was no evidence to show that the crew of the steamer had tried to aid any of the crew of the Briton, despite the fouling of the starboard paddle wheel. The board concluded that something should have been able to be done to rescue the crew. They said that all Captain Mounsey did was return to the safety of the harbour. Although he reported to the harbour master that he had been in collision with another vessel, the seriousness of the impact was not conveyed. They further concluded that he had set about to treat the collision as lightly as possible. They then censured William Johnston, the acting harbour master and the John Webster the coxswain of the Maryport lifeboat, for not sending out the boat when they knew a vessel had been struck. They stated that the regulations of the lifeboat were disgraceful and clearly what occurred was, 'What is everyone's business is nobody's business'. It was said that the lifeboat would not be sent to a vessel unless they specifically signalled they were in distress. The board found such a statement as simply astounding on any level of human intelligence. How could a man, who had taken to the rigging of a broken vessel to save his life, send a signal of distress? The only signal that such crew could give was cries for help, and hope brave men would risk themselves in the face of such a tempest to save fellow sailors; that cry for aid was ignored. The final board decision was that Captain Mounsey was to blame for the collision, having tried to pass on the inside of, and the starboard side of The Briton. They further concluded that Webster and Johnston were to blame for the failure to launch the lifeboat. Mr. Hutchins was the Chief Coastguard officer, but they concluded he was blameless. He had only been alerted around 6:30 am and attended immediately. On going to the end of the north pier he saw what he believed was a man fluttering a flag and ordered the lifeboat to be launched, but before it could be got out the flag waver had disappeared.
The local press reported on the board of inquiry findings and used the words of, indifference, cowardice, and they commented also on the shame born by the town, due to the inaction of its harbour staff.
On Tuesday 23rd January 1883, at Whitehaven County Court the case of Ruth Gaw -v- Maryport Steam Shipping Company Limited was commenced at a preliminary hearing. Mrs. Gaw was claiming £300 for the loss of The Briton. A date was set for the full case and at Carlisle Court on Wednesday 9th May this was to be heard. The claim was now £279 and it was recognised by each party's barristers that Mrs. Gaw had a separate claim for the loss of her husband, to be heard before the Admiralty Court in Liverpool. The lawyers had all now fairly met and agreed a settlement of the whole matter at £500.
(C)opyright
No comments:
Post a Comment