The Kitterland and Brig Lily Disaster and deaths of Constables John Craige and John Wright on 28th December 1852

On Wednesday 22nd December 1852 the 169-ton brig Lily, owned by Messrs Hatton and Cookson of Mersey Street, Liverpool, set sail from that port, bound for Ambriz, Lower Guinea, on the west coast of Africa. Its cargo was 61 tons of dynamite in total, 20 puncheons of rum, some small arms, machetes,  and various goods for bartering with. It was caught in storms, beaten about the channel, when at around 11am on Monday 27^th it was driven onto the uninhabited Island of Kitterland, in the sound between of The Calf, and the Isle of Man. The captain was John Owens, and the crew numbered a further 12 men. Despite the waves beating upon the vessel, the crew managed to take to a boat and attempted to get to safety, gaining footage on the rocks. The captain and three of the crew, one an orphan boy, in trying to gain higher and safer ground, were swept away and drowned, the carpenter was killed by the foremast falling on him. Only eight gained the safety of the higher ground of the uninhabited island. The local people of Port St. Mary became aware of the stricken vessel and launched their best boat to save the survivors, and managed to get them back to their village. William Fanning was the second mate of The Lily and had a compound fracture of the leg which was expected to take months to heal.

The vessel was insured by Lloyds and the sub-agent on the island was Mr. Enos Lace, the Port St. Mary grocer and shipbroker; he had also supervised the earlier crew rescue. He got a message despatched to Mr. Boardman, the agent in Douglas and a salvage of cargo was agreed; the vessel was lost, but the cargo could in large be salvaged. At about 4am on Tuesday morning, he and 29 other men set off to recover the cargo; a large portion of the gunpowder was stowed high up and was expected to be still dry; the tide was out which meant that the stricken vessel was high up on the rocks, this would aid the salvage operation. Two of the men were the Chief Constable (the equivalent to a modern sergeant) of Castletown, 32-year-old John Craige, and 26-year-old Constable John Wright; both would be there to ensure the full recovery of the cargo along with Mr. Lace. Suddenly, at 8am, a terrific explosion occurred which was mistaken by many local people to be an earthquake. The miners at the level mines of Ballacorkish, which were three miles away were 35 fathoms underground and were thrown onto their backs and the lights extinguished. Bales in flames were seen hundreds of feet above, flying through the air like meteors; a spar was driven several feet into the ground in a field at The Howe, and debris was strewn all over the parish of Rushen. Even in Douglas, which was 16 miles away, houses were severely shaken by the blast. A second boat had just been launched to assist the salvagers and eight to ten men had been standing a few hundred yards away on the mainland when the explosion happened, which blew the hats off their heads. One was a ‘Tide Waiter’ or customs officer, called J. Watterson, who described the devastating scene. When the view cleared, where a vessel and men formerly stood on Kitterland, nothing at all now remained. The cry went out from the mainland, “Every soul is gone into Eternity.” The second boat managed to then get to Kitterland and only four bodies were found. Although badly mutilated, three of them were identified as, William Cowin, William Watterson, and John Hudgeon.

In the immediate aftermath it was supposed that everyone involved in the salvage was killed but one man called James Kelly had survived, although he was very severely injured with part if his cheek and his his ear blown away. It had been supposed that one of the men had caused the explosion by smoking a pipe, but he was able to give an account that discounted that theory. He said that when Mr. Lace and the others went on board before daylight there was a strong dirty smell, but no smoke could be seen. When day dawned around 7am, smoke could be seen coming from the hold. The men had cleared the cabin of goods and stored them on the island but now became fearful of the smoke and wished to quit the vessel. Unfortunately, a decision was made to extinguish the fire, by cutting a hole in the deck and to pour water inside. He was returning to the vessel having stored some salvage on the island when a terrific explosion occurred which flung him back 30 feet. When he regained consciousness, his face was covered in his own blood, which was gushing from his wounded cheek; he had been found sitting dazed by the second crew, with other body parts lying around him. He was adamant that no smoking implements had been taken onto the ship by the men of Port St. Mary and was certain that the explosion had been caused by a fire not of their making.

The community of Port St. Mary was devasted and there was hardly a residence that had not been touched by the tragedy. The funerals took place at Kirk Christ, Rushen, with the whole community in attendance in solemn mourning. What bodies that could be found were placed in coffins, but most of these human remains were unidentifiable, and were collected and buried together as a mass within the grave. Twenty-five of the dead were from Port St. Mary, two from Castletown, and two from The Howe; the disaster in a split second turned 22 wives into widows and made 77 children fatherless.

The deceased were:

From Port St. Mary

John Fell, 27, (mariner), married, two children,

William Cowley, 42, (mariner), married, four children,

William Kermode, 55, (labourer), married, five children,

Edward Gale, (publican), 42, married, no children,

Henry Gale, 37, (mariner), married, seven children,

John Gale, 45, (labourer), married, five children,

Thomas Witted, 26, (mariner), married, no children,

John Cubbon, 57, (joiner), married, no children,

William Lawson, 52, (master mariner), married, one child,

Thomas Callister, 43, (mariner), married, six children,

William Taubman, 42, (blockmaker), married, three children,

John Callister, 29, (mariner), married, four children,

Samuel Callister, 29, (carpenter), married, one child,

John Callister, 22, (mariner), married, three children,

Thomas Turnbull, 32, married, seven children,

George Costain, 32, (roper), married, five children,

William Watterson, 31, (mariner), married, five children,

Thomas Nelson, 46, (carpenter), married, one child,

Charles, Clugton, 43, (labourer), widower, two children,

Enos Lace, 51, (shopkeeper/roper), widower, six children.

Robert Callister, 33, (baker/mariner), unmarried,

Edward Qualtrough, 22, (assistant tide-waiter), unmarried,

William Watterson, 29, (mariner), unmarried,

William Cone, 22, (mariner), unmarried,

John Hudgeon, 21, (mariner), unmarried.

From Howe

Edward Watterson, 25, (fisherman), married, no children,

John Watterson, 31, (carpenter) married, six children,

From Castletown

John Craige, 32, (chief constable), married, three children,

Constable John Wright, 26, (constable), married one child (and widow expected to be in confined every day).

The only survivor, James Kelly, was from Port St. Mary; he was married, with three children.

Unfortunately, there were no poor rates on The Isle of Man, so there was no legal provision for the now destitute families. A subscription was commenced for the unfortunate widows and their children, both in Liverpool and the Isle of Man where Mr. Gawne of Kentraugh immediately headed the list with a donation of £100. After the first publication of the initial donations, by The Liverpool Mercury on 18^th January 1853, the fund had reached £769 11s 1d. They also reported further contributions made, which included £26 5s from Messrs. Curtis and Harvey Hounslow Gunpowder factory, a general contribution of £30 from Messrs Milners’ Phoenix Safe Works, and many smaller contributions. The unfortunate rumours stating that some of the salvagers had been smoking, thus being the authors of their own deaths, began to spread. The Liverpool Mercury had to discredit these false accounts stating that the recovery was supervised by the Lloyds sub-agent and the chief constable of Castletown. They went on to say how these rumours were unhelpful to the relief fund and encouraged people to donate further. A talk was given in Liverpool by the Reverend Hugh Stowell Brown on 14^th February on the subject, ‘The State of Religious Freedom on the Continent’; the proceeds were to be given to the Lilly disaster fund. After 5 weeks the fund was announced as sufficient and had reached £4,000, buoyed by the support of The Queen and Prince Consort, who made a £50 donation.

In April 1875 Mr. Thomas Quillam, of The Marble Works, Castletown, erected a large monument to commemorate the disaster. This had been done on the insistence of the committee of the ‘Kitterland Explosion Fund’.

The Monument.**

On 12th February 1889 the Oddfellows ‘Harbour of Peace Lodge’ of Port St. Mary held a meeting. It boasted 500 members and had commenced in 1839. It was highlighted what the purpose of the lodge was, and the work they did in support of its community. It had meandered along until the brig Lily disaster of 1852 when their widow and orphan fund, something the speaker believed other lodges did not have, had been prompt in their duty to the bereaved families at that great time of distress.

In late March 1891, James Kelly died at his home at Willow Terrace, Port St. Mary; he was 68 years old. He had been regarded as one of the hardest working and bravest of fishermen in the area and made a living from catching crabs and lobsters; also, from attending to the Chicken’s Rock Relief Boat, with his son. He was interred at Rushen churchyard.

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My interest in this began with the death of the two constables, for the purposes of The National Police Roll of Honour but due to it being a large part of history of The Solway Firth entrance/Irish sea area, I decided to compile a fuller account on the whole event.

Specifically, on the officers themselves:

In June of 1841 20-year-old John Craige resided at Malew Street, Castletown, with his 25-year-old wife Catherine, nee Hampton. They married on 17^th February 1841 at Braddan parish, Isle of Man. It is unclear when he commenced in the police but it 1851, he is recorded as the Chief Constable of Castletown, living on Castle Street with Catherine. They had two boys living with them in 1851, John Hampton Craige (4), and Samuel Hampton Craige (1), both boys born in Scotland, although the reason for this is unclear. John Hampton Craige unfortunately died and was buried at Malew on 4^th October 1852. Margaret Catherine Craige, was baptized on 21^st April 1852 and was an infant when her father died. All three children were baptized on this same date of 21^st April 1852, at Saint Mary’s, Castletown. In 1861 the daughter, Margaret Catherine, was then living with her maternal grandmother and step-grandfather on The Key, Castletown; James Mylchreest, the step-grandfather, was now retired from his former position of harbour master of Castletown. John and Catherine had two earlier children; William John Craig was baptized on 2nd November 1841, baptised at Castletown), so missed the June census earlier that year, and in 1851 he was recorded with his maternal grandmother and step-grandfather  the harbour master James Mylchreest. Mary had previously been widowed under the married name of Hampton; Catherine (constable Craige’s wife) was the child of that previous marriage. When Mr. Hampton died Mary married James Mylchreest on 21^st September 1824. Thomas James Craige was baptised on 15^th August 1844 but no records show him surviving, so likely died prior to the 1851 census, most likely at or soon after his birth. Catherine died in 1857 and the four children were left orphaned. William John Craig went on to become the Auctioneer and shore-broker, possibly this was an insurance broker for Lloyds. William died and was buried on 27^th August 1903 at Braddan.

John Wright was born in Ireland and little is known of him until 1851 when he was a 24-year-old police constable in Castletown. At that time, he was married to 28-year-old Margaret (maiden name believed to be Sennett), who was local to the area. On 13st August of that year Sarah Elizabeth was baptized at St. Mary’s, Castletown. Their son John was baptised on 13^th February 1853, and Margaret was known to be near confinement when her husband died in the Kitterland explosion. Margaret appears in the 1861 and 1871 censuses and does not remarry; John junior was still living with his mother and was a mariner; he cannot be followed in later censuses. A John Wright died in 1877 and is believed to be constable Wright’s son, John. This man was aged 24 years old and was buried at Castletown.

**The Monument image is reproduced with kind permission of 1414Jan, and is taken with permission from the 'Find a Grave' website, ID number 48003845.