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On Saturday morning last, the inhabitants of
the three towns were astounded and shocked by the
intelligence that the barque John, of this port,
Rawle, master, which had only left Plymouth Sound
on Thursday afternoon, had struck on the Manacles
Rock, off St. Keverne, on the coast of Cornwall,
and that upwards of one hundred and ninety of her
passengers had been drowned. The intelligence at
first appeared to be too frightful to be
credited; but it was soon ascertained that the
statement was only too true, and that one of the
most deplorable shipwrecks that had ever taken
place on the western close had occurred.
The John was bound for Quebec, and when she left
the Sound about four o'clock on Thursday
afternoon, who had on board 154 adult passengers,
98 children, and 16 infants, together in a crew
in all of 19, making the total of souls on board
287. The passengers principally from the North of
Devon, the great source of American emigration in
the West of England, numbers from other parts of
this country and the remainder from the counties
of Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset, - in fact, she
was considered what is termed a West Country
ship.
Many of the friends accompanied the unfortunate
passengers to this port to bid them farewell, and
as the vessel left the Sound relatives might be
seen here and there on the Hoe, gazing after her
with painful interest, or shedding tears at the
separation between them and those they loved
dearly - a separation which, as the sequel
proved, was, in many instances a fatal one.
Others put on a bolder front, and sought to
infuse some of their own spirits into their
friends on board by hearty cheers in which they
were joined by some of the spectators, who
happened to be present.
The ship left at the top of the ebb tide with a
favourable wind off the land, and all bid her
fare for a prosperous voyage down channel. How
their hopes were blighted, it would be impossible
to say, so varied are the accounts of those who
have been spared to tell the catastrophe. This
much, however, we may state that all accounts
agree in condemning the captain, who, it is said,
had no business to be so close in shore, and who,
notwithstanding that he was warned of the danger,
stupidly persisted in keeping the vessel in the
same course.
So embittered were the survivors towards him
that it is stated the Coast Guard were obliged to
protect him from their fury. But whether this
anger arose from a belief that the accident was
the result of inattention on his part - or that
the captain and crew saved themselves, as stated,
to the sacrifice of the passengers - or, in fact,
what gave rise to this angry feeling at all, it
would be wrong to say until evidence shall be
taken as it is easy to imagine that the
survivors, many of whom have sustained the loss
of their dearest relatives, whilst nearly all
have lost the whole of their wealth the
possessed, would be embittered, and give vent to
their feelings against one to whom they had
entrusted their life and property.
The scene after the vessel struck, as may be
anticipated, was most distressing, the utmost
confusion prevailed, and most of those on board
gave themselves up in despair. The account
rendered by one of the passengers is most
heart-rending, thought the character of all
similar disasters, except that human sympathy was
in this case the more excited from the number of
children on board, and from the extraordinary
efforts of their parents to save them from the
death impending.
One of the passengers, William Walters, a man
apparently of sickly and delicate constitution,
succeeded as the vessel settled in the water, in
taking his wife and six children into the rigging
one by one - the youngest, unfortunately, fell
from the mother's arms into the sea; the
father, though unable to swim, plunged after it,
but failed in his noble effort to save his child,
and, with difficulty, regained the ship.
Another, Wm. Clemence, who had a wife and eight
children on board, attempted to raise the six
youngest of them into the rigging by the aid of a
"sheet", with which he had tied them
together. Unfortunately, he failed in his
efforts, and four were drowned. Samuel Rogers, a
boy aged fifteen, one of the other passengers
saved, has lost his father, mother, two brothers,
a sister, and a cousin. Henry North, saved, lost
his wife and three children.
So far as the facts can be gleaned from the
parties on board, it appears that all went
prosperously till about half past nine, when they
made the Falmouth light, the captain himself
pointing it out to one of the passengers on deck.
Just at this time the second mate was trying to
sight the Lizard light, and he asked some of the
passengers if they could not see the reflection
of the light in the sky; they replied they could
not, when the captain said he could not either,
but they would see it fast enough when they got
there. It was the second-mate's watch, and
the captain shortly after went below. About ten
o'clock the mate came on the poop and asked
the passengers if they had seen the captain, and
on being asked what he wanted the captain for, he
said he (the mate) thought they were a deal too
nigh the land. Shortly after this the captain
came on deck, and what the mate had stated,
"that they were getting too close on
land," was reported to him; the captain
"pooh-poohed" the report.
Soon afterward someone forward sung out
"rocks," and almost immediately the
vessel struck with violence, so much so that she
bumped over the rock and then struck, with still
greater force upon rocks further in; the captain
was then distinctly heard to call out "run
her aground". The vessel then had all sail
on her with great way, as she was when the
accident happened going eight or nine knots, and
though ran aground, the sea washed off her again,
and she ran down the coast for some distance.
An attempt was then made to bring her up by
letting go an anchor, when she grounded heavily
broadside on. Attention was then directed to the
boats - of which she had four on board, three on
deck and one over the side - the captain, four
seamen, a boy and one passenger, jumped into the
latter boat and called out to lower, but finding
no one answered the call, the captain returned to
the deck of the vessel, when the boat was
lowered. On touching the water it was found there
was no plug in her, and she was without thowle
pins. While they were waiting to supply these
deficiencies, her tackle became unhooked, and the
boat drifted off from the vessel with out the
captain.
The men put their knives in for thowle pins, and
the passenger his German pipe for a like purpose
and they pulled out to sea to get round a point
of rocks over which the breakers were rolling
heavily. When they had weathered this point they
pulled for the land, on nearing which they called
aloud for help; when they were heard by the son
of Lieut. McLean, of the Coast Guard, who pointed
out a place of safe landing. Immediately the
alarm was spread that a vessel had struck on the
Manacles. An attempt was then made to pull out
some of the Coast Guard boats without success,
from the dangerous character of the coast.
The passengers who had got on shore were taken
by the Coast Guard people in their attempt to put
out to assist the vessel in order to direct them
where she lay - those of the ships' crew who
got on shore positively refusing to lend even
this assistance. Unfortunately the boats could
not reach the vessel, and were compelled to
return to the shore. They postponed all further
efforts till the following morning, when, going
further up the coast to a more favourable place
of embarkation, they reached the vessel, which
was then not above 200 yards from the shore.
During the whole of this time, the crew being, it
is said, for the most part intoxicated, not a
single effort was made to save the passengers by
either the captain or crew. Some of the
passengers attempted of themselves to get the
cutter out, in doing so they stove her bottom,
and lost the boat.
The tide at the time the vessel struck was about
two-third ebb, and when she sank she filled with
water, but the decks were dry, and if assistance
had been rendered at this time all might have
been safely landed. Unfortunately, for the want
of some directing mind, this opportunity was
lost, and on the returning tide some portion of
those on board got into the rigging, the crew
getting in the tops, while a large number of the
passengers took shelter in the long-boat - the
boat was floated out of the chocks and beaten
across the deck against the bulwarks until she
was knocked to pieces, and the whole of her
living freight either crushed or drowned.
The rising tide soon did it's work, washing
the unfortunate people off the decks and out of
the lower rigging, most of them having from cold
and suffering lost even the little energy
necessary to make further ascent up the rigging.
In the morning the survivors were taken off the
wreck by the Coast Guard and landed at Coverack,
St.Keverne, when they met the most hospitable
reception from the inhabitants.
One of the passengers, Mr. E.C.Hele, of Shaldon,
being provided with a life belt, swam ashore in
the night, and he declares that had the boats
been lowered when she struck all might have been
saved. Another of the cabin passengers, Mr.
Knuckey, lately returned from Australia, had lost
£500 of his earnings, but succeeded in
taking ashore 700 sovereigns in a belt. Elizabeth
Pearce and Mary Ann Penman, two of the partied
saved, left the service of Mrs. Hector, 2,
Albany-place. Another passenger among the
fortunate survivors, who left the dockyard to
emigrate, as if foreseeing the chance of
calamity, asked for a week's leave only,
instead of his discharge from the service, this
would have expired to-morrow; he now returns in
time to retake his employment. Seventy-two of the
bodied of the unfortunate people were buried in
forty-four coffins on Sunday in St. Keverne
churchyard - relations being buried together.
Immediately the melancholy intelligence reached
this place it was telegraphed to the Admiralty
and to the Emigration Commissioners, upon which
the former directed Sir William Parker, the
Commander-in-Chief, to dispatch the Avon, second
master Veitch in command, to the scene of the
disaster, and which returned to this port on
Tuesday-evening, bringing a number of the
passengers saved. The Emigration Commissioners
also directed Lieutenant Carew, R.N, agent at
this port to proceed at once to the place of the
wreck, and that gentleman left this port on
Saturday evening. The Board of Trade also
dispatched an officer to institute an inquiry
into the circumstance of the wreck under the
provision of the new act which came into
operation on the inst., Commander Baldwin Wake,
of the Coast Guard, having made the preliminary
enquiry as the act directs.
In the interim, the coroner of the district has
been performing the melancholy duty of holding
inquisitions on the bodied thrown up by the sea.
The evidence at the inquest showed that there was
not a single palliating circumstance in favour of
the captain. The vessel struck at ten p.m., and
all were safe until daylight the next morning
when the captain forbade the passengers from
moving and in the case of a poor old man who fell
overboard from the rigging, he refused to allow a
party who volunteered to go to his assistance.
The greatest loss of life was occasioned by so
many of the passengers getting into the rigging
that it broke away, the parties falling into the
sea, those not able to swim or not strong enough
to regain the vessel, perishing.
The jury having heard all the evidence, in
recording their verdict, observed that they
considered the conduct of the whole of the crew,
with the exception of a seaman named Elder, most
blameable, and expressed their surprise that the
ship was not supplied with a signal gun nor blue
lights, and recommended that a light should be
placed on the Manacles. Against the Captain
(Rawle) they returned a VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER,
and the coroner's warrant was at once issued
for his apprehension, and on which he has been
lodged in the Cornwall county gaol at Bodmin.
The passengers who have survived have received
their passage money back again, but in the
instance where survivors have lost relatives, the
passage money of the deceased has not been
repaid.
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