Four were drowned when a tug assisting the Royal Mail liner Highland Monarch (14,000 tons) at Southampton sank after a collision with the ship. Three members of the engine room staff were trapped and went down with the tug. A deck boy
who jumped overboard was unable to swim and was also drowned.
Collision in the Channel
April 1902
The Alma, 1145 tons, a
passenger steamer, when bound from Southampton to Havre, collided at night with
the iron barque Cambrian Prince, 1391 tons.
The captain, chief officer, and
nine of the
crew of the barque were drowned.
[The Alma is a steel
twin-screw steamer of 1145 tons, was built at Glasgow by J. and G. Thomson
Limited, in 1894 and chartered to the London and South-western Railway
The Cambrian Prince is an iron ship of 1303 tons, built by T. R. Oswald at Southampton
in 1876, and was owned by Messrs W. Thomas Company.]
S.O.S. MYSTERY February 1928
CREW KEPT TO SHIP
Survivor's Story of Channel Collision
A collision
which occurred between tile Russian training ship Tovaritsch and the Italian steamer Alcantara in the English Channel
presents mysterious features. The collision resulted in the death of 20
members of the crew of the latter steamer.
A point which ls unexplained is
the
cancellation of the Russian ship's S.O.S. by a second message to the effect
that help was not needed. This delayed the departure of lifeboats for three hours until
the true position was ascertained from other sources.
The entire crew of the Russian steamer is at present
confined to the ship und sworn to secrecy by a representative by a representative
of the Arcos Steamship Company. It is impossible in the circumstances to clear up the enigma.
Olovannia Pavon, 28, an
engineer of the steamer AIdantara, the sole survivor, who was picked up by the Tovaritsch,
was found standing at the Quayside at Southampton, gazing at the
battered Tovaritsch.
He said it was dark, and the
strong
wind was blowing when the collision occurred. The engines
were reduced to 7½ knots. The Chief Engineer came down into the engine
room. He was ghastly white. He said the
captain had ordered them to stand by, because there was terrible danger.
A tremendous crash followed, and was accompanied by groans and curses.
The Chief Engineer shouted,
"All hands on deck."
Continuing, Pavon said, "I
rushed up
in pitch dark. The Alcantara reeled. 1 saw the stern of the Tovuritsch wedged in our starboard quarter. 1 ran to the engine room
stairs, turned and called to the mate. Two tremendous reports denoted the explosion of our boilers. I grasped
the Tovaritsch bow-spit chain, and a Russian hauled me up. The Alcantara sank in three
minutes. The Tovuritsch lowered boats - and searched tor survivors without success."
DESTRUCTION OF THE STEAM SHIP AMAZON
January 1852
It becomes our painful duty to report the particulars of a most
appalling accident. The Royal Mail Steam-ship Amazon, Captain Symons, which left Southampton on Friday for the West
Indies and the Gulf of Mexico, has been totally consumed by fire, and of 156
persons who were on board her when she left, it is feared only twenty one have
been saved.
Of the passengers only two or three escaped, Mr Neilson
being one of them. He arrived in Liverpool on Wednesday morning, and has
furnished a contemporary with the following most interesting account of the sad
catastrophe, of his wonderful escape, arid of the dreadful fate of nearly all
the rest of the passengers:
Mr Neilson’s
Narrative.
The Amazon sailed
from Southampton on Friday evening, with 150 people on board. At 9 p.m. on
Friday night, the bearings of the engines became so hot that they were stopped
till cooled. At 10 they proceeded. and at noon on Saturday reached lat.49° 12
lon.4°.S7. At 9 30 p.m., Mr Neilson was in the engine room, and saw the grease
fly off like steam, from her bearings being again heated. The engines stopped,
and engineers commenced pumping on them, and did not resume her course till 11-30.
Mr. Neilson remained on deck until half-past 12, up to which time all was safe,
he proceeded to the engine-room, and thence to his cabin, leaving Mr Vincent,
midshipman, on duty on deck. After ten minutes Mr Vincent went down the fore hold,
saw flumes near the galley and gave the alarm to the captain and started the
fire-bell. Many hands turned up, and the scene of confusion beggared all
description. Most of those on deck were in their night-clothes, and, from
seeing Mr Burnett in a life-buoy, Mr Neilson returned to his cabin for an India-rubber
belt. Before he could return on deck the flames had burst the class panels, and,
rushing across, prevented several passengers gaining the deck. Mr Neilson urged
them forward in vain, and rushed past them. Captain Symons was exerting himself
most heroically to instruct others to stem the flames, but in vain. His last
order was "For God's sake. Mr Roberts, put her before the wind!” This was done; but Mr Roberts left the helm,
and young Mr Vincent, who was lowering the dingy from the stern, jumped outward
put the helm hard up, and the vessel played off. The mail boat on the port side
was lowered, with about twenty-five people; it swamped alongside, and all
perished. The pinace was also lowered; she hung by her fore-tackle on being
lowered and the sea swept all hands out of her. On the star-board side the gig
was being steadily lowered full of hands; the second cutter in front of her,
also full, was lowering down, when a sea struck her bow, unhooked the tackle,
and as the ship rose
to the sea, lifted the cutter by the stern tackle, and canted all but two into
the stern, who hung, doubled over the thwarts, screaming for help. On the
starboard side was No. 2 lifeboat, in which were twelve sea-men trying to lower
her, but were prevented by her being fast to the keel. Mr Neilson joined those
men, in vain trying to get her over the side, when one of the men begged him to
regain the deck, and assist in raising her with the tackle. This was done, and
the boat was raised out of the keel crane and lowered down; but before half in
the water, the flames had burst through the companion and caught the men at the
fore tackle, who sprung into the boat, followed by Mr Neilson and two others,
who were the last to quit the ship.
In this state the boat was dragged until an oar could be got out to fend her
off from the cutter, still hanging in the tackle, when the word was given to
cut away the fore tackle, and she drifted clear of the doomed ship; which flew through the water at
a fearful pace, and soon left the boat astern. The lifeboat was shortly after joined by the
dingy, then in a sinking state, with ten people, including Mr Vincent. They
were immediately taken on board, and every effort made in order to assist and save
others. The gale had increased, the sea
running fearfully high, and the first effort of the crew to reach the burning ship was paralysed by a tremendous
sea, which swamped the dingy, tore off the lifeboat's rudder and nearly filled her
with water. There was nothing for it but to bring her bend to the wind, watching
the seas, and directing the men to pull so as to meet them right ahead. While
in this state a barque hove in sight, and passed between the burning ship and the boat: they answered
the joyful cheer of the boat's crew, and then left them to their fate. The
mainmast of the Amazon went
first, then the foremast, but some time elapsed before the mizzenmast went by
the board, chimneys were red hot, and the hull one mass of flames. About 4 p.m.,
it rained very heavily, which bore down the sea; the boat was put about and
pulled before the wind. As she passed the stern of the ship, the fire reached the magazine and the rockets exploded, and in
three-quarters of an hour the ship rolled
over and disappeared.
Without a rudder, compass, water, or food, the crew pulled on and headed
for the coast of France, as near as they could guess. They broke clear, but
without any prospect of relief, and Mr Neilson and Mr. Vincent proceeded to
divide the crew into two watches, when the man at the look-out announced a sail
; for upwards of on hour of deep anxiety her course could not be ascertained.
She, however, at last was made out to be an outward bound brig, and proved to be
the Marsden, of London, Captain Evans, who took the exhausted crew on board,
and fronted them with the greatest possible kindness. He tried to land them on
the coast of France, but could not and eventually bore up for the English
Channel, and landed them at Plymouth, where they were received and treated with
the greatest hospitality and kindness by the landlord of The Globe. To Mr
Vincent's conduct throughout too much praise cannot be given, and we are
assured by Mr. Neilson, from whom we receive this narrative, that he never for one
moment witnessed the least symptom of fear or hesitation, or uttered a murmur
of discontent, his chief care seeming to be for his men, who, encouraged by his
example, noted with a steadiness, uniformity, and discipline, which alone under
Divine Providence, could secure, any chance of escape from such a combination
of dangers.
The value of the Amazon when
ready for sea was about £100,000, and she is understood to have cost the Royal
Mail Steam-packet Company fully that sum. We are informed that she is not insured,
and the loss will consequently fall entirely upon the insurance fund of the
company-a fund exclusively devoted from annual grants, derived, from the
profits of the company towards casualties of shipwrecks and loss of their
vessels. The value of the specie and quicksilver when added to the value of the
ship, will give a total loss of property by this melancholy occurrence of
little less than £200.000 sterling.
The West India Mail Company has been the most unfortunate of all the
great steam packet associations in the loss of their steam-ships. Since the
establishment of the company in 1811 no less than eight of their fleet of
steamers have been destroyed by casualties on the sea.
Captain Symons was only provisionally appointed to the Amazon. He recently distinguished himself
by great bravery in the Isthmus of Panama, where, by his intrepidity and coolness,
he prevented the slaughter of a great number of American passengers by the
infuriated natives, and where, under a heavy fire of musketry ammunition, he succeeded
in convoying gold [to the value of upwards 2,000,000 dollars] in the boats of the
Medway to board the United States mail steamship.
In St Michael’s Church in Bugle Street, Southampton there is a memorial
to the disaster.
'ERECTED BY THE ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET COMPANY
IN HONOUR OF THE CAPTAIN, OFFICERS AND
CREW
WHO PERISHED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
AMAZON
STEAM SHIP BY FIRE AT SEA ON THE 4TH
JANY 1852
WILLIAM SYMONS-CAPTAIN
HENRY ROBERTS-CHIEF OFFICER
CHAS HENRY TREWEEKE-2ND OFFICER
JOHN LEWIS-THIRD OFFICER
GEO. FRED. GOODRIDGE-FOURTH OFFICER
FRAN. EDM. STAINFORTH-MIDSHIPMAN
WILLIAM KAHLED STUART-MIDSHIPMAN
JAS. FULLERTON MD-SURGEON
MATTHEW H. STRUTT-PURSER
THOS. W. SHAPCOTT-PURSERS ASSIST.
GEORGE ANGUS-CHIEF ENGINEER
WILLIAM BASTIN-THIRD ENGINEER
ANDREW FERGUSON-FIFTH ENGINEER
FREDERICK DAVEY-SIXTH ENGINEER
DAVID DAVIS-BOATSWAIN
JAMES MURCHIE-CARPENTER
JOHN BLAKE-BEDROOM STEWARD
ELIZABETH SCOTT-STEWARDESS
50 ABLE SEAMEN, FIREMEN, COAL TRIMMERS,
AND SERVANTS'
The ship had a consignment of cargo destined for the mining industry in
Argentina and other South American countries. This included mercury used in
fuses and sticks of explosive and gunpowder. When the ship caught fire, these
components would add to the imminent fate of the ship.
The vicar of St Michael’s the Rev T. L. Shapcott who had lost a nephew
in the tragedy arranged for the memorial to be placed in the church.
The Amazon built of fir pine followed the Admiralty specification that
ships with a mail contract were not to be built of iron. Following this
disaster the policy was changed and iron ships were used.
New
Australia
1950
Nearly
ready to bring out new immigrants to Australia
February 1950
Work on the liner New Australia, which used to be the Monarch
of Bermuda, is nearing completion at Southampton.
When she has been completely refitted after the fire which almost destroyed her, she will enter the Australian run as a migrant
ship
June 1950
Nine injured in explosion on
liner
With nine
injured men on board, the liner New Australia puts into Southampton after a boiler-room explosion during trials off the
Isle of Wight. The liner, formerly the Monarch of Bermuda, has just been
converted to a migrant ship
after being gutted by fire on
the Tyne three years ago.
The A8 Submarine
June 14 1905
Disaster result of
accident or mistake
When the sunken submarine A8 was raised in Plymouth
Harbour yesterday, the dead bodies of 15 men, who went down with the vessel were recovered. The bodies show the
effects of a violent explosion. There are indications that accident or mistake in the manipulation of certain levers caused the A8 to submerge, with the result that the
disaster occurred.
June 16 1905
Imposing funeral of the victims
The dead bodies of the men who were drowned in connection with the
disaster to submarine A8 in Plymouth Harbour, were accorded
an imposing funeral.
June 21 1905
A missing
rivet
Capt. Reginald Hugh Spencer Bacon, D.S.O., Naval Assistant and expert adviser to Admiral Sir John
Fisher, G.C.B., has reported upon his examination of the hull of the submarine A8, which was raised after the recent disaster. Capt. Bacon has deposed that a rivet
was missing from one of the plates of the forward petrol tank, causing a leakage into the compartment of a volume of water, which,
he computes; would equal one per ton per minute. He says it is possible that the submerged crew were imprisoned in the
compartment for an hour and 40 minutes before the explosion which proved fatal to them occurred. Thought probably
they would have been rendered, unconscious within 20 minutes after, the boat dived.
The Royal Charter
1849
The Royal Charter shipwreck was so famous at the time that
the gale is still referred to today as The Royal Charter Storm. During the storm, 133 ships sank, 90 were badly damaged and more
than 800 souls were lost
The Royal Charter was sailing from Melbourne. South Australia
was going through a gold frenzy and much gold was being carried in the cargo
from Ballarat and the South Australian gold fields.
Prospectors returning to England to visit wives and families
also carried gold, in some cases worn in a body belt which for sure caused
drowning when later they were struggling in giant waves.
Heading for Liverpool, the ship and its valuable cargo was
driven off course and headed onto rocks off Moelfre, Anglesey with a loss of
400 men, women, children and crew.
Charles Dickens visited the scene and reported the disaster
in a magazine that he published called “All the Year Round” and later featured
it in his book “The Uncommercial Traveller”.
The Militia were brought in to guard the wreck and all the
scattered suitcases and cargo boxes scattered along the coast.
The late Alexander McKee a very experienced diver wrote a fascinating
book “The Golden Wreck” which highlights that the ship missed a shingle beach
by a few yards where it would have safely grounded but fate drove it on to
menacing rocks where it soon filled with water and sank.
During the time he was researching the wreck two rival
diving families quarreled about salvage rights resulting in the death of one
man. McKee as a result had to be ultra careful checking his facts [and omitting some from the book] before going into print as he had to avoid contempt of court action.
Nevertheless he leaves us a first class book.
The Rhone
1843
In 1843 Royal Mail Steam Packet Company selected St Thomas
in the Danish Virgin Islands as the hub of its West Indies operations. The
Danish authorities exempted RMSPC ships from harbour dues as this important
frequent trade attracted other lines to use the port and build the local
economy. The company maintained 8 moorings in the port and developed its own
coaling port. However the down side was with such a busy harbour allowed yellow
fever to spread from ship to ship so on occasions the company used the more
remote islands to moor and shelter. Such moorings included Peter Island and
Salt Island about 15 milers distant.
A hurricane struck, one of the fiercest since 1837 and the
Rhone took a battering. Thinking that the worst of the storm was over, the
master Captain Woolley moved position thinking that he would find a better
shelter but it was but the eye of the storm and it soon continued its vulosity.
The Rhone was swept onto the rocks at Salt Island. Other ships in the company
the Dewent, Solway and the Tyne [all the ships in the company were named after
rivers] were de-masted and they lost an inter island older ship the Wye.
At Southampton Old Cemetery there is an imposing memorial in
the shape of a church steeple dedicated to the Rhone.
The wreck is often visited by divers and is well known in
diving circles. The film “The Deep” used the wreck as its location but altering
the time to the 60’s of divers searching a WWII freighter where they discovered
a gang were using the wreck to stash heroin.
The residents of Salt Island with no life saving equipment showed great bravery and determination in trying to rescue crew and passengers. They had previously been slaves but on emancipation were kept on at a very low wage to prepare salt. Ships would purchase blocks of salt to preserve meat and fish in the days before refrigeration. It has been suggested that Queen Victoria granted the islanders the freedom to gather salt in return for an annual shipment of salt for the Royal table. In spite of a personal memory in 1977 when the TV news featured a man arriving at the Royal kitchen to present the salt for the Queen's Silver Jubilee I have been unable to establish any credible source in support of the much quoted legend. Research with the Royal Archivist at Windsor Palace and at the National Archives at Kew have so far proved unsuccessful.
Lancastria
17th June 1940
An accurate figure has not been disclosed but it is
estimated that the ship was carrying between 7/9000 troops. The ship was
designed to carry 2500 passengers and 500 crew.
She was attacked by an aerial bombardment off the French
port of St Nazaire when strafe by enemy fighters and further aircraft soon
arrived. A bomb entered the funnel and exploded in the engine room, the doomed
ship sank immediately. As men attempted to swim in the thick burning diesel oil
the sea became a mass of flame as the aircraft continued to strafe the area.
Some men were in the water for several hours and their lungs were to become
damaged with the fumes.
Survivors were taken into Weymouth and Millbay at Plymouth.
Churchill immediately ordered that the loss should be kept secret as morale
would have been severely damaged. The facts only emerged after the war and
there has never been an official account released.
The French Government later declared the submerged wreck as
a diving exclusion zone but the Lancastria Association wants the UK government
to formally classify the wreck as an official war grave. In 2005 the Scottish
Parliament set up a book of remembrance on the site of the former Beardmore
shipyard where the vessel had been built. On a FOI request correspondence has
shown that the UK government “has a growing annoyance with the issue that the
wreck should be classed as a war grave”. A hard pill to swallow for the thousands of
relatives who lost loved ones on 17th June 1940 and subsequently of
wounds from the attack.
S.S.Mendi
21 February 1917
The Mendi was on charter from her owners Elder Dempster to
the British government as a troop ship.
The black native community in South Africa had willingly
volunteered to fight for the mother country and had joined the South African
Native Labour Corps.
On 16th January the ship left Capetown calling at
Lagos with the destination of Le Havre. She carried 805 black privates, 5 white
officers and 17 NCO’s.
On the morning of 21st February the S.S. Darro
travelling at full speed and emitting no warning signals rammed the Mendi amid ships.
The Darro hoved to about ½ mile off. The Darro made no effort to lower her life
boats or to assist in anyway. An escort destroyer HMS Brisk took on the role of
picking up survivors but as very few of the men could swim it was mainly dead
bodies being piled onto the deck. The captain and crew of the Darro did not
raise a finger to help.
The Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha loudly sang words of
comfort to support the dying men. 607 black troops and 33 crew members were
lost in the icy waters off the Isle of Wight. The Darro suffered no casualties.
The Inquiry into the collision found the captain
of the Darro, Henry W Stump, to be at fault for "having travelled
at a dangerously high speed in thick fog, and of having failed to ensure that
his ship emitted the necessary fog sound signals." The captain of the
Darro had his licence suspended for a year. His failure to render assistance to
the Mendi's survivors was publicly criticised at the Inquiry.
H.M.S. Montagu
1906
Total loss feared
May 30.
The first-class battleship Montagu, 14,000
tons, during a fog went ashore at Shutter Point, Lundy Island, at the mouth of the Bristol
Channel. The vessel has been badly damaged. The crew is safe.
Assistance has been sent
May 31.
Th4 Montagu is badly
torn and is filled with water. It is
feared that she will become a total wreck. Her officers and crew have landed.
The Montagu struck
heavily. She Iles across a ledge and her bottom is pierced in several places. Some
of the crew have broken arms and other injuries.
The Montagu, one of
the Admiral Class light battleships, was only completed three years ago, though
the advent of fighting monsters of the Dreadnought typo would in the next few
years have considerably diminished her fighting value. She cost £1,041,992. Her
crew consisted of 760 men. The Montagu, which had a displacement of 14,000
tons, was a battleship of the Channel Fleet and according to the April Navy
List was commanded by Captain Thomas B. S. Adair.
Lundy Island consists
almost wholly of a mass of granite thrust through sedimentary rocks. The
Shutter Rock Is a great cone of granite; so large indeed, that It Is said that
if it could be hurled into the Devils Lime Kiln, a cavity upwards of 350ft
Attempts to re-float
July 11th.
Heavy weather foiled the
attempt to re float the battleship Montagu, which went ashore in January at
Shutters Point, Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. Another attempt will be
made on 5th August.
A Battleship in peril
A Narrow Escape
July 3.
During Monday's
efforts to tow the battleship Montagu off the rocks H.M.S. Duncan struck a
rock, flooding a compartment aft and only narrowly escaped suffering the same
fate as HMS Montagu.
Bombarding HMS Montagu.
Nov. 16.
For the purpose of
testing the effect of heavy gun-fire on armour, the Doris and Vixen bombarded
the battleship Montagu, 14,000 tons, which to towards the end of May last went on
the rocks at Lundy Island. The Doris, a 5000-ton cruiser, carries 11 guns. The
Vixen is a torpedo boat destroyer.
Salvage
It took 15 years to fully dismantle the ship and remove the
remains. To facilitate access steps were cut in the granite and the Montagu
Steps are all that remains of the incident.
HMS Bulwark
1914
It was on 26th
November 1914 when the ship was moored west of Sheerness that a huge explosion
occurred. Of her complement of 750 officers and crew only 14 of the crew
survived [and two of those subsequently died in hospital]. Of those that
survived each struggled with horrific wounds for their remaining years.
The news breaks
Though the world is
becoming calloused in regard to reports of great loss of life, the news of the
blowing up of H.M.S. Bulwark caused a general feeling of grief.
The cause of the
explosion is a mystery that may never be solved. It may have been caused by an
accident within the ship, but many people will believe that it was of the
machinations of an enemy prepared always to adopt the methods of the assassin.
Loading ammunition
At the time of the
explosion, ammunition was being loaded from a barge.
Inquiry into loss
A naval court of inquiry
into the causes of the explosion was held on 28 November 1914. It was
established that it had been the practice to store ammunition for Bulwark's
6 in (150 mm) guns in cross-passageways connecting her total of 11
magazines. It suggested that, contrary to regulations, 275 six-inch shells had
been placed close together, most touching each other, and some touching the
walls of the magazine, on the morning of the explosion.
The most likely cause of
the disaster appears to have been overheating of cordite charges stored
alongside a boiler room bulkhead, and this was the explanation accepted by the
court of inquiry. It has also been suggested that damage caused to one of the
shells stored in the battleship's cross-passageways may have weakened the
fusing mechanism and caused the shell to become 'live'. A blow to the shell,
caused by it being dropped point down, could then have set off a chain reaction
of explosions among the shells stored in Bulwark's cross-passageways
sufficient to detonate the ship's magazines.
Submarine M2
January 1932
The British submarine M2 dived and has not
been heard of since. Destroyers searching the area have located an object lying
on the bottom in 17 fathoms which is presumed to be the missing vessel. The
mine sweeping flotilla and divers have been sent o the area. M2 is fitted with
the latest safety appliances and it is possible for all her crew to release
themselves If necessary and come to the surface unharmed. Her sister ship, Ml,
was lost six years ago, together with her crew of 68 officers and men.
February 3rd
The Admiralty announced tonight that the submarine M2, which has been missing, with 60 hands, since she made a dive during exercises on Tuesday of last
week has been located five miles off Portland Bill.
The position of the M2 is where the captain of the coastal steamer Tynesider saw the submarine submerge
stern first. It is also close to where a canvas bag containing the submarine's
hand-flags was found.
The position was detected by the destroyer Torrid, using powerful sound-detecting apparatus which
picked up sound indicating the presence of a newly-sunk submarine. Mine-sweepers swept the area, and discovered the M2.
Divers descended, but were unable to reach the bottom owing to a strong tide. They are waiting until slack tide.
The Torrid located a wreck In this vicinity on January 26 but divers subsequently found that the wreck was
that of a Q boat, which had been sunk in war time. The spot has been marked by a buoy.
The probable cause
The naval expert of the "Daily Telegraph”
quotes a submarine officer as saying that the most likely cause of
the loss of theM2 was the explosion of a battery . The M class are probably
the safest submarines in existence he said, but they carry
storage batteries to feed the electric motors, and these batteries are a perpetual deadly peril If the boat heels at an
acute angle the tall batteries may bleak loose It Is very likely
that the cause was a hydrogen explosion while the batteries were being charged. The batteries occupy a space extending
from the bows to the conning-tower. Thus
the entire forepart of the vessel may be wrecked instantly, which would explain the complete silence from the wreck. There would
not be even time to close the watertight door. It Is possible
that the doors of the seaplane hangar on the fore deck were prematurely opened but the battery explosion is the only theory
that covers all the available facts.
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Shipping Incidents
