This is forwarded in the hope it will interest someone. I don't have
further informtion.
Betty Pace
Date:Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:08:14 -0600
From:"Peter Monks" <arethusa(a)shaw.ca>
To:Mariners-L@rootsweb.com
Subject:[Mar] The Great Storm of 1839
Greetings,
I was given a small but interesting booklet The Great Storm of 1839, by
Eddie Little ISBN
0 9536743 4 7, some 39 pages.
Monday 7 January 1839.
In Dublin, Captain Townley of the steamship AVON prepared to set off
for Liverpool. Townley and his crew would spend the next thirty hours
running for their lives before the gale to reach the safety of Beaumaris.
It swept into the North Channel sinking the revenue cruiser DILIGENCE
with the loss of all hands. In the Irish Sea it destroyed the ANDREW
NUGENT with no survivors.
Sunday 6 January some sixty vessels took advantage of a southerly
breeze to put to sea. Most of these vessels had been confined to
Liverpool
for some weeks due to contrary winds. Fortunately the majority got
clear before the hurricane struck.
Those in the dock basins caught in the wind and tide literally pounded
to pieces by collision with each other and with the quays. Flats,
fishing smacks and schooners were reduced to matchwood and substantial
vessels tied to the quays were seriously damaged. Those ships anchored
in
Bootle Bay were more fortunate as they has sea room in which to
manoeuvre. While a few sank, some fifteen or sixteen vessels were flung
ashore by the force of the wind. Here most were dismasted and buffeted
by
the swell for the next four days.
Liverpool Docks and Liverpool Bay proved to be lethal anchorages in
January 1839.
Three vessels, the MARY BIBBY, MAJESTIC and the RUBY, had sailed from
Liverpool on Sunday. As they met the oncoming tempest they turned back
into Liverpool and found the North West Lightship which guided them
into the North Channel. Other following vessels were to seek the
Lightship in vain. Early on Monday morning the heavy sea had snapped her
moorings and she had drifted several miles out of position. In view of
this
the crew decided to put into Liverpool. All hands were needed and none
could be spared to place marker bouys. Even if they had it is unlikely
that they would have stayed in position.
Lieutenant Denham, the Marine Surveyor, did not have a steamer at his
disposal and had to hire one. The Liverpool and Dublin Stam Packet
Company made a steamer available to tow a duplicate Lightship into
position. This proved inpossible due to a combination of high tides and
adverse weather and so did not take place until the morning of Wednesday
9
January, when the worse of the storm was over. The absence of the
Lightship resulted in the running aground of ships and great loss of
life.
The Packet ship CAMBRIDGE anchored off St. George's pier began to trail
her anchors in the gale. As she lunged towards the pier head the
captain held up a chalked board offering a thousand pounds to any steamer
who would tow him out of this dangerous position. No one accepted. Then
a small boat with eight sailors and riggers on board left the pier head
to try to reach the CAMBRIDGE. Hundreds of people had gathered along
the dock to watch the attempt. To their horror the boat capsized and
they could only watch helplessly while five men drowned withing a few
yards of the pier. The CAMBRIDGE managed to extract herself from her
dangerous position and was to ride out the storm off Seacombe.
One of the first casualties was an inbound vessel, the BRIGHTON. She
struck the Great Burbo Sandbank on the morning of Monday 7 January.
Lashed by wind she bagan to disintegrate. Fourteen crewmen improvised a
raft in a vain attempt to reach the mainland. All perished. On Monday
afternoon the Magazines lifeboat attempted to rescue the Captain and
the remainder of the crew who were clinging to the rigging. The violence
of the storm prevented this. The crewmen had to cling for their lives
for a further twelve hours when they were saved by the lifeboat and
transferred to the Seacome steamer LIVERPOOL.
The packet ship St. ANDREW had sailed from Liverpool at 3 pm on Sunday 6
January. By midnight the St. ANDREW encountered a severe gale which by
2 am, had increased to hurricane strength and reduced her sails to
ribbons. A crewman was blown from the yard arm to the deck and severly
injured. Understandably when Captain Thompson ordered his men aloft they
flatly refused. Consequently the ship became unmanageable. It was not
until Monday afternoon that a foresail and a mizzen-sail were rigged up
and she attempted to get back to Liverpool in this crippled state. At
10.30 am on Tuesday she struck the Burbo Sands. Thompson took two
decisions quickly. First he cleared the ship of alcohol, staving in all
spirit casks and throwing overboard all bottles of wines or spirits.
.......He ordered the ship's lifeboats to take the passengers to the
nearby steam vessel VICTORIA. By 5 pm the vessel, except for three
crewmen
who refused to leave, was cleared. The St. ANDREW then drifte!
d and eventually struck Mockbeggar Wharf, the main sandbank, where she
was reduced to a total wreck with the complete loss of her cargo.
(Packet Ship) PENNSYLVANIA had left Liverpool on the 25 December and
had anchored at the mouth of the Mersey in order to seize the first
favourable wind. Her master, Captain Smith, was fourty years old and an
experienced commander, She put to sea on Sunday evening and had reached
the Skerries off Anglesey when the hurricane struck her. It was not
until Tuesday morning with an improvised foresail she limped back into
Liverpool Bay. There was, due to the storm, no pilot to meet the ship at
the cusomary rendezvous. Nor was the North West Lightship in position.
With great skill the crew tried to bring the vessel through the
sandbanks. At noon Smith ordered two anchor cables be let down in an
attempt
to stabilise the vessel and ride out the storm. They almost made it.
a 60 fathom cable was let down on the port side, but before a second
cable could be let over the starboard bow a sharp gust turned the
PENNSYLVANIA into the gale and forced her into a collision with Hoyle Ba!
nk. This happened several times and she began to fill with water.
Smith decided to seek help from the mainland. Twelve people--five
passengers and seven crewmen set off in one of the boats. .....Within a
hundred yards of the shore the boat was overwhelmed in the swell. All
were
lost except a passenger Mr. Thompson, whose life was probably saved by
his lifejacket
Hope that this might help.
Peter in North West Ontario