More information : 'She had many female passengers on board and all escaped save one. One, the lady of an officer in the army, was advanced in pregnancy, and on being taken on board the ELEANOR, steam tug, was delivered of a child which is doing well. The lady is very ill.' (1)
'Liverpool, 14th September . . . Kendall, from Quebec, struck on the Burbo Bank this morning, and filled; crew and passengers (except one of the latter) saved. The main- and mizzen-masts have gone by the board, and the cargo is washing out.' (2)
Vessel is likely to have been registered in Liverpool, since she seems to have been named for General Isaac Gascoyne who had been the local MP for 35 years, and during that time had been prominent in campaigning against the abolition of slavery. (3)
'WRECK OF THE GENERAL GASCOYNE. - On the morning of Thursday last three of the Steam-tug Company's boats were lying at anchor in Hilbre Swash, the wind blowing a gale from NW. At 5am, the steam-tug ELEANOR, No.3, William Robers master, got under weigh, and was returning to Liverpool, when she descried a ship and brig at anchor in a dangerous situation on the north-west side of Burbo-bank, about half a mile apart, both with signals flying for a pilot. The master of the ELEANOR, concluding that they were in want of assistance, immediately proceeded towards them (the first proved to be the brig ROSANNE, from Gottenburgh), and hailed them to lower the boat down and drop her astern. The mate of the ELEANOR then jumped into her, and was, with imminent risk and danger, hauled over the stern of the brig . . . She then slipped her cable, and was conducted by him across the flat, through the Rock Channel safe into port. The other vessel proved to be the ship GENERAL GASCOYNE, of this port, and when the ELEANOR reached her she was waterlogged, and in a sinking state. The master hailed her repeatedly, begging the crew and passengers (who were clinging to the poop and mizen rigging with a heavy sea breaking over them) to get into the longboat, which was riding astern in comparatively smooth water. Four or five persons succeeded in doing so, when she broke adrift. The ELEANOR then attempted to board the ship several times, saving a few of the people each time. There were still a male and female remaining on the weeck, when it was found impossible again to get sufficiently near to take them off, the storm increasing very much. Ropes were then thrown to them, which grasping in their hands they jumped overboard and were hauled on board the steamer. She then hastened after the longboat, which was drifting, and had some difficulty in picking her up before she got on the bank. The whole of her crew and passengers, 30 in number, were then brought safe to Liverpool, with the exception of one elderly female, who was washed off the deck. Too much praise cannot be given to the master and crew of the ELEANOR, who, at the imminent risk of their lives, rescued from a watery grave the crew and passengers of the GENERAL GASCOYNE; and this also affords another instance of the importance of the Steam-tug Establishment, the boats of which have, on various occasions, rendered valuable service to vessels wrecked on the coast. - Liverpool Telegraph.' (4)
'SHIPWRECK AT LIVERPOOL. - LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY EVENING. -
'This morning, about nine o'clock, as a vessel bound from Montreal to this port, called the GENERAL GASCOYNE, was about entering the river, she struck on a bank called the Middle Patch, and began to fill rapidly with water. At the time she was without a pilot. It happened fortunately that a steamer hove in sight, and her captain evinced the most praiseworthy exertions to save the crew and passengers of the shipwrecked vessel, in which he was partially successful. In consequence of the wind blowing fresh at the time, the steamer was compelled to make several tacks, and was only enabled to take off the sufferers from the sinking vessel by degrees. One elderly female was drowned in attempting to spring from the wreck to the steamer; a lady, who had been only confined the previous day, was rescued along with her infant. Before the whole of the persons on board could reach the steamer, the hull of the vessel was beneath the water, and a female who had remained clinging to the rigging, was compelled to throw herself into the water in order to preserve life. It is gratifying to state that she was safely dragged to the steamer by the boat-hooks of the men. The vessel was laden principally with ashes and stones. She had on board 2,000 barrels of ashes, all of which are destroyed. Besides the crew there were on board eleven cabin passengers. The unfortunate calamity must be attributed, first, to the stormy state of the weather, and secondly, to the vessel, at the time of her entering the Mersey, being without a pilot.' (5)
'Liverpool Markets, Sep. 16. . . . The demand for Pot and Pearl Ashes was very languid, and prices were gradually declining until Thursday, when the intelligence of the loss of the GENERAL GASCOYNE, from Montreal, with 1300 bris. on board, gave a sudden impulse to the market, and prices rose rapidly . . .' (6)
'IMPORTS . . . GENERAL GASCOYNE, Kendall, fm Montreal and Quebec, with 86c deals 48e staves 4c 12 handspikes 2 brl pearl ashes - Wrecked on Burbo Bank.' (7)
Master: Kendall (2)(7) Passengers: 30 (4) Passengers Lost: 1 (1)(2)(4)(5)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles: LL.12.09.1837, No.7340 [sic] |