More information : Carrying a general cargo worth £80,000, this vessel was wrecked in the parish of Kilkhampton during a severe gale. The owners and underwriters both contributed jointly the sum of £214 which was sent to Mr Thomas Shepherd, towards the damages and expenses he was put to in an action brought against him by a Mr Hobbs, the latter being wounded when Shepherd fired a pistol at him whilst he was plundering the cargo. (1)(2)
'During the heavy gale of Wednesday the 21st instant, from WNW to NW, the bark ELIZA, about 400 tons, Capt. Hill, from Liverpool to Valparaiso, was driven on shore about 9pm on the rocks above Sandy Mouth, three miles to the NE of this place. The crew and passenger (there being only one) got safely on shore about midnight under the high cliff, and lodged there during that dreadful night of weather, until discovered about daybreak, when they were conducted to Stowe House. The vessel will be a total loss. The cargo, a general one, and very valuable, is damaged, and is in course of landing . . . the wreckers have been very busy to work . . . ' (3)
Source (2) gives the vessel type as a snow.
The following are quoted in source (4) below, their original sources uncertain:
'The ELIZA of Liverpool came on shore/To feed the hungry and clothe the poor/Barrels of beef and bales of linen/No poor man shall want a shilling.'
'Carrying a cargo of provisions worth £80,000, the ELIZA was wrecked on the 21st of October 1846 on the rocks below Stowe Cliffs (now known as Eliza Beach). The contents of her wine casks were speedily drawn off in teapots, kettles, jugs and anything else which the locals could lay their hands on. However, bloodshed was eventually spilt [sic] when one Thomas Shephard shot and wounded a Mr Hobbs in the plundering.
' "They all like wrecks", it was once remarked on the natives of the district. "When the ELIZA came in ta Warren Gutter the vokes in Coombe Village was all very busy: they'd got a lot o' gay-coloured prints: the women used it for frocks and blinds and patched quilts and any mortal thing . . . They got a lot o' tay tu, an' the policeman come to search the village, but they'd got it all to heed a-peep; they'd carried it up in the woods to back o' the'ouses; zome would carry zome thinks up in the cliff and heed it away and go back arter another load, couldn' stay to go'ome way't; others would lie watch and stail one load while they vetched another." ' (4)
Built: 1840 (1)(2)
Where Built: Newport (1)(2)
Master: Hill (3); E Wooley (2)
Passengers: 1 (3)
Owner: Worrall and Co. (1)(2)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
RCG.11.06 and 19.11.1847(Fri)(R); LR.1846 No.286(E) |