More information : 'Vessel anchored off Sharp's Nose, where the captain ordered all three masts to be cut down. She drove ashore and became a total wreck, seven of her crew being washed overboard and drowned the moment she struck. The Bude rocket apparatus was taken to the cliffs overlooking the wreck, where, under the supervision of Chief Boatman William Simpson, nine of the crew were brought ashore safely. Six men still still remained on the wreck, one of whom had a broken limb, and lay jammed among the debris on the deck. Realising that the remaining crew could neither save themselves, nor be saved by the breeches buoy, without assistance. Simpson went out to the wreck himself, but one of the lines jammed and he had to be hauled through the sea under the stern of the ship before reaching the deck. The vessel was now on her beam ends, her lee rail under water. With the rescue ropes still jammed, Simpson went back over the line, clearing the jam with his teeth. He was last to leave.' (1)(2)
" . . . At Morning tidings that a large vessel [AVONMORE of Bristol, bound from Cardiff to Montevideo] was ashore in Vicarage Bay, just under the hut. I was put into the gig, and carried out. Found the crew in death-horrors. Rocket apparatus arrived and 15 men were dragged ashore alive. The other seven (Blacks) were drowned among my rocks. Guess my state. The whole glebe alive with people - 7 corpses to come ashore for burial. Graves already dug and shrouds prepared, but none yet. The Cargo, coals, 1600 tons, vessel 1900 tons, largest ever seen here. Broken up tonight. My path down is now made for donkeys. What can be saved is to be brought up and sold and the broken ship." R. S. Hawker, Sept. 18, 1869.
"The Scene on my Cliffs is appalling. The Wreck will not be cleared away for weeks or months. There is a vast heap of broken timber Sails and pebbles under which the men say by the fearful smell there is another corpse. But until the sea shall wash it low we cannot extricate the dead man. Four Black men are still in the water and from the Sharks that begin to haunt the Scene we think they are rending and eating the dead: they come close to the shore with their great dorsal fins above water. May God have mercy on us all, for such scenes are harrowing close to one's own abode. There is not one consoling thought." R. S. Hawker, Oct. 12, 1869.
"This day week just as I was going to Morning Church news arrived of another dead body lying among the Rocks at the foot of my Cliff. Cann my good Churchwarden called out of Church half a dozen Men and caused them to be bearers and bringers of the dead. They were a long time in fulfilling that most repelling duty. He had been in the Water for one month and four days and disfigured poor fellow and broken exceedingly. I was however enabled to identify the corpse as that of the Second Mate because he was white and all the remaining dead are black. He was very tall and young (19) and it was a great comfort for his Parents to learn that his body had been found. He had a very high character on board the vessel and was said to be far above the common in education and demeanour. You will be grieved to learn that I again gave way in the Churchyard from emotion and indeed from terror, for the risk of perilous disease from the infected atmosphere is very great." R. S. Hawker, Oct. 24, 1869. (3)
Built: 1867 (1)(2)
Builder: Gass (1)(2)
Where Built: New Brunswick (1)(2)
Construction: 3 masts (1)(2)
Master: Corfield (1)(2)
Crew: 22 (1)(2)
Crew Lost: 7 (1)(2)
Owner: Hill & Co. (1)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
Abstract of Wrecks, Casualties and Collisions on the Coasts of Great Britain, 1870. Oliver Davey MSS (RIC Truro) |