Jack Crawford (seafarer)

Jack Crawford (born March 22, 1775 in Sunderland , United Kingdom , † November 10, 1831 in Bishopwearmouth, now Sunderland) was a seaman in the Royal Navy , who was known as the "hero of Camperdown".

Gravestone in the Holy Trinity Cemetery

Life

In the battle of Kamperduin (Netherlands, English: Camperdown) on October 11, 1797, HMS Venerable was the flagship of Admiral Duncan . During the fight, part of the mast with the Admiral's flag was shot down. Lowering the admiral's personal flag was a sign of surrender. Despite intense enemy fire, Crawford mounted the stump of the mast and nailed the flag to the top.

After the victory celebration in London he became King George III. formally presented. For what he did, he received a pension of £ 30 for one year, and was later awarded a silver medal from the Sunderland Citizens. However, the alcoholic Crawford went through difficult times and had to sell his medal. He was a victim of the cholera epidemic of 1831 and was buried in an unknown poor grave.

At the end of the 19th century, a new interest in the hero von Kamperduin led to a tombstone being erected for him in the Holy Trinity Cemetery in 1888. Two years later a memorial was erected in his honor in Mowbray Park opposite today's City Hall. A pub was also named after him. This was destroyed in World War II. A statue and the commemorative coin are now in the Sunderland Museum.

Doubts about Crawford's heroism have been raised by people outside Sunderland. On the one hand, it is claimed that he did not climb the mast voluntarily, but acted under duress. On the other hand, it is believed that he was drunk, acted without orders, and should have been court- martialed. The local historian William Corder also joined in, who thought little of Crawford and called the tombstone a “deplorable monument”.