Royal Charter (ship)
.jpg) Royal Charter
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The Royal Charter was a passenger ship built in 1855 for the British shipping company Liverpool and Australian Navigation Company, which carried passengers and cargo between Great Britain and Australia . She was considered to be one of the fastest ships on this route at the time . The iron- built clipper was also equipped with steam engines. On October 26, 1859, the sailing ship was thrown against the rocky shore off the island of Anglesey ( Wales ) in a storm , broke apart and sank. (53 ° 21'29 "N, 4 ° 14'27" W, Uferdenkmal) 449 passengers and crew members were killed, including everyone Women and children on board. The sinking of the Royal Charter represents the worst shipping accident to date on the coast of Wales. The storm, one of the most devastating to hit the British Isles in the 19th century, was later known as the Royal Charter Storm (Eng: "Royal Charter -Sturm " ) known.
The ship
The hull of the Royal Charter was in 1854 by Cram & Company in Sandy Croft near the city of Chester on the River Dee Keel-laying and ran 1855 from the pile . Godmother was a Mrs. S. Bright. The ship was planned as an ordinary clipper . Before completion, it was taken over by Gibbs, Bright & Company and completed in the Sandycroft Ironworks in Sandycroft at the end of 1855. Hundreds of people stood up to the heavy rain on the day of the launch to witness the event. The owner was the newly founded shipping company Australian Screw Steamship Company, which shortly thereafter renamed itself Liverpool and Australian Navigation Company.
The Royal Charter was a new type of ship. Although the sailing ship was a typical clipper, it was built from iron instead of wood and also equipped with steam engines and a two-bladed screw. The hull was reinforced with a keel and divided into six watertight compartments. The ship was fitted with Trotman and Parkers brand anchors. The Royal Charter could accommodate 600 passengers in three price ranges. She was used until the end of her service on the route Liverpool - Melbourne , for which she needed an average of 60 to 62 days. The return journey via Cape Horn usually takes a little longer. She set a record when she crossed the route in 59 days. The ship was extensively marketed by the shipping company, with particular reference to the speed.
A ticket for third class was available from 14 guineas , for second class from 24 guineas and for the luxurious first class accommodation, which could accommodate 50 people, between 50 and 75 guineas were required. On January 18, 1856, the Royal Charter made its maiden voyage to Melbourne, but had to break off the voyage off the coast of Portugal and call at the port of Plymouth because it was overloaded. It was found that her torso had stretched from the overload. The ship was only able to continue its voyage after the damage had been repaired.
Downfall
beginning of the journey
On Friday, August 26, 1859, the Royal Charter left Melbourne with 390 passengers and 112 crew on board for its sixth crossing to Liverpool. It was only a little over half full on this trip. Captain Thomas Taylor was in command. Among the passengers in the various classes were numerous British people who had successfully searched for gold in Australia and carried large quantities of the precious metal with them. There was also a lot of gold in the cargo. A total of 68,397 ounces of gold and sovereigns worth 48,000 pounds sterling were on board.
Two months after departure, on Monday October 24th, the ship reached the city of Cork on the south coast of Ireland, where 14 passengers disembarked. Here the weather deteriorated, strong winds came up. The next day the ship was in the Irish Sea on the west coast of the island of Anglesey . The Royal Charter was almost at the destination of the trip and was so close to the entrance to the port of Liverpool that the relatives of the passengers had already been informed by telegram that they had landed safely. The temperatures suddenly began to drop abruptly and the ship got into even stronger winds and into a churned sea. Some survivors later claimed that Captain Taylor had received orders to retreat to Holyhead Harbor until the storm was over. However, Taylor continued to stay on course for Liverpool about five miles from the coast.
The Royal Charter wanted to take the pilot off Lynas Point , but the winds of force 10 and the whipped sea prevented this. At around 10:00 p.m. the winds assumed the proportions of a hurricane . The strong north-east wind pushed the sailor toward the Anglesey cliffs. The machines were not able to fight against wind speeds of 160 km / h and the strong surf. At 11 p.m. on October 25, Captain Taylor decided to anchor in Red Wharf Bay and wait for the next day to break.
The ship crashes on the cliffs
At 1:30 a.m. on October 26, at the height of the storm, the port anchor broke . Taylor fired emergency missiles and lit blue lights on board to call for help. An hour later, the starboard anchor also broke. The masts were sawed off to reduce the surface area for the gusts of wind, and the passengers were locked in their cabins so as not to be injured by the falling masts.
Despite these efforts, the ship was pushed onto a sandbank below the slope of the coastal village of Moelfre on the east coast of Anglesey. It was in close proximity to the shores of Red Wharf Bay, but between the ship and the shore lay rugged rocky banks. The breakers hurled the Royal Charter further and further onto the cliffs. One of the crew members, Joseph Rogers, managed to swim ashore and establish a rope connection to the ship. In this way it was possible for a few people to save themselves. Others could swim ashore.
The high waves, which hit the iron hull of the stranded ship with great force , finally shattered it and tore its remains into the open sea. This happened before all passengers could get on deck. Since the watches of the victims found later stopped between 7:20 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., it can be assumed that the ship sank around 7:00 a.m. or shortly thereafter.
Most of the passengers and crew were killed by the disaster, a total of 449 people. Many passengers were thrown into the sea and drowned, but most of them were hurled against the rocks and killed. Only 39 people, 18 crew members and 21 passengers survived. All the women and children on board perished. 28 residents of the village of Moelfre took part in the rescue operation.
Aftermath and effects
140 of the recovered bodies were buried in the church cemetery in the nearby municipality of Llanallgo, where many tombstones and a memorial still remember them today . A memorial also stands above the rocks on which the Royal Charter crashed. 64 other victims were buried in Llaneugrad and 45 in Penrhosllugwy. There were allegations and speculation that Captain Taylor, who had not survived, was drunk and that his ship was unseaworthy . But he was posthumously acquitted of all accusations.
Charles Dickens processed the misfortune of the Royal Charter in his short story The Uncommercial Traveler . Dickens visited Llanallgo two months later and spoke to the local pastor, Rev. Stephen Roose Hughes, who had helped with the recovery, identification and burial of the dead. According to Dickens 'records, Hughes wrote 1074 letters to relatives of the passengers inquiring about their relatives' whereabouts. The English painter Henry O'Neill , a friend of Dickens, showed his painting A Volunteer (German: "Ein Freiwilliger") in an exhibition in 1860 . It showed crew member Rogers jumping into the water with rope in hand.
The Royal Charter disaster also affected the Met Office , the UK's national meteorological service. Naval officer Captain Robert FitzRoy , the founder and head of the Met Office, instituted a storm alert service to prevent future accidents of this type. Exactly 100 years later, on October 26, 1959, another incident occurred at the same location. The Hindlea , a 725 GRT coaster belonging to the Hindlea Shipping Company, struck the rocks of Moelfre and broke apart. However, there were no fatalities.
Recovery of the gold
It was reported that much of the gold that the passengers carried with them and was also stored in the holds were thrown onto the cliffs when the ship broke up, causing the families of some residents to become wealthy overnight. Some were charged with looting and house searches were carried out. Shortly after the sinking, rescue teams were sent to the remains of the Royal Charter , which lie at a depth of five meters, and they were able to retrieve numerous objects. Three days after the accident, the first project began to retrieve the gold from the paymaster's office and the holds. However, when the ship burst, the gold was distributed over a large radius. By 1873, however, an amount worth several thousand pounds sterling had been found.
The ship has disintegrated into its individual parts. At low tide, planks, bulkheads and frames can still be seen on the rocks today. Over the years divers have been able to retrieve silver coins , pistols, glassware and other items from the wreck . Metal detectors were first used in 2005 to track down other valuables.
The Royal Charter Storm
On October 25th and 26th, 1859, the British Isles were hit by a storm that is considered to be the worst storm in the region in the 19th century. Devon and Cornwall coasts were initially devastated before the storm moved north and wreaked havoc in Wales and north west England . On October 26th, the foothills reached Scotland.
The storm reached level 12 on the Beaufort scale and winds of over 160 km / h. Numerous buildings and streets were badly damaged or completely destroyed. A total of 133 ships and boats were sunk by the storm and more than 800 people were killed. It was later named after the Royal Charter and went down in history as The Royal Charter Storm .
The Royal Charter was the largest ship to be sunk by the storm and the one with the greatest number of fatalities. Her sinking is also to date the largest shipwreck in the waters around Wales.
See also
literature
- Chris Holden. Underwater Guide to North Wales Vol. 2 . Calgo Publications, 2008
- Nigel Pickford. Sunken Treasures: Ships and Their Fates . Delius Klasing ( Bielefeld ), 1995. - ISBN 3-7688-0895-5
- Alexander McKee. The Golden Wreck: The Tragedy of the Royal Charter . Souvenir Press, 1986
- T. Llew Jones. Ofnadwy Nos . Gwasg Gomer, 1971
- David Smith and Derek Newton. Royal Charter - Famous Ships . Rag Book, 1968
- Airy, George Biddell . Iron Ships - The Royal Charter . 1859