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.jpg) TheRoyal Charter sank in an1859 storm, stimulating the establishment of modernweather forecasting. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Royal Charter |
| Owner | Liverpool & Australian Steamship Navigation Company |
| Builder | Sandycroft Ironworks,River Dee,Deeside, Wales,UK |
| Launched | 1855 |
| Fate | Wrecked on 25 October 1859 at53°22′17″N4°15′20″W / 53.37139°N 4.25556°W /53.37139; -4.25556 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Steamclipper |
| Tonnage | 2,719 GRT |
| Length | 326 ft (99 m) |
| Beam | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Depth of hold | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
| Installed power | 200 nhp |
| Propulsion |
|
Royal Charter was a steamclipper which was wrecked off the beach of Porth Helaeth[1] inDulas Bay on the northeast coast ofAnglesey,Wales on 26 October 1859. About 450 people died,[2] the highest death toll of any shipwreck on the Welsh coast. The precise number of dead is uncertain as the complete passenger list was lost in the wreck, although an incomplete list (not including those who boarded just before departure) is retained in theVictorian Archives Centre inVictoria,Australia. TheRoyal Charter was the most prominent among about 200 ships wrecked by theRoyal Charter Storm.
TheRoyal Charter was built at theSandycroft Ironworks on theRiver Dee and was launched in 1855. She was a new type of ship, a 2,719-ton iron-hulled steam clipper, built in the same way as aclipper ship but with auxiliary coal-fired steam engines which could be used in the absence of suitable winds. TheRoyal Charter had three clipper masts and a single funnel.[3][4]
The ship was used on the route fromLiverpool to Australia, mainly as a passenger ship although there was room for some cargo. There was room for up to 600 passengers, with luxury accommodation in the first class.
TheRoyal Charter's maiden voyage was fromLiverpool toMelbourne. The voyage was made in 52 days beating the previous record by 13 days.[4]
In late October 1859Royal Charter was returning to Liverpool from Melbourne. Her complement of about 371 passengers, with a crew of about 112 and some other company employees, included manygold miners, some of whom had struck it rich at the diggings in Australia and were carrying large sums of gold about their persons. A consignment of 79,000 ounces of gold bullion was loaded onto the ship.[4] As she reached the north-western tip ofAnglesey on 25 October thebarometer reading was dropping and it was claimed later by some passengers,[who?] though not confirmed, that themaster, Captain Thomas Taylor, was advised to put intoHolyhead harbour for shelter. However, he decided to continue on to Liverpool.
OffPoint LynasRoyal Charter tried to pick up the Liverpoolpilot, but the wind had now risen to Storm force 10 on theBeaufort scale and the rapidly rising sea made this impossible. During the night of 25/26 October the wind rose to Hurricane force 12 on the Beaufort Scale in what became known as the "Royal Charter Storm".
As the wind rose its direction changed from east to northeast and then north northeast, driving the ship towards the northeast coast of Anglesey. At 11 pm she anchored, but at 1.30 am on the 26th the port anchor chain snapped, followed by the starboard chain an hour later. Despite cutting the masts to reduce the drag of the wind,Royal Charter was driven inshore, with the steam engines unable to make headway against the gale.
The ship initially grounded on a sandbank, but in the early morning of the 26th the rising tide drove her on to the rocks at a point just north ofMoelfre atPorth Helaeth on the north coast of Anglesey. Battered against the rocks by huge waves whipped up by winds of over 100 mph (160 km/h), she quickly broke up.
One member of the crew managed to swim ashore with a line, enabling a few people to be rescued, and a few others were able to struggle to shore through the surf. Most of the passengers and crew, a total of over 450 people, died. Many of them were killed by being dashed against the rocks by the waves rather than drowned. Others were said to have drowned, weighed down by the belts of gold they were wearing around their bodies. The survivors, 21 passengers and 18 crew members, were all men, with no women or children saved.[4]
A list of 320 passenger names departing from Melbourne in August 1859 on theRoyal Charter is available on-line from the Public Records Office, Victoria: "Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK and Foreign Ports, 1852–1901".
A large quantity of gold was said[by whom?] to have been thrown up on the beach at Porth Helaeth, with some families becoming rich overnight. The gold bullion being carried as cargo was insured for £322,000, but the total value of the gold on the ship must have been much higher as many of the passengers had considerable sums in gold, either on their bodies or deposited in the ship's strongroom. Many of the bodies recovered from the sea were buried nearby atSt Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo, where the graves and a memorial can still be seen.[5] There is also a memorial on the cliff above the rocks where the ship struck, which is on theAnglesey Coastal Path.
At the time of the disaster there were allegations that local residents were becoming rich from the spoils of the wreck or exploiting grieving relatives of the victims, and the "Moelfre Twenty-Eight" who had been involved in the rescue attempts sent a letter toThe Times trying to set the record straight and refute the accusations.[citation needed]
Exactly a century later (to the day) in October 1959 another ship, theHindlea, struck the rocks in almost the same spot in another gale. This time there was a different outcome, with theMoelfre lifeboat under itscoxswain,Richard Evans, succeeding in saving the crew.[citation needed]
The aftermath of the disaster is described byCharles Dickens inThe Uncommercial Traveller. Dickens visited the scene and talked to the rector of Llanallgo, the Rev. Stephen Roose Hughes, whose exertions in finding and identifying the bodies probably led to his own premature death soon afterwards. Dickens gives a vivid illustration of the force of the gale:
Dickens's friend, the painterHenry O'Neil exhibited the pictureA Volunteer in 1860, based on the incident, depicting Rogers about to leap into the sea with the rope around him.
The disaster had an effect on the development of theMeteorological Office as CaptainRobert FitzRoy, who was in charge of the office at the time, brought in the first gale warning service to prevent similar tragedies. The intensity of the "Royal Charter storm" and winds were frequently used as a yardstick in other national disasters – when theTay Bridge collapsed in 1879 the Astronomer Royal referred to the Royal Charter storm frequently in his report.
The wreck was extensively salvaged shortly after the disaster. The remains today lie close inshore in less than 5 metres (16 ft) of water as a series of iron bulkheads, plates and ribs which become covered and uncovered by the shifting sands from year to year. Gold sovereigns, pistols, spectacles and other personal items have been found byscuba divers by chance over the years.[6] Teams have air-lifted, water-dredged and metal-detected for other treasure as late as 2012.[7]
Vincent Thurkettle, a prospector from Norfolk, found in 2012 what is Britain's biggest gold nugget while scouring the waters just off Anglesey. He kept his find secret until early May 2016 as he and friends continued to search for other debris fromRoyal Charter. He found the 97-gram (3.4 oz) nugget in water about five metres (16 ft) deep, about five metres (16 ft) from the shore. The nugget was about 40 metres (130 ft) from the site ofRoyal Charter's wreck, so Thurkettle had to notify theReceiver of Wreck, who took possession of it on behalf of the Crown. Recent storms had exposed seabed that had lain under two metres (6 ft 7 in) of sand.[8]
American folk singerTom Russell recorded a song about the wreck of theRoyal Charter, "Isaac Lewis" on the 2003 albumModern Art. American folksingers William Pint and Felicia Dale covered the song "Isaac Lewis" on their 2017 albumMidnight on the Sea.Charles Dickens, in the first chapter (‘The Shipwreck’) of his collection of writings entitled ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’ recounts a visit he made, two months after the tragedy, to the coast of Wales off which the shipwreck occurred.
The Royal Charter public house inShotton, Flintshire was named after the vessel.
This Wikipedia article incorporates text fromRoyal Charter – from record holder to shipwreck (13 January 2014) by Katy Roberts published by theState Library of Queensland underCC BYlicence, accessed on 19 August 2024.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Chapter 14 covers the disaster in great detail.
Media related toRoyal Charter (ship, 1855) at Wikimedia Commons| Shipwrecks |
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