Seafaring connections and Ulster gravestones | Ulster Historical Foundation

Those who go down to the sea in ships: seafaring connections and Ulster gravestones

Given that Ireland is an island it goes without saying that there would be a close connection between its people and the sea. This is reflected in many ways, but few more poignantly in gravestones recording those lost at sea. Many graveyards, particularly those along the coast, contain gravestones erected to mariners, sailors and sea captains. Many of these individuals died of natural causes. However, a large number of gravestones refer to people who died at sea. This could be through being washed overboard, drowning as the result of a shipwreck or dying though illness.

In some cases, death at sea could only be presumed for lack of information. In First Presbyterian Church in Antrim is a memorial to William Robinson esquire, who ‘in the fortieth year of an honourable useful life, is supposed to have perished in the bay of [Biscay] onboard the English ship Brooke the 12th December 1821, [no news?] having ever been received of his Melancholy fate’. In Glynn graveyard is a memorial to Alexander Johnston jun. of Larne ‘who is supposed to have perished on the ship Empress Eugenia on her passage from Singapore to Whampoa in the autumn of 1864 aged 19 years’.

A number of gravestones record people who died at sea through illness or through what we can presume was illness. In St Mary’s Roman Catholic graveyard at Greencastle, Belfast, is a stone commemorating William Manning who died of cholera on board HMS Britannia, in the Black Sea, on the 24 August 1854, aged 32 years. A gravestone in Ballylinney Old graveyard records the death of Hugh Cunningham, son of James Cunningham of Ballyclare, surgeon, ‘who died on the passage home from Demerara whither he had gone for a short time to benefit his health’. Sadly it would appear that any benefits to his health had been short-lived.

Other gravestones record people who were killed in battle at sea. In Ballylinney Old graveyard, County Antrim is a memorial to William Glair, son of Stafford Glair, who drowned in the Worth Sea on HMS Hogue after it was torpedoed by a German submarine on 24th September 1914. In Ballykeel graveyard in Island Magee a gravestone commemorates Albert Stewart who was ‘lost at sea through the torpedoing of the SS Bray Head’ on 14 March 1916 aged 16. In Clifton Street graveyard in Belfast is a memorial to Alix Bruce Joy, 3rd Officer, WRNS, who was ‘lost at sea through enemy action, August 1941’.

Many ships were lost in storms. In Connor Church of Ireland graveyard, Co. Antrim, there is a memorial to Jesse Kirk, captain of the steamship Crimea, ‘who was lost with his ship in a terrific storm on the Black Sea’ on 17 November 1873, aged 30. The gravestone to Captain James Gilmor in Whitechurch graveyard near Ballywalter in Co. Down records that he ‘lost his life at sea on board the Iona wrecked on the Formby sands near Liverpool, in that awful gale of March 4th 1876’. His body was recovered, however, and he was laid to rest in Whitechurch.

Many of those who were lost at sea were fishermen. In Ardglass Church of Ireland graveyard, County Down, there is a small headstone bearing the inscription: ‘Erected by Elizabeth Kerr, Whitefarland, Arran, Scotland, in memory of her son John who was drowned by the wreck of the fishing smack, Tickler of Lochranza, in Dundrum Bay, 16th Octr 1862 aged 20 years Also of Dugald Kerr, Lochranza, who shared the same fate, aged 24 years’. At the top of the headstone a small sailing boat has been carved in relief.

A headstone erected by Captain Findlyson Kenn of Aberdeen in Bangor Abbey graveyard commemorates his brother Charles ‘who perished at sea, with all his crew, by the foundering of his vessel in March 1835’. In Ballykeel graveyard in Island Magee a headstone records that Robert Wilson was drowned ‘from on board the ship Amoy of Belfast in Quebec River’ on 11 August 1845 aged 16.

Other disasters at sea were the result of two ships colliding. In Whitechurch graveyard a headstone records the death of two brothers who died at sea as the result of separate collisions. Robert Boyd died on 11 February 1876 aged 39, while his brother William John Boyd died on 11 February 1890 aged 48.

With one of the headstones recording the death of someone at sea there is something on an air of mystery. The headstone to Alexander Picken in Ballykeel graveyard, County Antrim, records that he was killed on board the SS Torr Head in New Orleans 31 August 1912 aged 23. However, although the crew list for the Torr Head owned by G Heyn & Sons, Belfast, includes the name A. Picken, it records that he deserted the ship on 1 November 1912 at the port of New Orleans with four other seamen. Nothing more is known of him.

In Bangor Abbey graveyard is a memorial which tells the story of a shipwreck in verse. It would originally appear to have been a headstone, but now lies flat on the ground, broken in several pieces and screwed to wooden board. Across the top are carved nautical symbols, including an anchor and a sextant as well as cannons. Although the fractured nature of the stone makes the full inscription difficult to read, the following can be made out:

Born to a course of manly Action free, He dauntless trod ye fluctuating sea, In (p)ompous war, or happier peace to bring Joy to my Sire, and honour to my King; And much by favour to the God was done; Ele half the term of human life was run One fatal night returning from the bay, Whence British fl(eets) ye Gallic lands survey, Whilst with war(m ho)pe my trembling heart beat high, My friends, my kindred, and my country nigh Lasht by the wind, the waves arose & bore; Our ship in shattered fragments to the shore; There ye flakld surge opprest my darkening sight, And there my eyes for ever lost the light. Capt George Colvill, of the private ship of war “Amazon” & only son of Robert Colvill of Bangor, was wrecked near this ground 25th Feb 1780, in ye 29th year of his age.

In front of the parochial hall nearby is a cannon recovered from the wreck of the Amazon.

The story behind three of the shipwrecks are looked at in more detail below.

In Donegore Church of Ireland graveyard a gravestone commemorates William Ferguson, son of John Ferguson of Four Mile Burn, who was lost with the US mail steamship Arctic near Cape Race on 27 September 1854. Here it is possible to discover what actually caused the sinking of the ship.

The loss of the Arctic, September 27, 1854, an ocean-going wooden paddle-wheeler of the United States Mail Steamship Company (The Collins Line), occurred when Captain Luce misjudged the damage done to her after she collided with the small French steamer, Vesta, on September 27, 1854, about 50 miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The collision was assured by dense, rolling fog, and Luce, believing that the smaller Vesta was sinking, humanely sent one of his lifeboats to pick up survivors.

His second mistake that day was thinking his ship was slightly damaged, when the Vesta, in fact, had actually ripped open a good chunk of the Arctic’s bow. Told that his ship was taking on heavy water, Luce ordered full speed toward land. Giant swells flooded the boiler rooms by the time the Arctic’s lookout spotted land twenty miles distant. But it was too late; the ship was sinking rapidly.

Luce ordered his 367 passengers and crew members on deck, began to organise the lowering of boats, and instructed everyone that women and children would go first. The ‘black gang’ (stokers) rebelled and with shouts and curses they made for the lifeboats, knocking passengers to the deck. One ship’s officer drew his gun but before he could fire a stoker killed him with a vicious smash on his head with a shovel. As a result of the panic only one boat and a raft, hastily constructed of spars and wooden rails, took off 45 passengers.

Among the 322 people lost were Mary Collins and her two children, Henry and Mary the family of shipping line owner Edward Knight Collins, who hounded Captain Luce, a survivor, from the seas. Collins screamed that he ‘had practically murdered’ his family.

In Carrickfergus Church of Ireland graveyard a memorial records the death of Thomas Alexander Thompson, who was a ‘Surgeon in the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s Service [and] who was lost in the wreck of the Steam Ship Car[n]ati[c] in the Red Sea on the 14th September 1869 aged 26 years’.

The enquiry into the loss of the Carnatic was published by order of the House of Commons 10 February 1870. The ship was built in London in 1862 by Samuda Bros and had a displacement of 1,254 tons, brig-rigged with three decks, two masts and two engines of 400 HP. She was registered by P & O in March 1863 and in June of that year set sail for Calcutta. She was employed to sail between Suez, Bombay and China.

On her last voyage she carried 34 passengers, a large amount of specie, a full cargo and Government mails, besides a crew of 176 commanded by Phillip Burton Jones, its captain since 1867. On 12 September 1869 at 10am she left Suez for Bombay in fine calm conditions but during the night the ship struck on the Sha’ab Abu Nuhas Reef and became firmly fixed.

Rather than disembarking the passengers immediately to the nearby though desolate Shadwan Island, Captain Jones decided to keep everyone on board for the time being. He satisfied himself that the ship’s pumps would be able to handle the amount of water being taken on. The next day he ordered that the large amount of cotton on the ship be thrown overboard in order to lighten the vessel and float her off the reef, but this proved unsuccessful.

As the leaks in the ship became worse the water level in the vessel began to rise quite sharply. The keel of the ship was also coming under increasing strain. In the early hours of the 14th the ships boilers were flooded and the ship was left without power and light. It was not until 11am on the 14th that the decision was made to disembark the passengers

As several of them were in the act of getting into the boats the ship suddenly slipped down stern foremost, heeling over and leaving the foremast only out of the water, throwing several of the passengers and crew into the sea. Five passengers and 26 of the crew were drowned. The remainder landed on the island by means of the ship’s boats and were later picked up by another P & O vessel, the Sumatra.

On his return to Suez, Captain Jones was recalled to England to face an official Board of Enquiry. Following the investigation his master’s certificate was suspended for nine months. The wreck of the Carnatic is very well preserved and has excited the interest of many divers and underwater archaeologists.

In the case of the Lord Downshire, there are gravestones in several different burial grounds recording the deaths of those who perished in this shipwreck.

The Lord Downshire was a four-masted barque of 2,262 tons, owned by Thomas Dixon & Sons, timber merchants of Belfast and first registered in Belfast in 1882 It had sailed from Newport, Monmouthshire, on 15 October 1894 with a crew of 25 seamen and eight apprentices who had signed on for three years On its last voyage it was returning from Caleta Buena, near Iquique, Chile, to Hamburg, and collided off the coast of Brazil with the Prince Oscar, sinking with all hands on 12 July 1895. The ‘Lord’ fleet of ships from Belfast, was part of a large and flourishing company and most of the crew had sailed on other ships of this line.

The crew list indicates that 25 men came from counties Antrim or Down, three from elsewhere in Ireland and five from England The master and three of the crew were from Island Magee and three of the four were recorded on headstones in the parish.

In Ballykeel graveyard, Island Magee, a headstone commemorates Robert Gray who was ‘lost at sea in the foundering of the ship Lord Downshire on her voyage from Iquique to Hamburg 14 July 1895’. Gray was the ship’s second mate. The ship’s master, John Gibson McMurtry lies buried in Island Magee Church of Ireland graveyard as does Samuel Purdy, able seaman.

In Dromore Church of Ireland cathedral graveyard, Co. Down, is a memorial to Reginald Theodore Harrison ‘who died at sea with all his ship mates on board Lord Downshire’, on 14 July 1895. Harrison was an apprentice who was born in Belfast in 1875 and indentured in 1890. Another apprentice Robert Towel(l), born in Ballycarry in 1878 and indentured on 22 July 1893, is commemorated in Templecorran graveyard, Co. Antrim.

Case Studies

Those who go down to the sea in ships: seafaring connections and Ulster gravestones