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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Caledonia |
| Owner | J. Esplin (1842) [1] |
| Builder | Built in Arbroath, Scotland |
| Launched | 1839 [1] |
| Fate | Wrecked 7 September 1842 on Sharpnose Point, near Morwenstow, Cornwall |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 200, or 206 [1] (bm) |
| Sail plan | Brig |
The Caledonia was a brig of some 200 tons (bm), built in Arbroath, Scotland, and wrecked on 7 September 1842 on Sharpnose Point, near Morwenstow, Cornwall.
In September 1842 the Caledonia was homeward bound from Odessa, and called in at Falmouth to bury a crewman who had died of wounds suffered during a knife fight in Constantinople. The Caledonia then sailed for Gloucester to unload her cargo of wheat.
As she departed Falmouth a north-westerly gale was raging. At about 1 am on the morning of 8 September the ship's lookout saw waves breaking to leeward on Sharpnose Point, near Morwenstow, Cornwall.
Her captain, Stevenson Peter, [1] shortened sail and tried to stand clear of the shore, but the ship refused to come up and soon hit the rocks at Sharpnose Point. As they hit, the captain ordered the crew to climb into the rigging, but the mast collapsed, throwing them into the sea where they all died. The sole survivor was Edward Le Dain from Jersey who managed to get ashore where a farmer discovered him at dawn. He was taken to the local Rectory where the Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker ensured that he was cared for and nursed back to health. Later Le Dain sent the best Jersey cow he could find in gratitude. [2] He also named his son Edward Robert Hawker Le Dain born in 1854, and made Hawker and his wife godparents.
The bodies of the other crewmen eventually washed up on the beach and were buried in Morwenstow Churchyard. For some 162 years the white, carved pitch-pine figurehead of the brig was preserved in the churchyard as the headstone of the ship's captain and crew. During that time it was subjected to occasional minor repairs and countless layers of white paint. In 2004 it was found that the passage of time and the often harsh Atlantic weather had taken their toll, so it was removed for a prolonged drying out process, followed by scientific paint analysis and a major restoration. To fund this work, an appeal called The Caledonia Conservation Fund was launched by Morwenstow Parochial Church Council. The decision was made to mount the restored figurehead within the Church, and to create a more weather-resilient replica as the grave marker for the shipwrecked sailors. A service of dedication for the newly installed figurehead and grave marker was held at Morwenstow Parish Church on Sunday, 7 September 2008—the 166th anniversary of the tragedy. It was preceded by a brief act of commemoration held at the top cliff overlooking the shipwreck site, [3] with a piper leading the way across the fields to the Church. The large congregation included nine descendants of Edward Le Dain (the lone survivor), two descendants of seaman Alexander Kent (one of the victims), several Hawker descendants, enthusiasts and scholars, and many local people and holidaymakers.
Remarkably, in 1957 a message in a bottle from one of the seamen was washed ashore between Babbacombe and Peppercombe in Devon. The letter, dated 15 August 1843 read:
The bottle and letter are on display at the Portledge Hotel at Fairy Cross, in Devon, England. The Jenny was a three-masted schooner wrecked on Lundy (at a place thereafter called Jenny's Cove) on 20 February 1797. The ivory was recovered some years later but bags supposed to contain gold were never found.
An 1842 poem by Robert Stephen Hawker, "The Figure-Head of the Caledonia at her Captain's Grave" commemorates the shipwreck. [4]
Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875) was a British Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian and reputed eccentric, known to his parishioners as Parson Hawker. He is best known as the writer of "The Song of the Western Men" with its chorus line of "And shall Trelawny die? / Here's twenty thousand Cornish men / will know the reason why!", which he published anonymously in 1825. His name became known after Charles Dickens acknowledged his authorship of "The Song of the Western Men" in the serial magazine Household Words.
Morwenstow is a civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish abuts the west coast, about six miles (10 km) north of Bude and within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The Manacles are a set of treacherous rocks off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. The rocks are rich in marine wildlife and they are a popular spot for diving due to the many shipwrecks. Traditionally pronounced mean-a'klz (1808), the name derives from the Cornish meyn eglos, the top of St Keverne church spire being visible from the area.
Hawker's Hut is an historic hut at Morwenstow, Cornwall originally built by the eccentric clergyman, poet and antiquarian, Robert Stephen Hawker, close to Higher Sharpnose Point. The hut is located approximately 1 mile from Morwenstow Church.
HMS Anson was a ship of the Royal Navy, launched at Plymouth on 4 September 1781. Originally a 64-gun third rate ship of the line, she fought at the Battle of the Saintes.
The Church of St Morwenna and St John the Baptist is the parish church of Morwenstow, north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, the most northerly parish in Cornwall. The church is dedicated to Morwenna, a local saint, and to John the Baptist, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Truro, the archdeaconry of Bodmin, and the deanery of Stratton. Its benefice is combined with that of St James, Kilkhampton to form the United Benefice of Kilkhampton with Morwenstow.
Duke of York was a three-masted brig launched in 1817 at Bideford as a Falmouth packet, sailing between Falmouth, Cornwall, and Jamaica. In 1836 she brought settlers to South Australia for the South Australia Company. She was wrecked in 1837.
The Derry Castle was a 1,367 ton iron barque built at Glasgow in 1883, and initially operating out of Limerick, Ireland. She had been registered there on 19 November 1883 by Francis Spaight & Sons. In 1887 while voyaging from Australia to the United Kingdom with a cargo of wheat, she foundered off Enderby Island, in the subantarctic Auckland Islands, on a reef which now bears her name.
Hartland Quay is located on the Atlantic coast of Devon, England, south of Hartland Point and north of Bude, Cornwall. It experiences some of the roughest seas in winter and is a former harbour.
HMS Royal Anne Galley was a 42-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She ran aground and was wrecked during a gale off Lizard Point, Cornwall, while she was travelling to the West Indies. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
Sarah Anderson was a British barque built in Liverpool in 1865. The ship was wrecked on 17 October 1886 en route from Coquimbo, Chile to Fleetwood, Lancashire when it ran aground on rocks near Trebarwith Strand, Cornwall.
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