Edmond (1833)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg British North America
NameEdmond
OwnerJohn Arnott and George Cannock
Port of registry Saint John, New Brunswick
BuilderGranville, Nova Scotia
Launched1833
FateWrecked off the Duggerna Rocks in Kilkee, County Clare 19 November 1850
General characteristics
Class and type3-masted barque
Tonnage399  GRT [1]
Length112 ft 8 in (34.34 m) [1]
Beam28 ft (8.5 m) [2]

The Edmond was a chartered passenger sailing vessel that sank off the coast of Kilkee, County Clare on 19 November 1850. [3] It was built in 1833 in Granville, Nova Scotia, a small community near Annapolis Royal, a town that became famous for wooden shipbuilding during the 1800s. [4] At the time of the disaster it was owned by John Arnott and George Cannock, who co-owned the Arnotts department store. Today there is a commemorative plaque engraved on the sea wall just beside the wreck site, in an area now known as Edmond Point. [5]

Contents

Background

Due to the Great Irish Famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1852, thousands of people emigrated from Ireland every week on ships known as "coffin ships". During these years Limerick port was the point of emigration for many people from counties Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. One of the ships that carried people across the Atlantic was the 3-masted barque Edmond. Normally based in London, the ship was chartered for the year by Limerick businessman, John McDonnell. As 1850 was beginning to draw to a close, and as the weather became more and more dangerous, ships were still crossing due to the demand for passage to the New World. [6]

Sinking

Voyage


"What was my horror to see before me, within a few hundred yards a large vessel aground some distance from the rocks. It was low water; I cannot describe my feeling. I knew and felt that all in her were doomed to destruction and, as I then believed, not a soul would be saved."

Mr Richard Russell, quoted in The Clare Journal, 21 November 1850 [7]

After returning from Quebec, Canada with a cargo of timber, the ship set sail from Limerick on Friday, 15 November 1850. On the ship at the time were 195 passengers and a crew of 21, including the captain John Wilson and first mate William Thompson. The ship sailed down the Shannon River and on the 17th, anchored at Carrigaholt for the night. On the 18th, the ship left the river and sailed past Loop Head into the Atlantic. After a full day of sailing, a fierce winter storm struck, blowing the ship back towards the Clare coast. The captain's attempts to steer the brig back up the Shannon were futile, as the gale had destroyed the sails and two of the three masts were lost. By Tuesday 19 November all attempts at keeping the ship away from the shore ended in failure and at around 11 pm that night, she was blown into Kilkee Bay. [6]

Commemorative plaque for the Edmond located at the site of the wreck in Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland Commerative plaque for the Edmond.jpg
Commemorative plaque for the Edmond located at the site of the wreck in Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland

At first the ship ran aground on the reef at the mouth of the bay, now called the Pollack Holes, but as the tide was very high, the wind drove the ship further into the bay and eventually onto the rocks less than 50 metres (160 ft) from Sykes House. As the ship foundered so close to the shore, Mr Richard Russell, the owner of Sykes House, and his servant Henry Likely rushed down to the rocks to help. [8] When the captain saw the lights of these two men, and saw that the rocks were passable, he ordered the third mast to be cut down and to be used as a gangway for the passengers and crew to escape to the rocks. Mr Russell was soon joined by three members of the Clare Coast Guard, and they began to assist the passengers from the rocks and onto the land below Sykes House. All the time the tide was rising and after about 100 people had been landed on the rock, it became impossible to assist more.

At around 3 am, as the power of the waves increased and the tide rose, the ship started to break apart. This started a panic for the passengers still on the stricken ship and many were swept away trying to escape to the rocks. The ship then broke loose from the rocks and drifted towards the beach with many still clinging to the vessel. As it got too close to the shore it keeled over and many people still inside the ship drowned, the rest being thrown over the side and forced to swim to the shore. The captain and the first mate stayed with the ship until the end and escaped to safety. [6]

Aftermath

As everything had been done to help the passengers, and when nothing else could be done to save them, Mr Russell and people from all over Kilkee took in survivors from the disaster for the night. The next morning the extent of the disaster became apparent with bodies and wreckage strewn across the whole beach. As the day wore on it became known that of the 216 aboard, 98 lost their lives and 118 were saved. [9] All day, bodies washed up on the beach and in the end 54 bodies were recovered. Most of the deceased were buried in the nearby Kilfiera graveyard. To help the survivors, a subscription was held with businessmen from all over Ireland and England contributing to it. In the end over £300 was raised, all going to the survivors and to the next of kin of the dead. [10] As Ireland was in the middle of a famine, many poor people looted the ship, with some going as far as stripping the clothes from the dead. [7]

Related Research Articles

PS <i>Lady Elgin</i> American sidewheel steamship that sank in Lake Michigan

The PS Lady Elgin was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that sank in Lake Michigan off the fledgling town of Port Clinton, Illinois, whose geography is now divided between Highland Park and Highwood, Illinois, after she was rammed in a gale by the schooner Augusta in the early hours of September 8, 1860. The passenger manifest was lost with the collision, but the sinking of Lady Elgin resulted in the loss of about 300 lives in what was called "one of the greatest marine horrors on record". Four years after the disaster, a new rule required sailing vessels to carry running lights. The Lady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sailing ship</span> Large wind-powered water vessel

A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships carry square sails on each mast—the brig and full-rigged ship, said to be "ship-rigged" when there are three or more masts. Others carry only fore-and-aft sails on each mast, for instance some schooners. Still others employ a combination of square and fore-and-aft sails, including the barque, barquentine, and brigantine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hulk (ship type)</span> Ship that is afloat, but not seagoing

A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to a ship whose propulsion system is no longer maintained, or has been removed altogether. The word hulk also may be used as a verb: a ship is "hulked" to convert it to a hulk. The verb was also applied to crews of Royal Navy ships in dock, who were sent to the receiving ship for accommodation, or "hulked". Hulks have a variety of uses such as housing, prisons, salvage pontoons, gambling sites, naval training, or cargo storage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilkee</span> Seaside resort in County Clare, Ireland

Kilkee is a small coastal town in County Clare, Ireland. It is in the parish of Kilkee, formerly Kilfearagh. Kilkee is midway between Kilrush and Doonbeg on the N67 road. The town is popular as a seaside resort. The horseshoe bay is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Duggerna Reef.

RMS <i>Tayleur</i> Clipper ship sunk on maiden voyage in 1854

RMS Tayleur was a full-rigged iron clipper ship chartered by the White Star Line. She was large, fast and technically advanced. She ran aground off Lambay Island and sank, on her maiden voyage, in 1854. Of more than 650 aboard, only 280 survived. She has been described as "the first Titanic".

SS <i>Schiller</i> German ocean liner launched in 1873

SS Schiller was a 3,421-ton German ocean liner, one of the largest vessels of her time. Launched in 1873, she plied her trade across the Atlantic Ocean, carrying passengers between New York City and Hamburg for the German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line. She became notorious on 7 May 1875, while operating on her normal route, when she hit the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly, causing her to sink with the loss of most of her crew and passengers, totaling 335 fatalities.

<i>Peter Iredale</i> Four-masted steel barque

Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel barque that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles (6 km) south of the Columbia River channel. Wreckage is still visible, making it a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Pacific.

The Earl of Charlemont was a medium-sized, 878 ton passenger ship, which sank on a voyage to Australia.

Many ships have wrecked in and around San Francisco Bay. For centuries San Francisco Bay, with its strong currents, rocky reefs, and low fog conditions has experienced more than a hundred shipwrecks. Ever since San Francisco Bay was discovered during the land expedition of Gaspar de Portolà in 1769, it has been one of the most popular harbors.

<i>Regina Maris</i> (1908)

The sailing ship Regina Maris was originally built as the three-masted topsail schooner Regina in 1908. She was a 144-foot (44-meter), wooden, completely fore-and-aft–rigged sailing ship with three masts. She was re-rigged in 1963 as a 148-foot (45-meter) barquentine. Regina Maris could reach a speed of up to 12 knots, especially on a half-wind course or with a fresh back-stay breeze.

The Fulmar was a cargo vessel that sank in the Atlantic Ocean off Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland, on the night of 30 January 1886. At the time of the disaster the ship was transporting coal from Troon in Ayrshire, Scotland to Limerick city in Ireland. Occurring 50 years to the day of the sinking of the Intrinsic, the ship is one of four that have perished with loss of life off the coast of the small town of Kilkee, the others being the Edmond, and the Inishtrahull.

The Inishtrahull was a passenger cargo vessel that sank off the coast of Kilkee, County Clare between 28 and 29 December 1894. After leaving Glasgow, Scotland with a consignment of coal for Limerick city on 27 December 1894, the ship ran into difficulty somewhere near Kilkee and foundered due to the heavy gales reported along the west coast of Ireland in late December of that year. This was confirmed on 3 January 1895 when a section of a port bow marked "Glasgow" was picked up near Kilkee.

STV <i>Astrid</i> Tall ship

STV Astrid was a 41.90-metre long tall ship that was built in 1918 in the Netherlands as a lugger and originally named W.U.T.A., short for Wacht Uw Tijd Af meaning "Bide Your Time". She was later transferred to Swedish ownership, renamed Astrid and sailed on the Baltic Sea until 1975. She then sailed under a Lebanese flag and was allegedly used for drug smuggling. After being found burnt out on the coast of England in the early 1980s, she was overhauled and used as a sailing training vessel. She was based in Weymouth, Dorset, United Kingdom and was informally known as "Weymouth's vessel".

<i>SV Argo</i> (1841)

The SV Argo was an American wooden sailing vessel (SV) designed for the trans-Atlantic Packet trade. William Whitlock, Jr acquired the ship for his Havre-Whitlock Line, which regularly scheduled round trips three times a year from New York City to Le Havre, France.

Sovereign was launched at Newcastle in 1789. She traded between London and South Carolina and then as a transport. In 1802 she became a Guineaman, i.e., a slave ship, in the triangular trade in ensalved people. She wrecked on 22 January 1804 as she was returning from the West Indies where she had landed her captives at Trinidad.

This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".

<i>Oneida</i> (1841 ship) Antebellum North Atlantic shipping

The wooden sailing ship Oneida was a merchant vessel built for the New York to Le Havre, France packet trade. It was owned by John J. Boyd and Edward Hincken, and it operated on the Havre Second Line.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ship Registration Index – Edmond". collectionscanada.gc. 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Edmond – National Archives". nationalarchives.gov.uk. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Sail Vessel 'Edmond' driven ashore at Kilkee". irishshipwrecks.com. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Annapolis Valley Tourism". valleytourism.ca. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Sailing in Kilkee – History of the Town". inyourfootprints.com. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Marrinan, Sean. "The Wreck of the 'Edmond' at Kilkee, 1850". Clare County Library. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  7. 1 2 Champion, Clare (6 June 2003). "Riches of Clare: Wreck of a Coffin Ship". clarelibrary.ie. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "Report and eyewitnesses accounts". clarelibrary.ie. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "List of those Drowned and Saved". Clare Journal. 28 November 1850. Retrieved 1 January 2006.
  10. ↑ "Lists of Subscribers for The Edmund Fund". clarelibrary.ie. Retrieved 19 August 2012.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.