Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 15 Abercrombie Robinson/Waterloo

Advertisement for the sale of the Waterloo wreck;
 W Bell and Conch For Algoa Bay
South African Commercial Advertiser
31 August 1842 

In August 1842, not long after their return from action at Port Natal, Captain William Bell and Conch were in Table Bay preparing for a run to Algoa when the remains of the convict ship Waterloo were put up for auction. 

A singularly tragic wreck, the Waterloo under Captain H Ager had been bound for Tasmania but, putting in for water at the Cape near the mouth of the Salt River on 28 August, had encountered a gale-force north-westerly to which she had speedily succumbed, her rotten hull timbers breaking up. 

Bell no doubt voiced strong opinions on ships which were unfit to be afloat being sent off from England to the Antipodes on a wing and a prayer. 190 people, of whom 143 were convicts, were lost in the Waterloo. Among the dead were 18 women and children.

Abercrombie Robinson wreck

Only a few hundred metres away, the British troop transport, Abercrombie Robinson, 1425 tons, Captain John Young, on a voyage from Dublin, was wrecked in the same gale. This ship was carrying 700 souls, including detachments of the 27^th Regiment and Cape Mounted Rifles as well as the 91^st Argyllshire Regiment (numbering 450), but due to the discipline of all on board, everyone was saved. This story ranks alongside that of the Birkenhead for human courage and selflessness while in peril on the sea.

Wreck of the Waterloo. 28 August 1842

For more on the two dramatic shipwrecks at Table Bay see:

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/newspaper-shipping-reports-in-family.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/19th-c-south-african-press-reports-of.html

Birkenhead Anniversary 26 February 1852

WRECK OF THE BIRKENHEAD

158 years ago, 26 February 1852, the Birkenhead, a British troopship commanded by Captain Robert Salmond, was wrecked off Danger Point, Cape, while on a voyage from Simon's Town to Algoa Bay and East London.

She was transporting men, mainly of the 73rd Regiment of Foot, for service in the 8th Frontier War. Also on board were some officers' families. The iron paddle steamer struck an uncharted rock near Gansbaai, tearing a large hole in her side.

The sea almost immediately flooded the forward part of the ship and engine rooms, drowning 100 soldiers below decks. The lowering equipment for the lifeboats would not function, possibly due to lack of maintenance. Two cutters and a gig were launched and the women and children rowed clear of the wreck. Horses were let loose to swim ashore if they could. Troops assembled on the stern deck, maintaining calm and discipline under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Seton of the 73rd Regt, until the ship broke into two parts.
Minutes before she finally sank, despite the opportunity offered to save themselves, the men stood fast to avoid swamping the boats carrying the women and children. This heroism coined the phrase 'the Birkenhead Drill' i.e. 'women and children first' - though this was actually nothing new in maritime history: a similar protocol had been observed in previous shipwrecks, including that of the Abercrombie Robinson in Table Bay, ten years earlier. Of approximately 640 souls on the Birkenhead, 445 were lost. Many drowned, others were taken by sharks.
In 1936 a plaque in memory of the loss of the Birkenhead was placed near Danger Point lighthouse. The inscription states:

'Nine Officers, Three Hundred & Forty-Nine of Other Ranks and Eighty-Seven of the Ship's Company Lost Their Lives. Every Woman & Child Was Saved.'


For lists of those on board the Birkenhead see: http://www.genealogyworld.net/cape.html

19th c South African press reports of shipping

The Abercrombie Robinson had been lying at anchor since her arrival at the Cape on 25 August 1842, carrying over 600 members of various regiments and about 80 civilians (see previous post).


Three days later a north-westerly gale struck Table Bay, several vessels being blown ashore. The troop transport Abercrombie Robinson ran aground at the mouth of the Salt River while a British convict vessel, Waterloo, became a total wreck. Because the latter was an older ship with unsound timbers, she was smashed to pieces in the surf and 190 people on board were lost. The majority were convicts destined for Tasmania and there were also men of the 99th Regiment, some with their families.

All those on the Abercrombie Robinson were saved due to the discipline and courage which prevailed during the crisis.


The South African Commercial Advertiser carried a report in its edition of 3 September 1842 stating:

‘The Abercrombie Robinson had come into the Bay on the evening of 25th, when it was dark, proceeded too far up the Bay, and came to anchor in a position unsafe for her should it come on to blow. The wind did blow a gale with squalls, and she wisely went on shore with an anchor at her bows, thereby saving some seven hundred souls, most of whom must have perished had she foundered where she rode at anchor. Had she been in a proper position, she would have rode out the weather ... Of the Waterloo it is impossible to speak with moderation. Deadly blame rests somewhere, and justice will, we have no doubt, find out the parties that deserve it.

So great a loss of life [as in the wreck of the Waterloo] has not happened in Table Bay since the year 1799. On the 5th of November of that year, His Majesty's Ship Sceptre, Captain [Valentine] Edwards, was driven on shore, and ... immediately went to pieces, being an accursed old hulk on her way home to be broken up. A few hours after she struck not a vestige of her was to be seen, but the fragments of the wreck scattered on the strand, in myriads of pieces, not a single plank remaining whole, nor two attached together. Captain Edwards, his son, ten other officers, and near 300 seamen and marines perished.'

The Sceptre had been built in England in 1781, a 64 gun ship of the line, but was clearly past her best by 1799 - 'an accursed old hulk' leaves no room for confusion.

Wreck of the transport Abercrombie Robinson and the convict ship Waterloo during a gale on 28 August 1842 in Table Bay

The Waterloo is seen on the left, engulfed by the sea; centre-stage is the Abercrombie Robinson; in the foreground some survivors are being rescued from the breakers.

For more on the Abercrombie Robinson:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070406123221/http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/peril.htm

Newspaper shipping reports in family history research

This report of a ship arrival at Table Bay is a good example of the usefulness - as well as the limitations - of this type of source for family history research.

The ship in question is the Abercrombie Robinson, a troop transport, and the year is 1842.

Leaving aside for the moment the dramatic events surrounding this vessel's arrival, the report emphasises the lack of detailed information given by the press about the rank and file of the military on board ships.

True to form, officers are named but NCO's and privates are not. Neither are soldiers' wives and children. Note the difference in terminology between the ladies of the officers and the soldiers' wives of the lower ranks. Class distinction was alive and well on vessels in the mid-19th c.

'454 non-commissioned officers' of the 91st Regiment's Reserve Battalion could hide numerous potential forebears from our view. Ditto the 11 NCOs and privates of the Cape Mounted Rifleman, travelling with '1 woman and 4 children' (no ladies here). 'Two pensioners' remain obscure - as do their families.

A detachment of the 27th Regiment offers 32 unnamed NCOs, with a couple of wives and '1 soldier's child'.
On a personal note, I found it curious that the two Ensigns leading this detachment were DALZELL and HAMILTON - surnames inter-linked in my own family history and an incentive to follow-up the reference.

The report underlines that wives (of all classes) did 'follow the drum', and at no little risk to themselves. Also, it gives an indication of the continual movement of British troops in and out of the Colony, back and forth between Britain and South Africa. The Abercrombie Robinson was intending to make for Algoa Bay to disembark her military passengers and embark members of other units before heading 'home'.

This was not to be: the vessel was wrecked in Table Bay during a north-west gale on 28th August 1842 - two days after the above report appeared in the South African Commercial Advertiser.
More in a future post.

Note also the brief letter below the report, concerning a lighthouse to be built on Cape Agulhas and Cape Receife. A topic to come back to later.