Newspapers for vital snippets of information 1870s

A passing reference to Captain and Mrs Caithness adds interest to the timeline for this ancestor. It tells us the Caithness couple had travelled as passengers on the Northam (Norham Castle? possible misspelling) from the Cape of Good Hope to Southampton. Reported in the Hants Advertiser Sat 21 Sept 1872. This ship was carrying a valuable cargo - over 2 000 pounds in specie (money in coin, not notes), gold from the Marabastadt fields, ostrich feathers, ivory - and nine packages of diamonds. The bales of wool would have been valuable too. The departure dates from each stop en route and the weather experienced are a helpful record of what it was like for any passenger to travel by ship from the Cape to Southampton in the 1870s.

Mariners: Caithness and the Flying Dragon 1

At the beginning of 1854, the year which saw the wreck of over thirty ships including the Sea Gull (Captain Caithness) during a gale in Table Bay, talk of a wonderful new clipper ship was making headlines in the British and Colonial press.

In a column headed ‘English Clippers versus American Clippers’, one report read:

We have been much gratified by the inspection of the clipper Flying Dragon, built by Mr Pile, of [Monkwearmouth] Sunderland. Her tonnage is 780 old measurement and 674 new. She has been built especially to compete with the Yankee clippers. Her length over all is 199 feet and her beam 34 feet. The Flying Dragon made the run from the Wear to the Thames in the short space of twenty-eight hours and, judging from this specimen of her performances, we shall be much surprised if she do [sic] not make one of the most rapid passages to Australia on record. She has everything necessary to make her go. Her build is on the most improved principles. She is neatly and well rigged, with no  unnecessary top-hamper; and, moreover, she is commanded by a smart officer, Captain James George Carter, who, on his last voyage from China, was successful in saving the lives of the crew of the barque Titania which was lost … in the China seas …*

A heroic Captain and a clipper of marvellous modern design couldn’t fail to excite widespread interest. The career of the Flying Dragon would be closely watched by the general public as well as by the maritime community at the Cape, who could hope for a good look at the ship when she called at Table Bay on her Australia run.

No-one could have predicted that the Flying Dragon, true to her name, would soon be breathing fire and smoke and trailing disaster in her wake.

The Sunderland Clipper Barque Flying Dragon
Illustrated London News 4 Nov 1854

 * The Courier, Hobart, Tasmania 4 January 1854, copied from the London Morning Herald's report.

Mariners: Caithness and the Sea Gull

It was 1854 and nothing much had changed for Cape coastal mariners despite the historic decision recently taken by Queen Victoria to grant the Colony Responsible Government. 

The opening of the First Parliament was a ceremonial affair held at Tuynhuis, the residence of Governor Grey, who presided. The power of the Cape Parliament was limited: the Governor, appointed by the Queen and the Home Parliament, still called the shots.

More pressing concerns than the newly drawn-up constitution occupied the maritime community. On 15 July 1854 at Table Bay there was a violent gale, said to be one of the most severe in many years, causing havoc when several ships, riding very heavily on an increasing sea, parted their anchors. The barque Canopus, carrying cargo, went ashore at the Castle, and not long after the Wild Sea Mew under Captain Grainger collided with the Sea Gull, commanded by Captain Caithness.

The story was dramatic enough for the overseas press to pick it up and run with it for a few days, though there were differences of opinion as to the precise date of the gale and the name of the Wild Sea Mew (given as White Sea Mew in some accounts). From the London Daily News:

The following is an extract of a log kept at the port-office, giving the particulars of the gale in Table Bay … At 12.10 p.m. the Canopus parted from her remaining bower chain when she immediately slipped the remainder of it and ran ashore a little to the southward of the Castle Ditch. The life-boat was immediately dispatched in charge of Mr Wilson, the assistant port captain, who succeeded in landing the crew in safety…  At 1.45 the schooner Wave Spirit parted her bower cable … At 4 p.m. the ship White Sea Mew parted both her bower cables during a heavy squall from the northward, fouling and taking with her the brig Sea Gull, both of which immediately slipped the remainder of their chains and ran on shore near the Castle Ditch, close to the Canopus [Captain Crosby]. Part of the female passengers and children of the brig [Sea Gull] were landed in the life-boat shortly after she struck, but in doing so the life-boat got stove* and seeing that the remainder of the passengers and the crews of both vessels were perfectly safe in continuing on board, all other efforts to land them that night were given up. 

Both vessels came well up on the beach and remained firmly imbedded [sic] in the sand. Midnight. Still blowing a very heavy gale and tremendous sea setting in on the bay. The officers and crew of the port office establishment with life-boats and all other apparatus in attendance, opposite the vessels, all night. After the White Sea Mew came in contact with the Sea Gull she then fouled the John Knox taking her bowsprit out and doing her other serious damage.**

Further ships caught in the debacle were the Margaret Milne, the Empress, the Euphrosyne, the American barque Silver Cloud, the schooners Prairie and Rachel and the Gitana. Apparently the barometer had given no prior indication that such a severe gale was in the offing. By the following morning it had abated but over 30 cargo and other ships had been sunk and otherwise destroyed. 

The question remains: was Captain Caithness of the Sea Gull James Ramsey Caithness? Reports mention that this brig was bound for Australia with passengers who were already on board when the gale struck. Would James Caithness have been undertaking this type of voyage at this date? More investigation is required before this Master’s identity can be established beyond doubt. 

Ship in a gale

*  stove in, i.e. holed
**  London Daily News 8 September 1854 The Gale in Table Bay. Other reports appeared in the Morning Post 5 September 1854 and the London Daily News 7 September 1854

The Zuid Africaan reported in July 1854: 'For Australia. The Sea Gull Captain Caithness leaves this port today. She takes a full cargo and the following passengers: Cabin: Messrs Harris, Melle, and West and 2 boys; Mesdames Harris and child, Burke and 5 children; Mrs Steuart, Miss Vipond, Miss West, and 40 steerage passengers.' [This was relayed in The Sydney Morning Herald 19 Sept 1854, some time after the event; the planned voyage did not take place as the Sea Gull, though refloated, was later condemned.]