News of the wreck of the ROYAL CHARTER

Description

This image shows how news of the loss of the ROYAL CHARTER began to filter through to newspapers of the day. On the left, the Liverpool Mercury received confirmation of the rumour that the ship had been lost via an order to Captain Mends to send men to assist with protecting the cargo. On the right, the news arrived in Australia with the steamship SALSETTE nearly 2 and a half months later. It was then telegraphed through to the newspaper office. The relative size of the typeface for 'By Electric Telegraph' suggests the novelty of this means of communication (electrical current and magnetism being used to convert codes that represented words into electrical impulses). Australia's first telegraph was built in 1854-4 and linked Melbourne with Williamstown. The line was extended to Geelong, Ballarat and the gold fields in 1854, and Queenscliff in 1855. By 1857, over 35,000 messages were being sent. Melbourne was linked to Adelaide in July 1858. From then onwards, all the major cites of Australia were progressively joined, with Perth being the last in 1877.
The phrase 'Peace continues, but the public mind remains unsettled' reflects a Europe that was stil in the grips of Franco-Austrian War and wars of Italian Unification. The mention of Suez as the origin of the SALSETTE's European news (as of 18 November) is also of interest. In 1854 and 1856, Ferdinand de Lessiops had obtained a concession from Sa'id Pashas, the Khedive of Egypt, to create a company to build a canal linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea to provide a faster route for ships from heading for India and further east. The canal would have a great impact on world trade when it opened in 1869.
It is perhaps a measure of the public feeling with regard to the shipwreck tragedy, that the story was the next big item of news.
The ROYAL CHARTER was returning from Melbourne Australia, carrying a cargo of gold, copper and over 400 passengers from the Australian gold rush. She had left Melbourne on the 26th August 1859 and was heading for Liverpool. Many of the crew were from Liverpool and its environs, but there were also many Welshmen aboard. The Royal Charter sped across the Pacific Ocean, rounding Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean, where icebergs were seen, and headed northwards to the warmer climes of the equator. On Monday 24th October the ship approached the coast of Ireland, not having stopped at any point since leaving Australia. The ship briefly stopped just offshore near Queenstown, Cork, at about 1.30pm and 14 passengers disembarked to a pilot boat, whose destinations were in Ireland. Other passengers sent letters to be carried ashore so that they might inform friends and loved ones of their imminent arrivals at Liverpool and their homecoming, eager to tell tales of their time and adventures in Australia. A Joseph Robinson wrote to his sister Isabella to keep his arrival secret until he had met everybody, and that she would not easily recognise him for his time in Australia had much changed his appearance. These would be the last letters that many would ever write.
After a wait of a few hours the ROYAL CHARTER got underway for Liverpool, the weather that night was quite calm, and Ireland passed out of view as the ship sailed towards North Wales. On Tuesday 25th October they were off the Caernarvonshire coast with a wind from the South East. They met with a steam tug, the UNITED KINGDOM, who transferred newspapers to them, and also some 11 riggers who were trying to get back to Liverpool from Cardiff. The ROYAL CHARTER would be much quicker than the UNITED KINGDOM; it was a fateful decision for many of them.
At about 1.30pm the ROYAL CHARTER was near Holyhead and y 4.30 had begun to round it, seeing Isambard Kingdom Brunel's GREAT EASTERNat dock in the harbour, a site which the passengers observed from the deck. They were unaware of the impending storm, a hurricane that had already begun to strike Devon, Cornwall and the south of Ireland, and was now advancing behind them up the Irish Sea.
The ROYAL CHARTER began to round Anglesey heading towards Liverpool along the coast of North Wales when the storm hit. The engines of the ship were of no use, they thrashed away at the water but to no effect. The growing wind and waves were not stopping any progress the ship might make; it was very much at the mercy of the weather, effectively adrift. At about 10pm that evening the wind suddenly changed - from the southeast it changed to blow from the east- northeast. The ROYAL CHARTER with no power to fight the waves was slowly forced back towards the coastline of Anglesey. Had she been in the open sea or further north she might have had room to turn, but now there was no space for manoeuvre and the winds were increasing and the rain was coming down. They would soon be over 100 miles per hour.
At 11pm Captain Taylor gave orders to drop the port anchor, and then sometime later the starboard one with the hope of holding their position by keeping the engines on full power and riding out the storm. The force of the wind and waves on the ship strained the anchor cables to their maximum as the ROYAL CHARTER was tossed about in the sea.
At about 1.30am on Tuesday 26th October the port anchor cable broke, leaving the ship with just the starboard anchor to resist the fore of the storm. The only option now was to cut down the ship's masts, which acted as a considerable obstruction to the wind, and so relieve some of the strain on the remaining anchor. However cutting down the masts was not an easy task. A falling mast in the wind might crash onto the deck and even pierce the lower ones killing those below, or it might become entangles in the screw which was at the present turning as fast as it could. To save the screw and whatever power it could provide to the ship, then it had to be turned off and raised out of the water. In either situation the screw would be of no use to the ship for some time, putting ever more strain on the remaining anchor. In the end it made no difference at about 2am the starboard anchor cable also gave way before anything could be done about the masts. The ship was adrift once again and now without anchors. It came to run aground on the seabed, for at this time the tide was going out. Stuck the ROYAL CHARTER was not going anywhere. The time was used to cut the masts down. Panic began to break out on the lower decks amongst the passengers who did not know what was going on and who had gone to bed some hours earlier when all had seemed well. Captain Taylor went down to the Saloon to calm the passengers and told them to prepare for going ashore. Distress signals were sent up continuously to attract attention to the ship. A survivor informed the Liverpool Mercury Newspaper that, "set the bay on fire with signals of distress , - that they set off blue lights and rockets and fired cannons in hope of obtaining assistance from the shore." The lifeboats would be of no use for if they could be lowered from the deck, which was washed by waves, then they would be overturned in the rough seas, and there were not enough for everybody anyway.
At about 6am the tide began to rise once more, and the ROYAL CHARTER was pushed onto the rock north of the village of Moelfre, Anglesey. They were on the rocks, no more than 25 yards from land, but there was a rocky shelf below the cliff upon which the waves were breaking.
It was at this point that villagers from Moelfre became aware of the ROYAL CHARTER in the early morning gloom, but the power of the waves and the force of the wind that might blow them off the edge of the cliff, meant that there was little they could do to help the stranded ship. Yet the news of the ship spread and villagers came rushing out in ever greater numbers. It was decided just after 6am that a line should be sent ashore. If someone could swim to land carrying a line, and could secure it then it might be used to ferry people across and so save everyone on the ship. Joseph Rogers and George Suaicar were to be those men.
Rodgers, a Maltese, volunteered for the task immediately and jumped into the water, some though never to be seen again so violent were the waves. Suaicar was more reluctant at first. He could see three men on the nearby cliff, villagers of Moelfre and called out to them, that he would throw the line across, but every attempt failed to make it. With no other choice but to swim, he went over the side and into the water. Rodgers partly swam, and was partly washed ashore. The dangers were the rocks, flat but abrasive, the force of the waves might smash him against them, breaking the bones of his body, and severely lacerating him. He was washed ashore and dragged back out by the retreating waves three times. He was then spotted by the villagers of Moelfre, who came down to drag him out to safety. Though they could get to him in time, they could not pull him out before the next wave hit. Grabbing hold of him, the villagers linked arms to try and hold their position against the force of the waves. Some might lose their footing, but others might stand and by holding together not be washed out to sea. It worked, Rodgers was carried ashore by the villagers, who then took the rope he carried and secured it. Suaicar who was in the water at this point was dragged back to the ship by the crew who held the other end of the rope. While he had delayed Rodgers had made it ashore, he was pulled back onto the ship. A boatswain's chair, a device that allowed someone to sit on a small platform or canvas chair suspended from a rope, was set up on the line. The evacuation of the ship could begin at about 7am.
However the size of the waves was great and the boatswain's chair was often submerged as the waves crashed onto the rocks. Some crew went across first, to set up teams on land, so that the chair might be shuttled across quicker and more efficiently. It was then that passengers were brought up from the Saloon to be taken across, but they were terrified of the situation, and some baulked and would not go on the chair, they were scared and panicked. Men women and children began to gather on deck, and the evacuation was delayed. Some did go across and were caught by waves and washed into the sea. Others were washed overboard from the deck itself, children clung to their parents, terrified. One survivor, a Walter Hughes described that as he fell into the sea, a sight seared into his mind, were three small children on deck, holding each other's hands, screaming.
It was at this point that the ROYAL CHARTER snapped in two.
The ship had been cast onto the rocks, and the force of the sea had placed a great stain on the iron hull of the ship, a strain that it could no longer endure after so many hours. Broken in two the two halves of the ship began to rotate, exposing the internal sections of the ship to the wind and waves. Water flooded into Saloon and other sections of the ship, washing through, dragging those who could not escape into the sea. Those still below decks, those who could get out ran to the upper decks, again only to face the risk of being washed overboard. People, including Captain Taylor, were cast into the sea, some jumped overboard determined to swim the short distance to the shore line. However many had dressed to keep warm in the expectation of going ashore, clothes that were entirely unsuitable for swimming in, others were carrying the gold nuggets and coins that they had mined in Australia with them, unwilling to part with their wealth it would cost them their lives. Those that went into the water were dragged down by the weight of the gold. Those fully dressed, though buoyant in the water were again weighed down by the heavy sodden material when they tried to stand or drag themselves out of the sea. Impeded they were caught and trapped on the rocks, smashed against them or dragged back out to sea by the waves. The breaking up of the ship had thrown much debris and wreckage into the water, the masts and rigging were still floating about caught in the waves. Those that were swimming were crushed by the force of these objects colliding with them or striking them when on the rocks.
The Liverpool Mercury reported, "As stated before, the dead bodies were dreadfully mangled in most cases, either by the sharp rocks or by the falling ironwork. One body had the head completely off, though the necks and lower chin remained. They were mostly only partly dressed, indeed, some were nearly in a state of nudity, and their clothes must have been torn off by contact with the rocks."
Those still on the ship saw hundreds in the waves and on the rocks, the boatswain's chair continued to operate as long as it could. One of the men queuing was an Isaac Lewis of Moelfre, he was less than a mile from his home, and his father was on the cliffs above, he called out to him before he fell into the sea. His body was found washed ashore the next morning.
Mr Marks tried to swim ashore carrying his frightened child on his back, clinging tightly to his neck, a wave struck them and only the father remained, looking about desperately for his child another wave struck, and he too was gone from sight.
The Russell family were trapped on the deck, clinging to each other trying not to be parted. A wave hit and swept one daughter into the ships railings, a box pinning her legs, her father James Russell ran to her to free her and return her to the family. In doing so he was carried overboard by another wave, though he managed to climb up the side of the ship to his family with aid of a rope. His youngest daughter, just over two years old had been torn from her mother's arms by the waves, and was lying on the deck crying. James Russell made a frantic dive for her, but as he reached her a wave swept her from his grasp and carried them both off the ship into the sea. James Russell was carried to the shore where he was plucked from the surf by a villager. He had lost his family; he would find the body of his eldest daughter later that morning.
The remaining sections of the ship broke up and all those still aboard were cast into the water. Many of the watches that were later to be recovered had stopped all stopped between 7.15 and 8.00am.
With so many people now in the sea the villagers were rushing down to pull the people from the water. Some 28 men would rush forward to grab bodies alive and dead to pull them out before the waves came back in, a chain of men would enter, allowing those further up to hold those that were half submerged in water against the waves that would have knocked a single man off his feet. Those that made it ashore were carried up the cliff to Moelfre, and given dry clothes and cared for as best the villagers could; some were severely injured with broken limbs.
One survivor reported in the Caernarvon and Denbigh Herald, "I was laid hold of by a man, Robert Lewis, and two other, and drawn on shore by my fingers. I was taken to Mr Lewis' house. He put me in his own bed, and afterwards furnished me with his own clothes, and treated me with every kindness."
The survivors numbered 21 passengers and 18 crew, no women or children were saved. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in British history and provoked quite an outcry in the media of the time.
Following the wreck of the ROYAL CHARTER, an inquiry was held to determine the facts and to discover how the tragedy had come about. Captain Taylor's actions were examined to see if the disaster could have been prevented. Rumours had been circulated that Captain Taylor had been drunk, but testimony from the survivors had shown that this was not the case, and that he had been sober at all times. It was determined that Taylor had done everything within his power to save the ship and those on board. The design of the ship was also brought into question, and its builders and engineers were questioned. There was some debate over the safety and reliability of iron hulled ships which were still quite new, but again it was decided that there was nothing wrong with the ship and that it had been seaworthy. The ferocity of the storm and the circumstances that had befallen the Royal Charter and its crew could not have been anticipated.
What are the major differences between how Victorians reported the loss of a vessel such as the Royal Charter and how modern media reports such events (e.g. loss of the COSTA CONCORDIA)?
Charles Dickens later visited Moelfre in the role of a reporter for his own journal 'All the Year round; which was published from 1859 to 1895. His impressions are reprinted in his book, The Uncommerical Traveller' in a chapter called 'The Shipwreck'.