The Telegraph proposes the speedy exaltation of the sailor who swam ashore with the rope:—
‘The passengers were crowded in the saloon, where the scene was of the most heartrending description. Children and parents, husbands and wives, were clinging to each other in despairing embraces. The captain endeavoured, hoping against hope, to reassure those under his charge. Mr. Hodge, a missionary from New Zealand, did his best to administer religious consolation, but the victory was on that black Wednesday morning with the demon of the storm. A succession of tremendous waves swung the “Royal Charter” from the rocks, and she parted, first amidships and then longitudinally, and was soon but a mass of shapeless spars, eddying about in a briny maelstrom. All the officers, save, as we mentioned yesterday, the carpenter and a boatswain’s mate, perished. Captain Taylor was the last man seen alive on board. A few of the crew saved themselves; the remainder were hurled upon the rocks, and suffered a speedy but agonizing death. It is some miserable consolation, however, to record that between thirty and forty of the passengers and seamen were enabled to save their lives by means of the hawser, rigged at the peril of his life by the man described as a Negro. If this hero, foreigner and civilian as he may be, does not deserve the Order of Valour, Horatio Nelson was a coward, and Bayard was false and craven.’
The Observer has a leader which, dealing with what may be termed the technics of the matter, stands out from the mass of articles which have appeared in the weekly papers:—
‘The disastrous wreck of the “Royal Charter” is one of those calamities that come upon us now and then, at intervals, to remind us of the insignificance of man and his grandest works, when opposed to the mighty forces of Nature. There has seldom happened such an amount of destruction in one single storm of short duration as was effected amongst the shipping upon the coasts of this island on Tuesday night; but the list of mortality in that terrible conflict with the elements is swollen to a lamentable extent by the four hundred and sixty souls who perished at that one fell swoop. This wreck is another illustration of the well-marked fact that all the perils of long voyages across the broad ocean are little in comparison with those that beset the mariner in leaving or approaching these shores. The “Royal Charter” was a noble specimen of the clippers employed in our great Australian trade, and had made several prosperous voyages, of which the last, if it had ended happily, would have been the most remarkable for rapidity. Iron built, supplied with all the improvements of modern shipbuilding, aided with the auxiliary power of steam, and manned with a sufficient crew, well officered and commanded, it would have seemed almost out of the range of probability that such a ship should have been drifted upon a lee shore in a familiar locality by a gradually increasing storm, and there shattered to fragments, and engulfed, with well nigh all her human freight, within a few hours’ sail of her own port. In reading the account of this wreck we cannot escape the conviction that the possession of auxiliary steam power, which should have been her safety, was really the cause of the “Royal Charter’s” loss. This vessel was of nearly 3,000 tons burden. The engines by which her screw propeller was worked were only of 300’ [only of 200] ‘horse power. Such a power was enough for working a vessel over the tropical calms, or aiding her progress now and then in light winds, but it was a treacherous reliance in such a position as she was allowed to get into on Tuesday evening. It was useless for contending against the furious pressure of the hurricane that was surely driving her upon the jagged rocks of Dulas Bay, whilst the structure of the ship was greatly weakened by the dead weight of the engines and the open spaces necessary to contain them.
‘Captain Taylor was evidently an able and courageous seaman. He animated all his officers and crew to maintain discipline and continue their exertions to the latest moment, and it is with no desire to suggest blame that we express the belief that but for relying on the power of his screw to keep the vessel off, he would never have been in the position he was on that fatal Tuesday evening, when on a rugged lee shore he was losing precious hours endeavouring to procure a pilot. Either a safe port or the open sea were the only situations that could give security in a hurricane like that of Tuesday. There seemed to be a fatality attending the last voyage of the ill-fated ship that was to pursue her crew and passengers to the extremity of destruction, for the rapidity of her passage brought her upon the most perilous part of our coast that she had to near, just at the outbreak of the most violent storm we have experienced for very many years, and after striking upon the shore, her hull succumbed to the fury of the waves, and became rent and shattered almost in a moment, just as a communication had been established, by means of the hawser passed to the shore, that promised the fairest chance of saving the lives of all on board. The gallant action of the seaman who performed this feat, all but too late as it proved to be, was the means of saving many of the thirty-nine, who were all that escaped out of near five hundred.
‘The records of shipwrecks upon the coast of Great Britain have been carefully compiled for some years past, and the annual number of vessels totally lost is known to range from 1000 to 1200. Of these, however, a very large proportion are small craft, coasting traders, and colliers, whose short voyages generally keep them in dangerous proximity to the shore, and whose crews are often insufficient for working them successfully out of a sudden emergency. This year, there will be a terrible excess over the average losses. The destruction of vessels in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday amounts, according to what is already known, to hundreds; whilst the loss of life by the “Royal Charter,” which, though the greatest, is only one amongst a numerous list of such losses, will vastly increase the average mortality. The sacrifices even of human life, demanded and paid in the pursuit of our peaceful commerce, are not less appalling sometimes than those which render war terrible. This storm gives us a longer list of lives lost in a few hours on the English coast than has been the result of many a mighty battle.’
Many other articles have appeared in the English journals; but those here given will speak for the scope and tone of them all. British sympathy was never perhaps more intensely quickened than it has been by this unparalleled marine disaster. It is the topic of every tongue. From almost every pulpit the subject was dwelt upon last Sunday. Mr. Binney, who narrowly escaped coming home in the ship, preached with pathetic power on the melancholy event of the week. Prayer was put up for his miraculous preservation. Many good men have gone, but the blow to Both Worlds—the Old and the New—would have been severe indeed if the ‘old man eloquent’ had perished.
ADDENDA.
LIST OF STEERAGE PASSENGERS.
The following list of steerage passengers is supplied by Mr. Lynch, of Cashel, who was one of the fortunate passengers who landed at Queenstown. The list is from memory:—
‘Mr. Holland, wife and three children; had been in India, and was in the volunteer corps. Two brothers named Hogarth, from Scotland; one was married, and had a little boy about eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, from London, had two sons, one about ten and the other about twelve. Mr. Lyons was a watchmaker. Mrs. Atkey, somewhere near London, had a girl about sixteen. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, from Bruff, county Limerick, and three children. Mrs. Willis and two children, one a little boy about nine and a girl eleven years, English. Mr. Faulkner and little girl about six years old. Mr. Barrett, belonged to the medical profession, and was employed to take care of Mr. Henry, a lunatic, English. A young man, native of Dublin, about twenty-six, named Kelly, dark foxy hair, worked at Prarhan, near Melbourne, brickmaking. A musician, named Harris, an Irishman, but was going to see his brother to London, or some of his friends, age about twenty-eight, foxy whiskers and hair, low size, but stout and smart looking. Mr. Wickett, another musician, about thirty, dark complexion, and dark hair. George Taylor, age about forty-five, was going to Belfast, and went out to Melbourne as doctor in the “Ben Nevis,” and was only just recovering from colonial fever; was but a few months in Australia. Henry Laughton, from some part of Lincolnshire, was going home to his wife and children, and was seven years in the colony: he had a son ten years old, who wrote him a letter to come home, and it was signed John Hudson Laughton. William J. Green, London; had been some time in South Australia. Edward Allen, London, red hair, and about thirty years old; was a digger. A fine-looking young man named Bishop, about twenty-five years old, from London. Two brothers named Roe, English. Peter and John Morton, Cornwall, England. Bakewell, a draper, about twenty; tall, and light hair. I think he was from London. A most respectable man, named Wade; tall and slight make, with dark hair, and was some time at the Ovens Diggings; English, age about forty.
‘A respectable man named Thompson; went out in the “Royal Charter,” obtained a situation in Melbourne, and was coming home for the purpose of bringing out his family. Mr. Thompson, aged about fifty; a stout-looking man, an engineer; had left his wife and family in Hobart Town, Tasmania. James Wyatt, a fine stout-looking young man, age about twenty-eight, dark complexion and dark hair, about six feet high; a native of England, and had been at sea before. An Irishman, named Cavanagh, low sized, but very stout; light hair, and age about thirty. I think he was from the county Limerick, but am not certain; had been in America, and had been sailoring for some time, and worked in a steamer that sailed between Melbourne and Launceston, Tasmania. An Englishman named Cowley, age about thirty-five. A stout-looking man named Grice, aged about forty-five. An old man and his son, from about Nenagh; I think their name was Faba. Charles Conway, from some part of England, age about twenty-eight, and was a working jeweller; was of low size and slight make, with light hair. William Ford, age about twenty-five, dark complexion and dark hair, of low size and slight make, and was a smart intelligent fellow; I think he was from London, or some part of England, and was working at the Ovens Diggings for some time. A young man named Purdy, a blacksmith, native of England; of low size, age about twenty-five, dark complexion. Joseph Moss, London, a Jew, age about forty-five; was in Australia before, and sailed in the “Kent.” Mr. Davis, a Jew, low size, dark hair, age about forty-three. Mr. Rea was going to London, and had been some time in New Zealand, spoke French and English, age about forty, with thin features. A low size, thin-faced man, named Jones, age about forty, very much pock-marked. An old man, over fifty, low size, stout make, worked in a foundry in Castlemaine, was going home for his family. I wrote a direction on two cards for him, one was Dowles and the other Abergavenny; these were to put on his boxes or luggage. I think he worked for Mr. Varian, Castlemaine, and was an Englishman. John Tyrrel, age about twenty-three, dark hair; was a native of some part of England. An Englishman named Jacob. George Sieter, a German, age thirty. Francis Weber, German, age twenty-six. A young man named Fowler, a German, age twenty-one. A young man named Hughes. Mr. James P. O’Dowd, of Dublin, who had made several voyages in the ill-fated vessel.’