Fortunately for the survivors clinging to the stranded ship, before Mr. James had started on his adventurous journey to Falmouth, on Tuesday morning, the rocket apparatus, in charge of the coastguard, who were aroused by Mr. Nicholls, of Penare, had reached the scene from Helford. The first rocket fired threw a line right over the ship, and within fifteen minutes the whole of the survivors were safely on shore. Chief boatman Fisher, of the coastguard, went on board the vessel after the hands taken off to see if any one was left alive, but his self-sacrifice was without result. Accounts of survivors, including those of Mr. Fred Evans, boatswain's mate, Mr. Charles Higgins, quartermaster, and Mr. Beresford, apprentice, relate that the Bay of Panama was 111 days from Calcutta when she struck. There had been forty-two days of severe weather before reaching the western end of the English Channel, and here severe snowstorms and heavy squalls were encountered. At half-past eleven on Sunday night they sighted a light, and being in a position of danger they burned several blue lights, the captain thinking the light came from a steamer. The vessel was now drifting to leeward without a stitch of canvas on her, and the captain soon expressed the opinion that they were to leeward of the Lizard and clear of all land. At half-past twelve the watch went below, put on some clean clothes, and got into their bunks. The captain remained on deck, his wife being in her cabin.
Within an hour from this time the ship struck and began rapidly to fill. Most of those who had been below went forward, though the forecastle had been burst in, and was flooded. Seas were breaking over the vessel, and nearly all the officers were early swept away. The second officer went to fetch a rocket, and was never seen again. Attempts were made to get a line on shore, and one seaman is said to have volunteered to swim the distance, but the former was found impracticable, and in the latter case the other seamen held their comrade back. Some of the crew took refuge in the rigging, and at daybreak the second quartermaster died there, the mate died an hour after, and the boatswain, in a state of delirium, jumped from the mizzen-top into the sea and was drowned. Just before six o'clock in the morning, the after-end of the ship broke in two, the mainmast having previously fallen. It is said that, at the time the rescuing party arrived on the scene, six men were frozen in the rigging. The survivors were taken to St. Keverne Farm, which they reached at half-past ten on Tuesday morning, and where they were kindly treated. They remained there until four in the afternoon, when they were conveyed to Gweek in a 'bus. From here it was absolutely necessary for them to walk to Falmouth through the snow, and as many of them were thinly clad, and had no boots, their trials were not over until Falmouth was reached, where Messrs. Jewell and Burton, and Mr. and Mrs. Weir, of the Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home, treated them with all the kindness and attention they so much needed. Most of the bodies from the Bay of Panama were recovered, that of the Captain's wife having been found lying on the shore early on the morning of the wreck.
Though this was the most serious wreck near Falmouth, it was far from being the only one. Reports of wrecks and loss of life continued to be received for many days following the beginning of the gale on Monday. Near Porthoustock, on Monday night, the sloop Dove, of Topsham, was lost, but in this case the crew were saved. The Dove left Exmouth Bight on March 8th, arriving at Plymouth Breakwater early on Monday morning. Just after daybreak, in company with several other vessels, she left for Falmouth. There was a strong wind blowing, which, as time went on, increased with much violence, and was followed by a blinding snowstorm. The captain and mate of the Dove, who were both at the helm, could, they said afterwards, scarcely see their hands before them. At about three o'clock in the afternoon the vessel was near the Manacle Rocks, and off Porthoustock Cove, and here, while in a most critical situation, the tremendous sea lifted the little craft clean over the rocks, and she was washed up on the beach. The skipper threw his little boy overboard, he and his mate following in the same way, and all were rescued by those persons on shore. Near the same spot, the ketch Aquilon, of Jersey, and the ketch Edwin, were reported lost with all hands.
The steamer Stannington, from Newport to Exeter with a cargo of potatoes, broke her shaft on Monday off the Longships, and was towed into Falmouth on Wednesday afternoon. The barque Frith, of Lorne, 333 tons, from Hamburg to Glasgow, in ballast, was in a critical condition on Tuesday, about ten miles south of the Lizard. She slipped from the tug towing her, and was on her beam ends, and fast making water, when she was picked up by the s.s. Anglesea, of Liverpool, and towed into Falmouth. A German steamer, the Carl Hirschberg, from Hamburg to Cardiff in ballast, drove ashore at Portscatho. The schooner Agnes and Helen, of Beaumaris, went ashore on Tuesday morning in Bream Bay. A steamship named the Dundela, from St. Michael for Hull, with fruit, was totally wrecked at Portloe, near Falmouth, on Monday night. All the crew, except a boy named Taylor, who was lost, were brought ashore over the rocks by the aid of the fishermen and coastguard, who contrived to get a line from the shore to the vessel. The brig Crusader, of Aberystwith, from Carnarvon, with slate for Hamburg, was abandoned at one o'clock on Tuesday off Trevose Head, with seven feet of water in her hold. The Crusader left Carnarvon at nine o'clock on Monday morning, in fine weather. It remained fine up to six o'clock the same evening, when severe weather was encountered. At nine o'clock, off the Bishop, it was blowing a gale, and the brig was fast making water. The pumps were kept going until one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, when it was found impossible to keep the water under. The brig was therefore abandoned, having seven feet of water in her hold. The captain and crew, seven all told, took to the boat, in which they were tossed about for nineteen hours, enduring great privation. The weather was bitterly cold, and the men were almost frozen. One of the crew, Thomas Owen, succumbed to his sufferings at four o'clock on Wednesday morning. "Another two hours in the boat," remarked Captain Williams, "and we should have all perished." To keep the boat from being swamped, she rode with sea-anchor out, and everything was thrown overboard, including spare clothes. At eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, when thoroughly exhausted, they were fortunately picked up by the fishing smack Gertrude, about thirty miles off the land, and arrived at Falmouth on the same day. The crew were received at the Sailors' Home.
The crew of the Netherlands barque Magellan were taken into Falmouth on the evening of Sunday, March 16th, the vessel having foundered on the previous Thursday in the Channel, in lat. 47·48 N., long. 6·53 W.
A large number of minor accidents at sea occurred on this part of the coast, and while the Channel outside contained numerous traces of floating wreckage, disabled vessels of all descriptions were either being towed or making their way into Falmouth. Rumours of missing vessels were being continually received, and the time was one of great anxiety. All the help that could be given was needed for those who had escaped with their lives, and others who were known to be still at sea, probably in situations of peril, and this assistance was very willingly afforded. Most efficient and welcome aid was rendered by the local Branch of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Aid Society to the distressed crews. The captain and crew of the Crusader (six men), the crew of the Agnes and Helen, the crew of the Dungella (eleven men), and the survivors of the crew of the Bay of Panama (sixteen men) were provided with free railway passes to their several homes, and each man supplied with food for the journey, by the hon. agent of the society at that port (Mr. F. H. Earle), who also boarded, lodged, and otherwise provided for the crews of the two first-named vessels, the men being more or less destitute. The homes of the men were Bangor, Aberystwith, and other places in Wales, and London, Liverpool, Hull, and Great Yarmouth. At a public meeting held in the public hall on Tuesday evening, many promises for subscriptions towards a fund in aid of the boatmen were received.
Some dissatisfaction was expressed that during the wrecks at Porthoustock and Porthalla, on March 9th, when about thirty lives were lost, no life-boat had been launched, and the National Lifeboat Institution sent to St. Keverne, about a fortnight after the occurrence, Commander Biddors, R.N., who made inquiries into the matter. It appeared on investigation that some of the life-boat crew did not readily respond to the call signals, their explanation being that they did not hear or see them. When they arrived at the life-boat station the storm had increased, and it was dangerous to put to sea. A proposal for the provision of a smaller life-boat, requiring fewer oars, has been submitted to the life-boat committee.
Off Scilly, several accidents occurred, but they were neither so numerous nor attended with the same fatal results as those on the coast further east. The ketch Aunt, Bude, was taken into Plymouth in a disabled condition, and with only two of the crew that remained severely ill from frostbites. On Saturday morning, 14th March, when in latitude 7·20 W., and longitude 48·7 W., about 233 miles S.SW. of Scilly, the Astrea, Captain Burton, sighted the Aunt some miles off with her sails down and flying a signal of distress. She bore down upon her, and Captain Burton sent alongside a boat's crew, who found the captain, H. Hines, and a sailor named Jewett wrapped in the mainsail in a shocking state, and scarcely able to speak. Their hands and legs were also so much swollen from frostbites and exposure that they could not handle anything or lift themselves up or stand. Brandy and medicine were administered to them, and after a time they sufficiently recovered to be able to inform their rescuers that the Aunt was ten days out from Sandersfoot with coals. Four days before a lad named Stapleton had died from exposure, and his body was thrown overboard.
A serious collision, resulting in the loss of twenty-two lives, happened during the week of the gale about 140 miles south-west of Scilly, at 9 o'clock on the evening of Friday the 13th March. Two vessels, the Roxburg Castle, of Newcastle, a steamship of 1,222 tons register, and the British Peer, ship, 1428 tons, came into collision just as the gale that had been blowing all the week was moderating, and the steamer was struck with considerable force by the British Peer a little abaft the funnel. She was almost cut in two, and filled so rapidly that in about ten minutes she sank, losing twenty-two out of a total of twenty-four hands. As a further result of the collision, the British Peer had her bows stove in, and carried away her bowsprit, jibboom, and head gear. The forward bulkhead held good, and kept the vessel afloat. After the collision nothing could be done to save the lives of the crew of the Roxburg Castle, although their piteous cries for help were plainly heard on the British Peer. Captain Tyrer, a splendid swimmer, whilst in the water combated the waves, took his clothes off in the water, and was picked up by the British Peer, as was also one of the seamen, an A.B. The drowned men are reported to be principally from Newport. After the Roxburg Castle had sunk, the British Peer was fallen in with, about ninety miles south-west of the Wolf Rock, by the steamship Morglay, of Southampton, Captain Hughes, from Cardiff to Marseilles, and towed to off the Manacles, where she was transferred to the tug Triton, and taken into Falmouth harbour. Captain Tyrer was very much knocked about during his swim to the British Peer.
The Hamburg American Company's steamship Suevia, 2,440 tons, had a narrow escape in the Channel on Monday night. The Suevia passed the Lizard on Monday morning, and there were then evident indications of a coming storm. At 11 A.M. the wind began to blow heavily from the north-east, and at 2·30 P.M. it raged with hurricane fury, accompanied by a blinding snowstorm. The seas ran very high, and the ship laboured heavily. At about three o'clock, when eight miles east of the Start Point, the engineer reported that the lower pressure piston rod had given out, and that in consequence the machinery was disabled. An endeavour was then made to work the other engine, but unsuccessfully, and sail was then put on the vessel. By this means she was prevented from driving ashore during the terrific squalls that were blowing dead on the land. After a night and day of great danger, a schooner was sighted on Tuesday afternoon, which the captain of the Suevia considered went down in one of the squalls. On Wednesday the steamer Acme was fallen in with, and on her the chief officer proceeded to Falmouth for assistance. During Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, efforts were made to repair the machinery, and these meeting at last with some success, by early on Friday the vessel was headed up channel, and proceeded at a slow pace until the Eddystone was sighted. The passengers of the Suevia were landed at Plymouth, from whence they were sent on to Hamburg. The distance the Suevia drifted from the scene of the accident until Friday at noon was 125 miles, and it was very fortunate that they were able to keep clear of the coast. Steamers from Plymouth, London, and Falmouth, the latter with the officer of the Suevia who had gone on shore for help, were looking for the vessel, but happily their services were not required. But for the excellent seamanship and mechanical skill of those on board, another dreadful calamity would doubtless have been added to the long list already recorded.