Title
Busby, wrecked at Pendeen on June 23nd 1894.
Subject
The 2,070-ton Busby was launched in February 1894 at Stockton as a steel screw schooner-rigged steamer for the general Indian trade of Ropner & Co of West Hartlepool. She had made only one Indian voyage when she sailed from Newport on the evening of June 22nd 1894, bound for Bombay, though loaded with 600 tons of coal as an intermediary cargo for Civitavecchia.
At 7:30 next evening, off Trevose Head, Captain Sherwood altered course to pass five miles off the Longship rocks, and ordered the patent log to be steamed. Two hours later Godrevy light was sighted three points off the starboard bow. It was fairly clear to seaward, but the sky was heavily overcast, and second officer Brand was unable to get a routine fix on the light because of a sudden bank of thick drizzle.
Course was altered again as the Busby passed St Ives, but not until 10 p.m, when visibility was really poor, was speed reduced from nine to four knots, and then to slow ahead.
At 11 p.m, Alfred Bowell, the bow lookout, saw a brief flash of light ahead as the weather suddenly improved. Captain Sherwood, believing they were nearing the Longships, ordered full speed, and warned Mr Brand to ready to take soundings. But even as he went aft to get the deep-sea lead, breakers were sighted off the port bow; the Busby was already well inside the Three Stone Oar.
Captain Sherwood rang down for 'stop engines', the 'full astern', but with a low grating rumble the steamers port bilges ran over the rocks. Chief engineer Thompson blew off all steam and led the 'black gang' on deck as water poured across the stokehold plates. Everybody gathered on the bridge, and while the boats were being manned rockets were fired and flares burned. Within half an hour the coastguards had landed twelve men and a dog by breeches-buoy, the rest of the crew pulling ashore in the port lifeboat. Captain Sherwood, chief officer Thomas and Mr Brand stayed on board until 4 a.m, but there was nothing they could do to save their ships.
Daylight found the Busby listing slightly to starboard, firmly held from bows to bridge and already half flooded. The Liverpool Salvage Association began work, pinning their hopes on the spring tides and continuing calm weather. To speed up the work, large square ports were cut in the sides, through which a score of local men shovelled the coal cargo overboard. Patching, pumping and shovelling continued unceasingly until, at noon on July 16th, two Falmouth tugs and a Liverpool salvage steamer reflected the Busby on the flood tide.
But the salvors had not chosen their weather for such a delicate operation. A fresh north-westerly gale sent heavy seas tumbling over the Busby's low-lying decks, hurling many of the forty salvage men into the scuppers and leaving those down in the holds stunned or breathless as water cascaded through the temporary coal ports.
The Busby, already drawing twenty feet, began to settle, fast, and as a salvage hands frantically got two diver out of their cumbersome suits the tugs ranged alongside. The last men to jump clear were John Nicholls and George Chirgwin, who had been at the helm, and Harry Nicholls and John Tucker, pumping hands, all of who came from Penzance.
Gradually the steamers poop deck rose higher unit, with a rush of air, oil, and debris, the Busby foundered in twenty fathoms leaving only her masthead visible midway between the headland and the Three Stone Oar. This final disaster came only four dats after Captain Sherwood had been found guilty of the Board of Trade inquiry at Falmouth of not having navigated the Busby with due care and in a proper and seamanlike manner. His previous record was unblemished, the Busby being the third new steamer he had commanded for Ropners, so his certificate was suspended for only six months.
The Busby lay beyond salvage, and on December 6th 1894 divers recovering valuable gear from her reported her to be in three pieces and slowly settling into the sandy bottom.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (London: Penn Books Ltd, 1970), p31-32.
At 7:30 next evening, off Trevose Head, Captain Sherwood altered course to pass five miles off the Longship rocks, and ordered the patent log to be steamed. Two hours later Godrevy light was sighted three points off the starboard bow. It was fairly clear to seaward, but the sky was heavily overcast, and second officer Brand was unable to get a routine fix on the light because of a sudden bank of thick drizzle.
Course was altered again as the Busby passed St Ives, but not until 10 p.m, when visibility was really poor, was speed reduced from nine to four knots, and then to slow ahead.
At 11 p.m, Alfred Bowell, the bow lookout, saw a brief flash of light ahead as the weather suddenly improved. Captain Sherwood, believing they were nearing the Longships, ordered full speed, and warned Mr Brand to ready to take soundings. But even as he went aft to get the deep-sea lead, breakers were sighted off the port bow; the Busby was already well inside the Three Stone Oar.
Captain Sherwood rang down for 'stop engines', the 'full astern', but with a low grating rumble the steamers port bilges ran over the rocks. Chief engineer Thompson blew off all steam and led the 'black gang' on deck as water poured across the stokehold plates. Everybody gathered on the bridge, and while the boats were being manned rockets were fired and flares burned. Within half an hour the coastguards had landed twelve men and a dog by breeches-buoy, the rest of the crew pulling ashore in the port lifeboat. Captain Sherwood, chief officer Thomas and Mr Brand stayed on board until 4 a.m, but there was nothing they could do to save their ships.
Daylight found the Busby listing slightly to starboard, firmly held from bows to bridge and already half flooded. The Liverpool Salvage Association began work, pinning their hopes on the spring tides and continuing calm weather. To speed up the work, large square ports were cut in the sides, through which a score of local men shovelled the coal cargo overboard. Patching, pumping and shovelling continued unceasingly until, at noon on July 16th, two Falmouth tugs and a Liverpool salvage steamer reflected the Busby on the flood tide.
But the salvors had not chosen their weather for such a delicate operation. A fresh north-westerly gale sent heavy seas tumbling over the Busby's low-lying decks, hurling many of the forty salvage men into the scuppers and leaving those down in the holds stunned or breathless as water cascaded through the temporary coal ports.
The Busby, already drawing twenty feet, began to settle, fast, and as a salvage hands frantically got two diver out of their cumbersome suits the tugs ranged alongside. The last men to jump clear were John Nicholls and George Chirgwin, who had been at the helm, and Harry Nicholls and John Tucker, pumping hands, all of who came from Penzance.
Gradually the steamers poop deck rose higher unit, with a rush of air, oil, and debris, the Busby foundered in twenty fathoms leaving only her masthead visible midway between the headland and the Three Stone Oar. This final disaster came only four dats after Captain Sherwood had been found guilty of the Board of Trade inquiry at Falmouth of not having navigated the Busby with due care and in a proper and seamanlike manner. His previous record was unblemished, the Busby being the third new steamer he had commanded for Ropners, so his certificate was suspended for only six months.
The Busby lay beyond salvage, and on December 6th 1894 divers recovering valuable gear from her reported her to be in three pieces and slowly settling into the sandy bottom.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (London: Penn Books Ltd, 1970), p31-32.
Description
Albumen print
Creator
Gibson
Date
1894--06-23
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
RGN.033
Coverage
St. Just
Physical Dimensions
9" x 11"