Title
Bencoolen, wrecked at Bude October 21st 1862.
Subject
Ship
Telegraph Poles
Shipwreck
Wreck
Description
The 1,415-tons wooden full-rigger Bencoolen, launched at St. Johns, New Brunswick in 1855. She was one of the large fleet of Bengal traders owned and managed by Edward Bates & Co of Liverpool.
She was apparently a well-found ship, seaworthy and adequately equipped with boats, pumps, patent steering gears and sporting double topsails yards on her three iron masts.
On October 13th 1862, commanded by Captain William Chambers, she left Liverpool for Bombay with 1,000 tones of general cargo, including iron telegraph poles and wires, and a crew of thirty-two men and a boy. The fresh WSW breeze soon baked southerly, and by the second day out was blowing a hard gale. It worsened, and on the evening of the 17th forty miles south of the Tuskar Rock, the foremast came down with a run, fouling the main and mizzen, which snapped off clsoe to the deck.
Two sailors aloft, shifting the preventer brace were hurled far to leeward and drowned. In a few minutes the might Bencoolen had been reduced to a floating wreck. She was already leaking badly, and all available hands turned to the pumps. Others built a raft from spare spars and stunsail booms, as every boat had been shattered by failing yards and this might prove their only chance of survival.
With five feet of water in her hold, the crippled Bencoolen drove to leeward. At dawn on October 21st land, first thought to be Milford, was sighted but as the morning drew on, the cliffs of Bude appeared. The gale had now veered NNW, and only a small sail rigged on a stunsail boom lashed to the broken foremast, kept the ship's head before the sea.
Discipline on board it seems was cracking, and if the story of the survivors, in particular Thomas Aspinwall, bosun, and Henry Holman, able seamen, is to be believed, things were desperate indeed. Captain Chambers, apparently overcome by the diaster of the Tuskar, had been drunk ever since. The steward had likewise dronwed his sorrows and even as the Bencoolen drove towards bude he threatened two quarelling sailors, eqaully drunk, with a loaded musket. Holman fearing he would indeed shoot them, flung the weapon overboard and then made for what ridding was left. Just after three o'clock Captain Chambers staggered down to his cabin, and despite entreaties by the stewards, who was evidently fast sobered by the imminent wreck, where the carpenter, James Mackay, was in charge, the crew took shelter on the fo'c'sle head. Half an hour later, the Bencoolen struck and fell broadside in the mountainous seas, her great length blocking the entrance channel to Bude.
The first rocket fired bounced off her side, and the second was swept off her decks. A third dropped squarely over the poop, but the second officer who started aft to secure it was enguled by a sudden grea sea which swept on up the breakwater and disabled the rocket gear. Seeing this, Mackay the carpenter seized a line and flung himself overboard. He was a powerful swimmer and succeeded in reaching the shore, only to die a few minutes later, his line broken by the waves. Back on baord, twenty-seven manhalded the raft off the disintergating fo'c'ske deck into the broken water alongside, and chief officer Powell, badly injured during the dismasting, was brought from his cabin and lashed on. Suddenly the Bencoolen broke in two, her jiboom crashed into the sea, and as her bows swung around the raft was swept clear.
Meanwhile the Bude lifeboat had also run into toruble; there was only one small sloope in dock, and apart from a few canal men there were no volunteers. For some time she lay immobile on the sands, until manned by the cannal men, labourers and a few handy seamen, she tried but failed to reach the Bencoolen's raft. The crowds on the cliffs and beach hooted and jeered as she returned; but the would be lifeboatmen were defeated by inexperience rather than lack of courage
An old Oxford rowing blue among the crowds noted that there was 'not one among them who, when he rowed, did not look over his shoulder to see where he was going.'
The raft drove into a narrow gully on the northern side of the haven, and was instantly dashed into pieces. Four men were dragged from the wreckage-choked water. Two others wer cut free of the dead lashed to the tangle fo booms and spars, and all six were carried to the clifftop. It was then only an hour since, the Bencoolen had come ashore.
Accusations and recriminations began almost at once, with the crew of the BUde lifeboat cominh under very hot fire in both local and national newspapers. Not least of the critics was parson Hawker, who in the bitterness of his wrath, wrote the poem "A Croon on Hennacliff".
Edward Bates, the Benecoolen's owner wrote a letter which was printed in the Royal Cornwall Gazette on November 5th 1862, defending his ship and master. Captain Chambers had been six years with him, and always sober and capable sailor, while the Bencoolen was fully seaworthy and manned by an experienced deepwater crew. The most extraordinary aspect of the letter was the inclusion off of a copy of the statement sworn before a Stratton JP by the six survivors. They completely refuted the allegation that either Captain Chambers or any man had been drunk, and said that everybody had done their duty. This was in direct contradiction to their evidence, which they had especially asked should be given under oath, at the inquest on the steward and carpenter at Bude a few days after the wreck. Like many questions regarding the loss of the Bencoolen, it remains unanswered.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Pan Books Ltd, 1970), p. 151-154.
She was apparently a well-found ship, seaworthy and adequately equipped with boats, pumps, patent steering gears and sporting double topsails yards on her three iron masts.
On October 13th 1862, commanded by Captain William Chambers, she left Liverpool for Bombay with 1,000 tones of general cargo, including iron telegraph poles and wires, and a crew of thirty-two men and a boy. The fresh WSW breeze soon baked southerly, and by the second day out was blowing a hard gale. It worsened, and on the evening of the 17th forty miles south of the Tuskar Rock, the foremast came down with a run, fouling the main and mizzen, which snapped off clsoe to the deck.
Two sailors aloft, shifting the preventer brace were hurled far to leeward and drowned. In a few minutes the might Bencoolen had been reduced to a floating wreck. She was already leaking badly, and all available hands turned to the pumps. Others built a raft from spare spars and stunsail booms, as every boat had been shattered by failing yards and this might prove their only chance of survival.
With five feet of water in her hold, the crippled Bencoolen drove to leeward. At dawn on October 21st land, first thought to be Milford, was sighted but as the morning drew on, the cliffs of Bude appeared. The gale had now veered NNW, and only a small sail rigged on a stunsail boom lashed to the broken foremast, kept the ship's head before the sea.
Discipline on board it seems was cracking, and if the story of the survivors, in particular Thomas Aspinwall, bosun, and Henry Holman, able seamen, is to be believed, things were desperate indeed. Captain Chambers, apparently overcome by the diaster of the Tuskar, had been drunk ever since. The steward had likewise dronwed his sorrows and even as the Bencoolen drove towards bude he threatened two quarelling sailors, eqaully drunk, with a loaded musket. Holman fearing he would indeed shoot them, flung the weapon overboard and then made for what ridding was left. Just after three o'clock Captain Chambers staggered down to his cabin, and despite entreaties by the stewards, who was evidently fast sobered by the imminent wreck, where the carpenter, James Mackay, was in charge, the crew took shelter on the fo'c'sle head. Half an hour later, the Bencoolen struck and fell broadside in the mountainous seas, her great length blocking the entrance channel to Bude.
The first rocket fired bounced off her side, and the second was swept off her decks. A third dropped squarely over the poop, but the second officer who started aft to secure it was enguled by a sudden grea sea which swept on up the breakwater and disabled the rocket gear. Seeing this, Mackay the carpenter seized a line and flung himself overboard. He was a powerful swimmer and succeeded in reaching the shore, only to die a few minutes later, his line broken by the waves. Back on baord, twenty-seven manhalded the raft off the disintergating fo'c'ske deck into the broken water alongside, and chief officer Powell, badly injured during the dismasting, was brought from his cabin and lashed on. Suddenly the Bencoolen broke in two, her jiboom crashed into the sea, and as her bows swung around the raft was swept clear.
Meanwhile the Bude lifeboat had also run into toruble; there was only one small sloope in dock, and apart from a few canal men there were no volunteers. For some time she lay immobile on the sands, until manned by the cannal men, labourers and a few handy seamen, she tried but failed to reach the Bencoolen's raft. The crowds on the cliffs and beach hooted and jeered as she returned; but the would be lifeboatmen were defeated by inexperience rather than lack of courage
An old Oxford rowing blue among the crowds noted that there was 'not one among them who, when he rowed, did not look over his shoulder to see where he was going.'
The raft drove into a narrow gully on the northern side of the haven, and was instantly dashed into pieces. Four men were dragged from the wreckage-choked water. Two others wer cut free of the dead lashed to the tangle fo booms and spars, and all six were carried to the clifftop. It was then only an hour since, the Bencoolen had come ashore.
Accusations and recriminations began almost at once, with the crew of the BUde lifeboat cominh under very hot fire in both local and national newspapers. Not least of the critics was parson Hawker, who in the bitterness of his wrath, wrote the poem "A Croon on Hennacliff".
Edward Bates, the Benecoolen's owner wrote a letter which was printed in the Royal Cornwall Gazette on November 5th 1862, defending his ship and master. Captain Chambers had been six years with him, and always sober and capable sailor, while the Bencoolen was fully seaworthy and manned by an experienced deepwater crew. The most extraordinary aspect of the letter was the inclusion off of a copy of the statement sworn before a Stratton JP by the six survivors. They completely refuted the allegation that either Captain Chambers or any man had been drunk, and said that everybody had done their duty. This was in direct contradiction to their evidence, which they had especially asked should be given under oath, at the inquest on the steward and carpenter at Bude a few days after the wreck. Like many questions regarding the loss of the Bencoolen, it remains unanswered.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Pan Books Ltd, 1970), p. 151-154.
Publisher
Morrab Library
Date
21-10-1862
Rights
Morrab Library
Format
Negative
Identifier
COLLINS.025
Coverage
Bude