The Royal Charter and my Family

Picture shared in family history by Josh Buch

As I wrote in my first blog post (and first post on this series), my 3rd great grandfather, Manus Maurice Boyle, died in the Royal Charter shipwreck.  Now a good question is, how did I ever find it out to begin with?

When I was a genealogical newbie and was posting on message boards, I was lucky enough to link up with a distant cousin, William Turnbach, Jr.  While I’ve been truly fortunate to correspond with many distant cousins since, Bill was the first to introduce me to “The Letter.”

What is “The Letter”?  Well, it clarifies what exactly happened to Manus.  It explains why I’m not searching Pennsylvania mining records and obituaries trying to find out why he disappeared.  It explains why I’m not cursing his name while making the assumption that he abandoned his wife and children.

In 1917 Alice Boyle McGinnis nee Monaghan wrote a letter about a house that Manus built for them to live in.  That letter gives so much wonderful genealogical information, to include that Manus was a passenger on the Royal Charter and drowned.

I encountered family history gold within my first year of genealogy research.  Bill shared so much with me, and I shared my little branch of our family tree with him (he was much more advanced in his research than I was at that point).  

Photocopy of picture shared by Josh Buch - The house that Manus built

Since that time I have come in contact with numerous cousins that shared the same letter with me.  I’ve often wished that I had a copy of the original.  I’ve wished that I knew why Alice wrote the statement to begin with.  Always wishing, but the original seemed elusive.

So during my series of Royal Charter blog posts I’ve gone back to look over some information that I had collected over the years and see what I’ve over-looked (I do that...more often than I’d like to admit).  I have a wonderful 1+ inch thick genealogy that was sent to me by Josh Buch back in 2006-2007.  Josh is the husband of a distant cousin and the genealogist of their family.  We met online, exchanged emails, and even spoke on the phone and then he graciously mailed me a hardcopy of the entire genealogy he did for his wife.  Complete with photocopied pictures of the house that Manus built.  I revisited those and as I began paging through the genealogy I saw the letter.  The transcription that everyone always passes around...and the handwritten letter that it was transcribed from.  Yes, this was one of those moments that I felt like a complete dork.  I had been looking for something that had been in my possession for 5 years.  It’s so time to get better organized!

So I’m delighted to be able to add on to the Royal Charter family story by including a digital copy with the transcription.  I was also excited to see in the family history that Josh wrote, that Manus did find some gold during his years in Australia and had sent some money home (great job, grandpa!).  I’m sure he had gotten this information during his many interviews with family members that had known/remembered Alice.  

Photo of the house that Manus built from Josh Buch

I can’t really explain why, but knowing that Manus had found gold made me feel better.  It’s not a greed thing and it doesn’t change the fact that he died, but it did mean that he didn’t fail in his mission.  He and his family sacrificed so he could go and try for a better life for them.  So many people that went to Australia failed.  He didn’t.  He had succeeded in his goal and then fate dealt him a bad hand.

Grandma Alice went on to marry again (John McGinnis), but had no additional children to my knowledge.  John died early as well (a coal mining accident) and Alice never again married.  Perhaps after having had two husbands cruelly taken from her she decided enough was enough.  

I’m delighted to be able to share this genealogical gold nugget (and it truly is...just look at all the information in there!) and hope that it will be useful to any other descendents of Manus that may be out there that haven’t found the rest of us yet.  Thank goodness for those distant cousins and their incredible generosity and helpfulness!

Page 1

"Statement of Mrs. Alice McGinnis regarding dwelling house built by Manus Boyle in the autumn season of 1854, at which time the above mentioned Manus Boyle was the husband of the above mentioned Mrs Alice McGinnis.

My maiden name was Alice Monaghan.  I came from Ireland to America with my mother Mrs. Ann Monaghan, my brothers John and Eugene, and sister Elizabeth.  We arrived in Jeanesville, January 1, 1853.  I was married to Manus Boyle, a coal miner, in November 1853, and lived with my husband Manus Boyle in Leviston, Carbon County, Pennsylvania.  My husband worked for Rockliffe and Johnson who owned the coal mines at Leviston, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, at that time.  The superintendent was Jenkin Reynolds.  My husband [obtained permission from Rockliffe and Johnson to build a]

Page 2

...dwelling house and was told he could build a dwelling house on their land at any location he wished.  At the time it was customary to get permission from the land owners and build dwelling houses as the houses were very few.  My husband bought the lumber and in the autumn season of 1854 built a dwelling house in Leviston, Carbon County, Pennsylvania.  It consisted [sic] of three rooms on the first floor and one large room on the [sic] second floor which was called 'up stairs'.  The place was covered with trees and bushes and my husband cleared off trees and bushes to build the foundation and also the garden adjoining the dwelling house.  When the dwelling house was built we then moved into it.

On March 4, 1855 my daughter Mary Boyle, who is now Mrs Mary Fay, was born in this dwelling house, and [on December 24, 1856, my daughter...]

Page 3

...Annie Boyle, who is now Mrs Martin Blanchfield, was born in this dwelling house.

My husband Manus Boyle went to Australia in September 1856 and in the autumn season of 1859 when my husband was returning from Australia in the sailing vessel Royal Charter, the vessel was wrecked near the coast of Wales and my husband, Manus Boyle was drowned.

When my husband Manus Boyle went to Australia in 1856 my brother-in-law Richard Dougherty with his wife Rose and daughter Cathryne moved into this dwelling house and lived with me for company after my husband Manus Boyle was drowned, I lived here until the spring of the following year 1860 and then I went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and lived there, working for various families.  When I went away my brother John Monaghan took care of my youngest daughter Annie [and my brother-in-law took...]

Page 4

....care of my daughter Mary.

In the year of 1866 I married John McGinnis in Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  We lived in Jeanesville, PA, New York City, NY, and then in Leviston, PA.  In 1889 my husband John McGinnis and I returned to this dwelling house in Leviston, Carbon County, Pennsylvania which was built by my first husband Manus Boyle in the year 1854.  During the time I was away from this dwelling house 1860 to 1889 my brother-in-law Richard Dougherty and family occupied it and in the meantime built an addition to it.  Richard Dougherty died about the year 1882 and his family continued to live in this dwelling house until 1889 when they vacated the rooms of the house which my first husband Manus Boyle built and moved into the addition which they had previously built [adjoining the rooms of my house.]

Page 5

.......The statement given on the four pages attached is correct to the best of my knowledge and also to the best of my brothers knowledge, John Monaghan, and we have this date signed our names as shown below.

John Monaghan

Mrs Alice Mcginnis

Leviston P.O., 

Carbon County, Pennsylvania

Thursday, July 12, 1917

Page 6

I have this date heard the statement of Mrs Alice McGinnis regarding the dwelling house in Leviston, Caron County, Pennsylvania, built by Manus Boyle in 1854 and have witnessed the signatures of John Monaghan and Mrs Alice McGinnis as to correctness of the statement.

Mrs Mary Fay

Loretta Fay

George Fay

Leviston, Caron County, Pennsylvania Thursday, July 12, 1917"

NOTE:  Unfortunately the bottom of each page didn't copy, so I put the transcription from a copy of "The Letter" that was also in the family history (and had been passed around for years!) of the pieces that were missing in parentheses.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and Ancestry.com

I wasn't going to make a post today.  Incredibly crazy PTA day (and night), but as I was preparing for my evening General Meeting I saw an email from Martin Kobylarczyk, the Chief of Staff for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.  What did Martin tell me that made me jump right on here and share the news?

Ancestry.com will donate $1.00 to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) for every story that is shared through the app on their wall!  That is truly incredible!  We're genealogists!  We love sharing stories about our ancestors, so let's share some stories about our military ancestors (and don't forget about the vets that are still around!).

So make sure you're logged into Facebook and then head over to the app by clicking here.  There's nothing to install, but it will post the story to your Facebook wall as well. You've got 140 characters to type your memorial and click "submit".  The $1.00 doesn't get donated/registered until you post to your wall.  Yep, that's the catch, but seriously, with the stuff that gets posted on Facebook, well this is much nicer!

If you'd like to read more about the VVMF please check out my other blog posts about their great work.  To sum up, they want to be able to put a face with every name on the Vietnam Wall by creating a virtual memorial for the brave that sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. 

At the time of this post there were 1019 people that had shared a quick 140 characters about a vet.  That's $1019.00.  You can also post more than once!  Please pass this on.  It's only underway from November 1st through Veterans Day (the 11th).  It costs you nothing, but gives so much!

The Royal Charter - A Famous Shipwreck Forgotten Part 4

While this particular post may not be of the highest interest to many readers since it contains the list of names of passengers on the Royal Charter, it was the most difficult to transcribe.  I'm not just talking about making mistakes when transcribing names (and I'm sure I did so please forgive them!), but it was incredibly difficult to put the names with the people that died...or didn't die.  I don't say "saved" in this instance, because some were fortunate enough to disembark in Cork, Ireland a few hours before the ship was struck by the hurricane force winds that caused the wreck.

When you read someone's name in a list like this, it can by all means bring about emotion in the reader.  When this far detached from the time of the tragedy, however, they are just names to most.  Many will just scan the list (names, names, names, yep, nothing to see here), and proceed to the rest of the article at the end which is fine, but when you are forced to transcribe it, you really do feel the impact of each name.  You see their children and you see who were fortunate enough to escape such a horrible fate.  You see the names of the "saved" mixed right in next to those that perished and it really is quite the emotional contrast.

Even knowing that my 3rd great grandfather was on board this ship, as I was typing along and came across his name it caused me to pause my typing.  As if somehow this was shocking defies any sort of explanation.  To see his name sandwiched between two others that were saved (although understanding this did not effect his chances of survival) is also stunning.  I was privileged about a month ago to see my grandfather's name between the "saved" about a month ago, when Chris Holden emailed me the image as I purchased a copy of his book, "Life and Death on the Royal Charter" which I am currently reading.  Thank you, Chris, for everything!

One of these days I will compare the list derived from this article with other ships lists and try to see how accurate it truly is.  You can see if you read the list/article that even the article wasn't completely certain of the spelling of some of the names.  I want to see if those that boarded the ship at it's last stop were included in this list or whether it was the list from its departure in Australia.  So much still to do.  I'll certainly be using the site "Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, U.K. and Foreign Ports, 1852-1908" which was shared with me by Aillin from "Australian Genealogy Journeys" (thanks, Aillin!) after my first post in this series.  Perhaps it's a good goal for the next anniversary.

Until my next (and most likely last) post on this series, here is the final part of the very long article from the January 9, 1860 edition of the South Australian Advertiser:

"By the arrival of a vessel from Australia about a fortnight after the wreck, Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co. obtained the following full list of the passengers who sailed by the Royal Charter.  It will be observed that the survivors are specially noted in the list: -

SALOON. - Hugh Bethune, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce, infant, and servant, W. Beamer, jun., Mr. and Mrs. Davis, two daughters and two sons, Mr., Mrs., and two Miss Fowlers and servant, Mrs. Fenwick and four children, Mrs. Foster, Mr. J. and Mrs. Grove, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner (Mr. Gardiner landed at Cork), Mr. Gundry (saved), F.T. Hutton, Rev. Charles Hodge, Dr. Hatch, J.S. Henry, Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins and five sons, Walter Lafargue, Mr. J. B., Mrs., Miss, and Master Murray, Josephy McEvoy (landed at Cork), Mr. Mellor, Mr. Molineaux, W. H. Morse (saved), R. F. Macgeorge, Mrs. Nahmer and child (landed at Cork), Mr. W. H. and Mrs Pitcher, two children, and servant, Mr. Rufford, Mrs. Tweedale, Mr. Henry E. Taylor, child, and servant (Mr. Taylor saved), Mr. Welsh, Captain Withers, Mrs. Woodruff and child, Mr. G Watson.

SECOND CLASS. - Mr. Allen and two children (landed at Cork), Captain Adams, Mr. Barratt [sic Barrett] and child (son), Charles Callis, Mr. and Mrs. Dodd and two children, Miss F. Davis, Mr. Eidowes, - Bird, Edward Gates, T.F. Gapper (saved), Mrs. Glover, John Friffiths, Mr. Henderson, William Harfden or Horder, John Loone (saved), - Lethlaine, L.E. Mention (saved), John Maule, Mr. M'Nab, T. Macready, - Nicholas, Mrs. Norman and two children, Mr. Portnay, Mr. Perry, Edmund Pearce, Mrs. R. Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Russell and two children (Mr. Russell saved), Mr. and Mrs. Smith and three children, Solomon Samuel, Mr. Lausan or Sanson, Julius Stirko or Stirks (landed at Cork), Miss Elizabeth Ward, Miss Mary Ellen Wrigley, Edwd. Watson, John Wilks, Mr. Watson, John Bradbury (saved), Mr. Lyons and family (wife and three children) two sons aged 10 and 12, J. Trusteman and family (two children), Henry Burns and child (landed at Cork), Nathaniel Nathan, Alice newton, Jos. Churton, John and Catherine Drygan or Yaggan (landed at Cork), John Judge (saved), Maurice Boyle (my ancestor), James Dean (saved), Wright Lockwood, Jos. Moss, Mr. Faulkner and child, Robert Jeffery, P. De la Lands, David Thompson, Mrs. Kennedy and family (two children), Thomas Willis, J. Wickett and party, C. Jakeman, Messrs. Jones and Rice, C. Kisterman, Messrs. Culina, Surt, and Lyon; Charles Conway, Mr. Kirkbride and two sons, Mr. Kennedy and family (wife and three children), William Banks, David Thomas, C. R. Ross, W. S. Fenis (saved), J. McCappin (saved), T. Taylor, Robert Thomas Fawcett.  William Boden (saved), James Ring [King], Denis Collins, William and T. Murray, John [sic] Buchanan, Coll. M'Phall (saved), Jos. Robinson, Alex. Pottinger, R. Oliver and party, P. Hogarth and family (one child), Wm. Ford, C. Shanahan, David Bell, William Wilson, George Smith, Michael Frawley, Messrs. Derose and Kenny, John Fainby, R. Laystff, Frank Webber, Geo. Watson, Mr. Holland and family (three children), Issac Stephenson, Mrs. Athey and child, T. Newton, Agett Richards, James Stanard (saved), Edmister and Ellis, Mr. Terril, Jessie Thomden, Baptists Phillipine, Batca and Rosely, James Johnston, James Pardy, Jos. Spyaglio, George Chesney, Thomas Byrne, John Grice, Matthew Scott, Houghton and Thomson, T. Wood, Thomson and Milliken, Noah Lyons, William Green, Robert Tuck, Joseph Gibson, John Wetherspoon, John Lynch, charles Anderson, P. Thomson, E. Fowler, H. Ivey, L. Forut, Michael Kavanagh, Antonio Albergath, [Drithin] and Rolis, Morelli and Cavagns, John and P. Martin, George Leithu, Henry Lawton, George Taylor, Samuel Greufell (saved), E. Allen, John Anderson, S. Dalton, William Storey, W. Crowley, Mrs. Ross and family (two children, one an infant), d. Travers, T. Wyatt, James Sulllivan, James Turner, Mr. Cartney and family (three children), B. Bladier, Mr. Paderitte, William Bishop, Mrs. Willis and family (two children), John Gillespie, Thomas Kelly, Mr. Mitchell and wife, William Flemming, John Scott, John Muhlmann, Charles Parkinson, John Parkinson (or Ranston), James Pamplin, Miss Davidson, henry Sims, John Manion, Samuel Mosely Wade, Nicolis Le Page, Mr. M'Leod and family (two children), William Tany, John Inglis, Richard Davis, Joseph Potts, Frank Hoyland, E. Willray, Miss Susannah Morton, John Mason, T. Bakewell, James Black, Beratti Vingenga

THOSE OF THE CREW WHO WERE SAVED - Wm. Foster, carpenter, George Swalcar, boatswain's mate, Edward Williams, ditto, Thomas Cormick, steward, John Stanfard, ditto, Thomas Ellis, storekeeper, Owen Williams, quartermaster, Walter Hughes, apprentice, David Strongman, second quartermaster, tom Tims, seaman, Patrick Devine, rigger, James White, ditto, John H. Richards, ditto, Thomas Cunningham, ditto, William Barton, ditto, W. Dreaper, seaman, John O'Brien, ditto, Joseph Rogers, ditto, Henry Evans, ditto, Thomas Griffiths, ditto, William M'Carther, Edward Wilson, ditto, G. Girvin, ditto - 23.

The scene of the wreck is Moelfra, about nine miles from Beaumaris, and three or four miles from where the Rothsay Castle was lost many years ago.  Red Wharf Bay is situated about three miles to the westward of Puffin Island, Menai Straits, and six or seven miles to the north-west of Beaumaris.  With the exception of the bay, which is very sandy and shallow, the coast is rocky and bold.

Just on the eve of the dreadful disaster the passengers, believing their voyage at an end, had presented Captain Taylor with a piece of plate in testimony of their appreciation of his ability and kindness.  On the day of the wreck the captain's wife and his two daughters were awaiting him on the North Landing Stage at Liverpool.

It will be readily imagined that the wreck of the Royal charter was a topic impressively dwelt upon from many a pulpit on the following Sunday.  Not the least impressive discourse which referred to it was that of the Rev. Mr. Binney, who, had his wife not desired to make the journey overland, might possibly have sailed for England in the ill-fated ship.  A statement was lately published to the effect that Mr. Binney had, at one time, positively determined to take his passage in the Royal Charter, and had been prevented by the merest accident from doing so.  At a meeting, however, of his friends and congregation, held some evenings ago at the London Tavern for the purpose of giving him a 'welcome home,' Mr. Binney said: - 'The fact was, that he had a desire to return by Cap Horn; but Mrs. Binney had decided three months previous to their return, to come overland.  If, however, they had not decided to come overland, they would most probably have come by the Royal Charter, as she lay in Melbourne at the time.'"

Interesting to note that the servants, women and children aren't listed by name, but not at all surprising for the time. 

The Royal Charter - A Famous Shipwreck Forgotten Part 3

A little delay in my Royal Charter series as my family was under siege by the stomach flu (and for my Halloween post).  Nothing compared to what these poor people went through, but absolutely miserable nonetheless!

This part of the news article goes into the shipwreck entering peril.  It calls into question (as most people did after the tragedy) why the captain made the choices he did.  In it's own way it also points out that hindsight is 20/20.

I had to chuckle at the comment, "...as no one who knows Welsh pilots will be surprised...", I mean seriously, if it weren't for the Welsh that risked their lives making a human chain to save the few people they were able to, we may be talking about only one or two having been saved at all.  Yes, they were perhaps not 'Welsh pilots', but I'm not for criticizing a people that placed their lives at risk that night for strangers!

There is one more part to this news article that I will post tomorrow.  While it might not be the most exciting of posts, nor descriptive, it is perhaps the most important genealogically speaking.  It gives the names of those who died in the Royal Charter.  A ships list that is not always the easiest to find if you don't know where to look.

Until then, enjoy the last bit of descriptive drama on the tragedy that was forgotten (at least in America).

"How the Royal Charter ever had the right to get into that atrocious Dules Bay, where the rocks stick up like jagged teeth, is a question quite as easy to ask as it is difficult to understand how the Royal Charter should have ventured to pass Holyhead in a gale without a pilot.  From Holyhead to the point where the ship struck is all danger; and though with the wind off the land and a pilot on board, the course for a ship bound to the Mersey may be in shore, was it the safe course, it may be asked, under opposite circumstances?  Yet it is not to be presumed for a moment that the common signs of weather, or the rules for approaching land, were deliberately set at nought, or that the weather-glasses were not consulted, or that the tidal currents and the notorious indraught on the Welsh coast were forgotten or neglected by the lamented commander of the Roayl Charter and his officers, none of whom, alas! remain to tell the story.  From the moment when it was found that the ship could not make head against the hurricane and the indraught, and that it was impossible to make the Mersey, the fate of the ship need no explanation.  Blue lights and rockets were burnt for a pilot; but, as no one who knows Welsh pilots will be surprised to hear, no pilot appeared; and, pilot or no pilot, it was now too late.  The ship was hove to, and drifting helplessly into Dulas Bay.  Here she let go her anchors, 'keeping her screw working to ease the cables.'  One after the other the cables parted with the strain; at half-past 2 she struck, the tide ebbing, and with the flood she went broadside on to the shelving beach, literally split in two amidships, and was smashed to pieces on the rocks.  We are guilty of no presumption in drawing one conclusion, and that is, the worse than uselessness, the absolutely fatel mischief of the so-called 'auxiliary' screw.  The Royal Charter was, it should be remembered, an iron ship of 2,749 ton, 'originally intended for a sailing vessel, 'but transformed into a screw steamer, 'with engines of 300-horse power.'  The value of these screw engines to a ship of this size and quality seems to us at least problematical; at best it could only serve her in making away across the 'calm belts;' and as a set off to this exceptional service, there was the dead weight of the engines and the space they occupied, often to no purpose.  Whatever may have been the use of the auxiliary screw in calms, it is too certain that in working off a lee shore it was not only not serviceable, but disastrous; it not only failed to claw the ship off, but it failed to ease the cables, and when the spars were cut away, the screw got fouled, and ceased to work.  Is it absurd or unjust to suppose that had there been no auxiliary steam power in the Royal Charter she would never have been permitted to hug a lee shore at night in search of a pilot, with a hurricane dead on her weather bow, and strong indraught to the shore?  Had she trusted to her sailing powers only, would she not have consulted her weather-glasses more anxiously, and kept well out to sea?  We do not attempt to answer these questions, but we ask them deferentially, sorrowfully, and under a due sense of responsibility."

Halloween - A Night to Torment your Children

Danny was not happy at being dressed up as Hedwig from Harry Potter, but the tail was just so cute!

Aah, boxes!  With no armholes!  I'm the cheese!

Trick-or-Treating.  Eating candy.  Little changes.  Although I do remember that when I was young and you went trick-or-treating it was always on Halloween.  None of this crap where the cities designate a day of the weekend to trick-or-treat so it doesn't interfere with school.  Nope.  And teachers that gave homework on Halloween were just plain wrong.  Most kids wouldn't do it anyway.  Although I was the kid that would trick-or-treat and then obsess until I got my homework done.

Ben just wasn't feeling the love that night

I also remember that when you went to a door you would knock, say "Trick-or-Treat", and then you would have to tell a joke.  Was that just a Hazleton, Pennsylvania thing or did other people do that too?  And it was trick-OR-treating.  Sometimes you got that house where the whole "treat" was the spooky haunted house they would put on.  Yeah, as little kids they were the ones to avoid if you were on a hunt-and-kill candy mission, but I have to admit that some were pretty cool too.

And if you wanted trick-or-treaters you would put your porch light on and turn it off if you ran out of candy or didn't want to be bothered.  Today, kids just bang on everyone's door, whether their lights are on or off.  And parents encourage it! (Boy do I sound like a grumpy old fart or what!?!?)

Trick-or-treating could be an expensive thing when you're pressed for money.  It's great to go out and get the free treats, but sometimes getting the costume wasn't so easy.  We were lucky.  My mom was incredibly crafty...after all she was an art major in college!  Homemade costumes!  I'm sure some kids didn't like them.  We did.

Trick-or-treating in Army barracks

When you're really little though you don't have much say as to what you're going to be.  You are at the mercy of your parents.  I have to say that as an adult with two little boys, I do enjoy getting (and sometimes making) costumes of their choice, but when they were little I loved sticking them in what I wanted to dress them up as!  One of the benefits of having kids!

Stop complaining!  I survived my childhood and now I get to torment you!  When you have kids, you can torment them, now let's get some candy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

(A little fun break from my Royal Charter posts, but they'll return tomorrow!)

Our Star Wars Halloween

My sisters and I ready for some candy (I'm on the far left)

Danny was Darth Vader for his first Halloween.  The lightsaber apparently looked yummy!

Ben all dressed up.  The hubby didn't like this costume at all!

The ghost hat is a Halloween hand-me-down for all our kids!

Harry Potter Halloween (Danny got over the embarrassment)

The devil-hood is another hand-me-down for all our kids!

I feel like I'm auditioning for "A Christmas Story"

The Royal Charter - A Famous Shipwreck Forgotten Part 2

The South Australian Advertiser, 09JAN1860, pg3

Continuing on from yesterday's post.  The second part of the excerpt from the South Australian Advertiser (same date and page).  A well-written account of the events that led up to (but not including) the demise of the ship and it's unfortunate passengers.

"Last Tuesday night, when town and country were well abed, and let us hope not without thankfulness of heart, nor without having taken thought of 'all those who travel by land or sea;' - when even the rancid haunts of vice in London were emptying, and the homeless were slinking off to snatch forgetfulness somewhere out of reach of wind and rain: - in the dead hour of a desolate night, desolate enough among street [sic] lamps flickering in a clammy fog, more desolate still when a sickly moon peered dimly through a drift of ragged cloud, and the wind howled and moaned with a roar of rage and anguish - in that desolate night and that dead hour one of those terrible calamities which are remembered for centuries was hurrying near five hundred of our fellow creatures to sudden death at sea, after a safe and prosperous voyage of twelve thousand miles, within six hours of port, and within stonethrow of the long-wished-for land.  Heartrending and disastrous is the shipping intelligence of this week all round our coasts, but the wreck of the Royal Charter will be a melancholy fireside tale among our children's children.  If, indeed, what is called 'progress' be truly defined as an increasing dominion over time and space, the England, marching at the van, atones for her pre-eminence by many a hostage.  We talk of bridging seas by the size and speed of our ships, but every now and then we offer up costly sacrifices to avenge our triumphs, and correct our pride.

It would be easy for some glib interpreters of Providence to pronounce homilies on the fate of a ship laden with the root of all evil, and of men hasting to be rich; for it is certain that the Royal Charter had at least L500,000 on board, and that many of her passengers were returning from Australia with fortunes in their hands.  But this catastrophe may point, we think, a safer and more serviceable moral.  To mortal sight human destinies are at best a chaos, and it is not for mortal wisdom to presume to fabricate out of inexplicable chances a providential order of its own.  Here, for instance, was a ship touching at Queenstown, and landing 13 passengers, one of whom left his wife on board to pursue her voyage to Liverpool, and as it turned out, to meet death on the way; here were ten poor riggers, just returned from working a vessel to Cardiff, taken on board from a steam-tug in with a ship that had come all the way from Australia in safety.  Who will presume to judge?  'The one was taken and the other left.'  Let us be content to moralise more humbly and humanely on the fate of our fellow-creatures.  It were a miserable task, while the bodies of the poor castaway people are still awaiting Christian burial, to look about for whom to blame, when all but a score are beyond the reach of blame or praise.  It is easy for us to wonder and regret that the Royal Charter should ever have passed on from Queenstown and sailed up the Irish Channel without a pilot in wild and threatening weather - that without a pilot, and with a northerly gale coming on, she should have passed by Holyhead, and kept hugging a dead lee shore at night along the most dangerous line of all our coast.  Any one who knows that coast, or who has even glanced at a chart, cannot fail to be struck with consternation at the bare thought of such a ship as the Royal Charter keeping that Welsh land close on board in the worst of weather, night coming on, without a pilot, in the hope of finding one, and for the sake of saving a few hours at the close of an astonishingly rapid and successful passage."

What a writer.  What emotions in his writing.  We continue on tomorrow with his description of the destruction of the Royal Charter.

The Royal Charter - A Famous Shipwreck Forgotten Part 1

The South Australian Advertiser, 09JAN1860, pg3

I always find it incredibly interesting to see how tragedies were viewed during the time period in which they occurred.  This one is so gripping, I thought it appropriate to share during this blog series on the Royal Charter.  The article was taken from the Australian newspaper The South Australian Advertiser and published on January 9th, 1860.

Keep in mind that the Royal Charter was no ordinary ship.  It was its own modern-day miracle.  Cutting edge of the time.  It was a hybrid of sorts.  Instead of relying solely on sails which were at the mercy of the winds (or lack thereof), this ship could engage it's engine when winds were lacking.  It would have been highly desirable to travel on such a ship. 

Regardless of the ship traveled on, such a long journey was dangerous, but the sheer loss of life was, and is, incredible.  No woman or child survived this shipwreck.  I often wonder how my 3rd great grandmother got news of the wreck and how she was sure that her husband was one of the lost.  Did she write a letter?  Did she have a relative send one?  Did she assume when she heard nothing that he was dead?  To be widowed in 1859 with 2 young children and living in a coal patch town had to have been scary.  It had to have added to the misery.  Would she be turned out of the house that her husband built on company property?  How would she live and care for her children?  I do have some of these answers, but for now enjoy the gripping drama that unfolds (why doesn't Hollywood make this into a movie?):

"The Wreck of the Royal Charter.

[From the Home News.]

On the morning of the 27th October the Times published a brief telegram announcing the 'loss, on her way from Queenstown to Liverpool, of the Royal Charter, with over 400 passengers on board, of which number only about 20 were saved.'  It was not till about noon on the same day that this startling announcement was confirmed; and even then hopes were still cherished that it contained some element of exaggeration.  That so famous a ship, which had been telegraphed two days before as being off Queenstown after a most prosperous voyage from Melbourne, should have been utterly lost within two or three hours' sail from Liverpool, with an enormous freight of life and treasure, appeared a catastrophe so appalling in its magnitude and suddenness as to be all but incredible.  People ventured to hope that at least a large number of the passengers might have been safely landed at some point of the coast which did not possess the means of rapid communication; and that in a few hours more we should receive tidings of their rescue.  The hope was vain.  A mournful accumulation of authentic intelligence from the scene of the wreck proved ere long beyond the possibility of a doubt that the first announcement, instead of being an exaggeration, was actually an under statement of the disaster.  In another day, by putting together the various particulars supplied by the survivors, the newspapers were enabled to publish the following compendious narrative of one of the most astounding tragedies on record: -

After a splendid passage from Melbourne, accomplished in 58 days, and after having landed 13 passengers at Queenstown, and telegraphed her safe arrival to the owners, the Royal Charter made for Liverpool on the 25th of October.  She had sailed from Melbourne with 388 passengers on board, and a crew, including officers, of 112 persons.  After leaving Queenstown she took on board from a steam-tug 11 riggers who had been assisting in working a ship to Cardiff.  Thus she had now on board 498 persons.  Her cargo was small, consisting mainly of wool and skins.  A more important item of her freight was gold and specie, which at the lowest estimate is here put at L500,000.  On the evening of October 25, there was blowing from the E.N.E. a violent gale, which fell with full force on the ill-fated ship.  She arrived off Point Lynas at 6 o'clock that evening, and for several hours Captain Taylor continued throwing up signal rockets, in the hope of attracting the attention of a pilot.  None made his appearance.  The gale increased in violence; the ship was making leeway, and drifting gradually towards the beach.  It was pitch dark; no help was at hand.  The captain let go both anchors, but the gale had now increased to a hurricane, and had lashed the sea up to madness.  The chains parted, and not withstanding that the engines were worked at their full power, the Royal Charter continued to drift towards the shore.  At 3 a.m. she struck the rocks in four fathoms of water.  The passengers, a large portion of whom were women and children, had till  this moment no idea of the imminence of their peril.  The most perfect discipline and order prevailed.  The masts and riggings were cut adrift, but caused no relief, as the ship began to thump on the sharp-pointed rocks with fearful rapidity.  Shortly after she struck, the ship was thrown broadside on, perfectly upright upon the shelving stony beach, the head and stern lying due east and west, the former not being more than 20 yards from a projecting rock.  At this juncture one of the crew, a Maltese, named Joseph Rogers, nobly volunteered to struggle through the heavy surf and convey a rope on shore.  Though it was not believed by any one that danger was imminent, the captain gave the order, and Rogers ably fulfilled his duty.  A strong hawser was then passed and secured on shore, and to this was rigged a boatswain's chair.  While this was going on a fearful scene was being enacted in the saloon.  An attempt had been made by a Mr. Hodge, a clergyman, to perform a service; but the violent thumping of the vessel on the rocks, and the sea which poured into the cabin, rendered this impossible.  The passengers were collected here, and Captain Withers and Captain Taylor were endeavouring to allay their fears by the assurance that there was at any rate no immediate danger, when a succession of tremendous waves struck the vessel and absolutely broke her in half amidships.  Shortly afterwards the foremost portion was again torn in half, and the ship began to break up rapidly.  Several of the crew saved themselves by means of the hawser, while the remainder were hurled upon the rocks by the waves;  all the officers perished.  Captain Taylor was the last man seen alive on board.  He had lashed his body to a spar and was drowned.  The whole number saved out of the 498 persons on board was 39.

A number of stirring leading articles on the wreck of the Royal Charter soon appeared in all the journals.  Of these the most remarkable was one which appeared in the Daily News.  We extract it here in full, as it gives the most vivid picture we have yet seen of all the salient features of the terrible Catastrophe: - "

To be continued...