Your monthly Jerrems Newsletter
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Ray takes us back to the days of treacherous seas. And, long-time subscriber, L eila Menzies, shares her recent trip experiences to China.
Donald Jerrems, North Carolina
Ray Jerrems, Sydney
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SHIPWRECK COAST SECOND ARTICLE
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Introduction
Here is a photo of part of the Shipwreck Coast (as it is popularly known), on the south coast of Victoria, Australia.
My story of the Shipwreck Coast has had a chequered career. My first article appeared in the November 2016 Journal, where I told you about a number of shipwrecks on that coast, mostly leaving the wreck of the Loch Ard in the Twelve Apostles area to a later article. The later article disappeared mysteriously until I located it recently.
In view of the lapse of time I will summarise some of the previous information about the Loch Ard in this article so that you have a starting point.
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The most famous shipwreck on the Shipwreck Coast was that of the “Loch Ard” in 1878. The ship was 260 feet long, 1700 tons and had 150 foot masts, which was quite large for those times, and it was very fast. With 54 people on board it left England in March 1878. Included in the crew as surgeon was Dr Evory Carmichael. Aged 45 he was migrating from Ireland with his family for health reasons, having contracted TB.
When the ship was some distance south of Cape Otway on 30th June there was a heavy haze which resulted in a poor “sight” which initially placed the ship’s longitude in doubt, and later obscured the coastline. At 4 am the haze lifted and the Captain saw high cliffs straight ahead in the moonlight. The southerly wind drove the ship towards the cliffs. It hit a reef and was swept into a gorge, smashing against the cliffs and then sinking.
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Here is a photo of the Gorge, with Eva Carmichael’s Cave (see later) at the foot of the towering cliffs on the mid right.
There were only two survivors, the surgeon’s daughter Eva and Tom Pearce, an apprentice. Tom swam to shore through the raging waves and debris and a short time later despite a nasty head injury swam out to save Eva, who was clinging to a spar (earlier she had been holding on to a chicken coop). He swam to shore, towing her by holding her nightie in his teeth. It was midwinter and the water was freezing. Tom dragged her over the debris on the beach (no mean feat because she weighed 12 stone) and laid her in her soaked clothes in a cave (now called Eva Carmichael’s Cave). He then scrambled out of the Gorge to get help, which he obtained from a stockman.
Later he went back to look for Eva (who had wandered away) and collapsed from exhaustion.
In due course Eva was found nearby and taken to a nearby homestead, where she convalesced.
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Here is a photo of the Carmichael grave.
Sadly Eva’s parents, two brothers and three sisters perished.
The bodies of Mrs Carmichael and her daughter “Raby” (Rebecca) were recovered quickly and were hoisted up to the top of the cliffs. The bodies were placed in coffins made out of piano cases (the ship’s cargo included about 20 pianos) and buried not far from the rim of the Gorge at a funeral service.
A year later Eva’s sole surviving sibling, William (a chief officer on the Loch Ness clipper) erected a tall headstone over the Carmichael grave to the memory of the lost members of his family.
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The Loch Ard carried a large mixed cargo which was carried into the Gorge and nearby inlets.
If the ship was carrying a full cargo it could have weighed 1000 tonnes.
The ship’s manifest showed that it carried “5671 pieces and packages of softgoods”. Curiosities included 29 cwt of canary seed, 50 tonnes of salt, 1.25 tonnes of tobacco, 100 tonnes of iron, 72 tonnes of lead, 30,000 gallons of wine and spirits, iron bedsteads, 604 cases of glass and 61 anvils.
There was also a wide range of furniture, including twenty pianos (the lids were used to make coffins for people interred in the graveyard above the Gorge).
The heavy items were stowed in the bottom of the main hold, followed by the miscellaneous items, which were also stored in the after (rear) hold and as deck cargo.
Although the heavy items in the main hold would have sunk with the ship, most of the items that could float were washed ashore, either in the Gorge vicinity or at the half mile long beach at Sherbrook River.
Several days later debris covered the Gorge beach to a depth of eight feet.
Pilfering at the Gorge became rife. When the police attempted to prevent it the thieves climbed down the cliffs at night.
Salvaged articles which were officially retrieved were later auctioned for the meagre sum of 300 pounds, compared with the cargo’s value of 53,000 pounds.
Later the purchaser of the salvage rights kept a porcelain Blue Peacock (see photo), one of the few officially salvaged items of value. Made in 1851 in England it was intended that it would be exhibited in the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, and was consigned in the captain’s keeping.
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The shipwreck received an enormous amount of publicity, and Tom was feted as a national hero, later receiving a Gold Medal from the Royal Humane Society and a Silver Medal for gallantry from the British Board of Trade.
Earlier, when the people of Warrnambool learned that Tom had lost all his clothes they outfitted him and in addition presented him with 100 pounds.
In Sydney he attended a function at the giant Exhibition Hall as a guest of the Sydney Lord Mayor and a short time later he was the guest of honour at a testimonial concert at the Melbourne Town Hall at the behest of the Victorian Governor and the Melbourne Lord Mayor. Tom survived the concert as splendidly as he survived the wreck and was awarded the huge sum of 1000 pounds by the Victorian Government (the current day equivalent of this would be at least $100,000).
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Eva was born in Ireland in 1859, the daughter of Evory Carmichael and Rebecca. She was quite good looking and was bigger than Tom Pearce, being 5ft 8 inches tall and (as previously mentioned) 12 stone.
Nearly three months after the wreck Eva sailed for England, Tom being one of the people to see her off. Understandably she insisted on travelling by steamship.
Eva was the same age as Tom, and the public hoped that a romance would blossom, but this was not to be. This hope was somewhat unrealistic because he was only a ship’s apprentice and she was the daughter of a surgeon and claimed a somewhat tenuous ancestry back to the Plantaganet kings.
Eva married Thomas Townshend (who was fifteen years older than her) in 1884 and they had three sons who served in the British Army, one of them attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She died at the age of 74.
Despite the fact that Tom was stationed in England for a number of years there is no evidence that they were ever in touch with each other again, except in 1884 when he wrote to her to say that he was engaged to be married.
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Tom was born in Melbourne in 1859. He was quite short (five feet five and a half inches) by today’s standards and was sturdily built. He showed an early interest in the sea, going to sea at the age of fifteen. However his first voyage ended ignominiously in the first six hours near Melbourne with his ship (the 375 tonne iron barque Eliza Ramsden) sinking after hitting a rock at Port Phillip Heads. The crew of 14 were quickly taken off the stricken vessel and were none the worse for wear.
For those who love colourful growth and fish life the wreck is a perfect artificially formed reef popular with divers.
Fortunately for young Tom, after this anti-climax his next voyages, on the Loch Ard, were incident free, being voyages to Calcutta in 1876 and London-Melbourne-London in 1877.
Following the wreck of the Loch Ard Tom’s next sailing ship (another Loch ship, the Loch Sunart, built the year before) was wrecked off the coast of Ireland. Tom’s survival instinct stood him in good stead again because fortunately he was able to reach shore.
With a somewhat romantic touch, shortly after this he married the sister of his best friend, Robert Strasenbergh, the latter having been lost in the Loch Ard. They had two sons (see later).
Tom finally saw the light and forsook sailing ships by joining the Royal Mail Steam Packet Coy in 1883. In 1898 he was appointed captain of the Larne, and in 1906, while captain of the Orinoco was involved in a collision with another ship. He died in 1908 at the early age of 49, the cause of death being rather vague.
The risks in serving at sea
Shortly before Tom went to sea (in 1873) his stepfather died when he was captain of the steamship “Gothenburg”, which was wrecked in cyclone conditions off the coast of North Queensland with the loss of 107 lives (22 survived).
Tom’s eldest son Tom died at the age of 15 on his first voyage while serving on the Loch Vennachar, which was wrecked off Kangaroo Island (near Adelaide) in 1905. The ship was on a voyage from Glasgow to Adelaide. The first indication of her loss was a reel of blue printing paper found by another ship floating north west of the Island. Subsequently wreckage was found on the island.
Tom’s second son Robert had a distinguished maritime career, being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for commanding a minesweeper in the First World War. His luck ran out during the Second World War when his 12,000 ton merchant ship was sunk in 1942 while on a convoy to Malta. Carrying a cargo of aviation fuel, it was divebombed and sank in two minutes. Only four of the fourteen ships in the ill-fated convoy reached Malta.
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This concludes my article about the Loch Ard, however I have further information about shipwrecks which I will include in a later article.
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I have been busy in retirement! Went on 10 day trip to China with my niece Laura–even climbed part of the Great Wall (not easy since I really struggle with stairs).
The first photo is me on Great Wall.
Next photo is me and Laura in rickshaw in Beijing on our way to a dinner prepared and served family style in the house of one of the old Beijing residents.
Loved the potato dish they prepared!
Our next vacations/trips look to be our usual (but still wonderful fun) our summer BBQ in San Luis Obispo with cousins and then October-December (somewhere in there) our annual trip to Napa and much fun with wine tasting.
Leila Menzies
Los Angeles
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Leila – The Jerrems Connection
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Dear Donald
In case you wonder where Leila fits in, in simple terms she is related to Mary Bell, who married Alexander Nicholl Jerrems in Chicago.
Taking several steps back up the family tree, William George Jerrems’ parents and siblings (including my great grandfather Charles) migrated from England to Australia in the 1850s and eventually William had 6 children, including Alexander Nicholl Jerrems Sr who became a famous gridiron footballer and Donald, your grandfather.
In due course Alexander Nicholl Jerrems Sr and Mary Bell had a son Alexander Nicholl Jerrems Jr and daughters Marabel and Virginia.
Ray
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