The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-03-17 00:00:00

DISASTERS IN THE CHANNEL.

GALLANT LIFEBOAT SERVICES.

Respecting the collision which occurred off
Dungeness during a dense fog on Friday evening of
last week between the City of Corinth, a full-rigged
ship, and the Tasmania, 2175 tons register, four.
masted ship, after which the City of Corinth, which
was struck amidships, sank, telegrams were on Satur-
day received, stating that early that morning the
Tasmania was towed up Channel as far as Dover.
Her bows were in a very damaged condition, being
cut away and forced in below the water line. From
the statements of the crew the fog was so dense that
nothing was seen of the City of Corinth until she was
right on to them, and she then loomed up suddenly
on the line, being very dimly seen through the
fog, although they were close to her. Before the
course of the Tasmania could be altered she struck the
City of Corinth full, or nearly at amidships. The
vessels, after remaining in contact for a very brief in-
terval, separated, and the latter, which began to settle
down very soon, was lost sight of in the fog very
quickly. Some of the crew of the City of Corinth
were in their beds at the time, and the vessel filled so
rapidly that they had no time to escape, and went
down in their bunks. Some who rushed up on deck
were killed by the falling spars, and out of a crew of
30 all told only two have been rescued. These are
the chief mate, Mr. Miller, belonging to Whitby, and
an able seaman, D. S. Davis, of Swansea. These were
taken on board the Tasmania, and brought on to Dover.
The mate has no recollection of how he succeeded in
saving himself, but Davis states that he went down
in the ship, but upon coming up again swam to the
Tasmania, and climbed by means of chains on to her
deck. The first information that he received of the
disaster was someone shouting upon the deck, and he
had only time to escape before the vessel sank.
Appen"ded are the names of those lost in the City of
Corinth :—Captain Taylor, and Shiery, carpenter,
both of Ardrossan ; A. Davies, T. White, and Z. White,
of Cardiff; C. Taylor, Dundee; T. Goodwin, Cardiff;
G. Weigh, Kingsland ; T. Carle, Belfast; C. Birch, a
Russian; M'Caul, of Shields; W. Oliver, London; T.
Wilkinson, Sunderland; Evans, Cardigan; four
apprentices, named W. Ritchie, of Saltcoats ; H. Bow-
man, Limerick; D. Douglas and Wilson; Cridy, of
Bristol ; Care, of Ardrossan ; M'Donald and Harvey,
Scotchman, an Irishman, and four Dutchmen. Only
two of the deceased were married, and these had no
children.

About half-past two o'clock on Friday afternoon of
last week the coastguard at Atherfield, on the south-
west coast of the Isle of Wight, observed a full-rigged
ship coming up the Channel. A very heavy squall
was on, and the weather was thick, but the vessel
kept close to land. On noticing how close he was to
the land the captain evidently endeavoured to haul
the ship to the wind, but there being no room for such
a manceuvre she struck on Atherfiekl Ledge, almost
abreast of the coastguard station, one hour after low
water. The sea being too heavy for the coastguard
boat, the Brixton Lifeboat was signalled for, and
meanwhile attempts were made to reach the wreck
by means of the rocket apparatus. This, however,
failed. After a hard pull of three miles against
the tide the Brixton lifeboat, Worcester Cadet,
arrived at the scene of the wreck, which proved to be
the ship Serenia, of Glasgow, 1598 tons, from San Fran-
cisco to Dunkirk, with wheat. The lifeboat succeeded
in taking off the captain's wife, three children, and
maidservant, and an apprentice named Jenkins, all
of whom were landed and taken care of by the coast- ,
guard. Before the return journey to the wreck could
be made the lifeboat's launching carriage had to be
waited for. As evening came on the sea became too
rough to permit of launching, and the lifeboat could
not be got out again until half-past two o'clock on
Saturday morning, when the wreck was reached in
safety, and with immense danger and difficulty 13
men were taken off. The lifeboat had not proceeded
more than 20 yards towards the shore when a tre-
mendous sea overwhelmed and capsized it, throwing
all its occupants into the sea. Strange to say, all
managed to get back into the lifeboat with the ex-
ception of Turner and Cotton, the coxswains, and
an apprentice belonging to the Serenia, who were
drowned. The lifeboat eventually reached the shore in a
deplorable condition, without a single oar remaining on
the starboard side, and only two on the port side, all
the others being either broken or lost or useless,
owing to there being no one able to pull them. One
of the crew, a man named Dozier, was found clinging
to the outside of the lifeboat, and he had been so fear-
fully battered about by the heavy sea that he died
soon after being landed. In response to urgent
requests for help the lifeboat William Lewis Stanley
started for the scene from Brook, six miles distant.
Her lights were seen about 3.30 a.m., and later on she
could be made out coming round the ship's bows in a
heavy sea, and at daylight she was descried a long
way to the eastward. She had lost her coxswain
during the terrible night, and her crew were prostrate
with fatigue and exposure. They made several efforts
to pull to the ship, but the sea was too heavy for
them, and they were compelled to set sail for home.
A telegram was then despatched to Portsmouth for
assistance, and meanwhile renewed efforts were made
by the coastguard to save the remainder of the crew
of the Serenia. A large black board was hoisted with
the words written upon it in chalk: "Send drift
buoy." This was acted upon by the crew, and com-
munication between the wreck and the land was thus
effected; but on the crew hauling off to the ship the
whip attached by the coastguard to the rope broke,
and another attempt likewise failed, the tide having
changed too much. By this time a fresh crew had
volunteered for the lifeboat, and after almost super-
human efforts the gallant boat was once more launched
and pulled to the wreck. By clever management the
remaining 13 of the crew were taken off the ship
and landed shortly after noon amid enthusiastig

cheers. The crew numbered 27 hands, and there
were 32 souls aboard all told. The list of those
drowned is as follows :—Moses Munt, coxswain of
Brixton lifeboat, aged 57, married, and leaves sevetn
children; Thomas Cotton, second coxswain of same
boat, 47, single; Reuben Cooper, 58, coxswain of
Brook lifeboat, who lost his life while attempting tc
effect communication with the vessel on the boat's
first arrival; L. Dozier, able-bodied seaman, shipped
at San Francisco; Thomas Maybery, 17, apprentice,
belonging to Plymouth. The owners of the vessel
are Messrs. Macmillan Brothers, Melham-park, Duni.
barton