The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-13 00:00:00

THE NORTH COUNTRY SEAMEN.

On Monday evening a well-attended public meet-
ing was held in the Town-hall, Worth Shields, the
Mayor, Mr. Joseph Spence, in the chair, to take
into consideration the condition of the widows and
orphans of the unfortunate seamen recently lost be-
longing to that town. and commence a subscription
on their behalf. There was an excellent attendance.
Most of the clergy and several of the leading ship-
owners were present. The Mayor, in opening the
proceedings, stated that it was feared that there
were either 12 or 13 vessels belonging to the town
lost in the late gales, and that more than 50 widows
and a considerable number of orphan children had
been thus left destitute. He said that a subscrip-
tion was entered into in 186 J on behalf of the
widows and orphans of eeamen then lost, and that
the fund had been maintained until April last, when
the last money the committee had at their disposal
was paid to the widow of Mr. Peters, a shipmaster,
who was lost at sea, and who it happened had him-
' self been one of the most diligent collectors towards
the fund is 186). The Mayor stated that with the
fund they now proposed to collect it was intended,
not only to administer to the wants of the poor
women who had recently been left widows, but to
assist all destitute families of seamen lost since April
last, and to carry it on so that as far as possible,
wht n any other poor women were bereft of their
husbands by storm at sea, the committee would have
something at their disposal to meet their imme-
diate wants, Dr. Bramwell moved a resolution of
sympathy with the bereaved families. Ho said it
was computed the t 112 men and lads belonging to
this part alone had been lost in the recent storms.
The Rev. Mr. Thomson seconded the motion, which
was unanimously carried. It was then determined
to open a subscription forthwith for the immediate
relief of the families, and a large acting committee
was chosen from the meeting. Among the subse-
quent speakers were Mr. John Dryden and Mr. R.
Cleugh, two large shipowners. Mr Dryden expressed
his great sympathy with the families, and thought
that theirs was a case that recommended itself to
the sympathy of the country. He observed that the
widows and orphans of seamen were equally en-
titled to the assistance of the north with the families
of pitmen and other men who might be suddenly
lost while following their occupation. And Mr.
Cleugh, in his speech, observed that seamen's wives
when suddenly bereft of their husbands were much
to be pitied. For in case a man had gone a long
voyage his month's advance was spent in an outfit
for him, and under circumstances of shipwreck,
such as those which had recently occurred, the
women were generally left with nothing, and when
intelligence arrived that the man was lost trades-
men too often stopped the supply at the shop, and
the poor families were thrown destitute. Mr. Green-
how, the shipping master, complained that some
shipowners, after losing their vessels, were very
slow in paying the balance of wages due to the lost
seamen at the time that they were shipwrecked, and
many poor families, he said, were very often almost
starved from that cause. Indeed, but for other sailors'
wives, who were always prompt in furnishing out of
their own poverty immediate help to their destitute,
neighbours, some of the families of lost mariners
would be left in a very deplorable condition indeed.
Mr. Dryden, in very indignant terms, condemned
such shipowners, who were not worthy of being
such, and ha hoped that the owners of those
ships which were lost would pay in the balance
at once, else they should be exposed. Over £l5O
was subscribed in the room ; the Mayor of Tyne-
mouth has also received several generous subscrip-
tions from a distance, through the notice of the loss
of seamen which was published a short time ago in
the newspapers. A clergyman near Plymouth has