The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-02 00:00:00

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MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT ON THE

RIVER MERSEY.

FEARFUL LOSS OF LIFE.

On Friday afternoon one of the most melancholy.
aocidents that have for some time occurred took.
place on the Mersey, by which more than twenty,
lives have been sacrificed. It appears that a vessel
called the Grand Trianon, commanded, by Captairi
Henry Clarke left the Birkenhead Dock on Friday
morning at high water, and anchored near the
middle of the river, off Rock Ferry. She is sui
emigrant ship, bound for Adelaide. A number of
men were on board, consisting of riggers and other
artisans, who had been employed in various ways
in fitting up the ship and getting her ready for sea.
These men, having completed the work on board
ship, were desirous of going ashore, and, with this
object in view, availed themselves of a boat that
came alongside. The boat belonged to Thomas
Mackay, a man well known as a boatman on the
river. With regard to the exact number of persons
on board there are various statements, but, so far as
can at present be ascertained, the number must have
been at least 26 or 27 ; some of the survivors esti-
mate it as high as 39. It was intended that the
boat should run into what Is called the Cockle-hole,
near the Brunswick Dock, and land her passengers.
A strong breeze was blowing from the south-west,
with rather a heavy sea, the tide being on the ebb.
The boat, which was under sail, approached to
within a short distance of the Brunswick-pier, when
a sea struck her and she shipped some water. Im-
mediately afterwards she gave a lurch and filled, and;
as one of the survivors expressed himself, " she went
from under them." All the occupants of the boat
were thus thrown into the water, and, as may
readily be imagined, a fearful scene ensued. Owing
to the heavy sea the unfortunate men could do little
towards saving themselves, and the struggles of
most of them were of brief duration. The accident
having been observed by several perscns on the
Brunswick pier, two boats put off immediately to
render assistance. One of them was manned by
James Godson, Thomas Slack, Wm. Minshull, and
Wm. Reece, and by dint of great exertion they
reached the scene of the catastrophe. The boat
picked up Captain H. Clarke, the commander of
the ship ; Themes Killing, a labourer ; Thomas
Mackay, the owner of the boat; and a man un-
known, supposed to be a rigger, All of them ex-
cePt the last-named were taken to the Southern.
Hospital, where therreceived prompt medical ' as-
sistance. Mackay was so little injured that he left
the hospital immediately and proceeded to his own
home, in Park-road. The others were, by the usual
appliances resorted to on such occasions, soon placed
out of danger, and are progressing favourably.
Another of the survivors, John O'Hara, a seaman,
saved himself by swimming towards the pierhead,
where a life buoy was thrown to him, and he was
brought ashore at the Cockle-hole slip. The other
boat previously alluded to which put off to render
assistance was manned by Wm. Morton, Wm. Hill,
Stephen Benjamin, and a seaman. This boat
picked;up Thomas Grue, who WAS brought to the
George's Pier, and conveyed thence to the receiving
house at Prince's Dock. After being placed in a
warm bath, and other means adopted for his restora-
tion, be gradually recovered. We regret to add that
all the other poor fellows who occupied the boat
met a watery grave. Supposing there were 28
persons in the boat, this would leave 22 unaecounted
for. A large portion of them were riggers, and the
remainder artisans and labourers who had been
employed in various ways on board the ship. It is
said that the boat was rather deeply laden, though
the accident is not ascribed to this cause.
Thomas Grue, the boatman who was removed to
the receiving-house at the Prince's Dock, made the
following statement relative to the melancholy
occurrence :—Thomas Mackay, the owner of the
boat, and myself were engaged to attend the Grand
Trianon, and we accordingly went over to Birken-
head and saw that vessel out of the dock into the
middle of the river opposite Rock Ferry. At about
half-past three o'clock the captain of the ship and a
number of riggers, labourers, and others got into our
boat for the purpose of going on shore. There were
about 28 or 29 of us altogether. The wind was
blowing fresh from the S.W., but the water round
the Grand Trianon when we left her was not very
rough, and we did not consider it dangerous to go
ashore in the boat. We had a foresail up. When.
about 200 yards from tne Coburg Dock Pierhead the
sea was very rough, and I had some foreboding that
something wrong would take place. To prevent
accident the people on board were told by Thomas
Mackay to sit steady, but immediately afterwards
the boat was struck with a very heavy squall,
and the. back sea from the pierhead filled her
with water, and she instantly went down under
our feet. I leaped as far as I could from the
boat, and then I found that a lad had hold of
one of my legs, but in order that both of us should
not be drowned I kicked him off. The screams of
the people in the water for assistance were dread-
ful, but I could not see many of them, owing to the
great swell and the heavy waves. I heard Wm.
Robbins, the rigger, who had a wooden leg, sing
out as the boat went down—" 0 Lord, save me ;
we are gone !" I succeeded in getting off my coat,
and then swain with the tido towards the shore. I
had my head frequently under the water, and at
times thought that there was no use in continuing
my efforts to reach the land by swimming, as I
felt certain I should be drowned. I however per-
severed, and was ultimately picked up by William
Hill and William Morton, in the boat Jane, near
the Queen's Dock Basin. I was much exhausted,
but, nevertheless had to walk from the George's
Pierhead to the receiving-house, owing to the cab-
driver-refusing to take me because my clothes were
wet. Mackay's boat was about 24 feet long and 7 -
feet beam, strongly built, and I could have trusted
her almost in any sea.
The names of the whole of the sufferers by this
melancholy occurrence are not yet ascertained, but
the following are known to be some of them :—Wm.
Robins, Grafton-street ; Robert Jones, Whitley-
street; John Thwaites, Dalton-street; Alexander
Johnson, Kirkdale ; George Wilham, Watkinson-
street ; Edward Butler, Grafton street ; William
Browne, Upper Frederick-street; Daniel Whaling,
Mann-street,-;; James Irving, Rathbone-street ;
William Williams, George Sherman, and a boy.
All these are married men, and have families.
They were riggers, in the employ of Mr. Evans,
Upper Frederick-street. Up to a late hour last
evening none of the bodies had been recovered.