The Blackpool Herald. — 1882-10-20 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

SHIPWRECK ON THE FYLDE COAST  SIXTY YEARS AGO.  Last week, Mr. J. N. Davies, of Field House, Poulton, distributed the goods and chattels of Mr. Wilding, at Skippool, under the auctioneer's hammer. The sale brought exceptionally good prices. Mr. Wilding, who belongs to one of our oldest and most respected Fylde families, sails for Australia in the spring, a part of the world he has sever.l times before visited. Mr. Wilding's uncle was a captain in the mercantile marine, and met his death, in 1826, under the following melancholy circumstances, as related by Mr. Thornber, in his "History of Blackpool :  Among the many scenes of misery which these shores have witnessed, the following is one of a most heart-rending nature, as the individuals who perished were respectable nativi • of Poulton. Capt. Wilding, and his brother, attenued by a cabin-boy. having been on a visit to that town, on their return to Liverpool in a large open boat were accompanied by a young gentleman, Mr. H. Threlfall. The wee' ther had been unfavourable for some days previous; the boat, however, was large and stoutly-built, and the captain an experienced and skilful seaman; thus they hesitated not to set sail from the river Wyre, early on the morning of Aug. 29th, 1826, rejoicing in the prospect of a speedy voyage. Alas!  "Needs mens homMum tatt, sortiegue tubule." All that day they were seen in jeopardy off Blaokpool, beating against a heavy gale, and a tremendous sea. About the fall of night, a vessel, making for the port of Lytham. offered assistance, but, unfortunately, it was declined; soon afterwards, the wind increasing, and at intervals raging in fitful gusts, it would appear that the boat was driven amongst the breakers, where, being swallowed up by two waves, foundered and sunk. On the next morning early, tokens of what had occurred during the dark hours of the night were washed on shore ; different articles of wearing-apparel, scattered along the sand, told too truly a tale of calamity. The bodies of the captain and his brother were found some weeks after between the points of Ayr, Isle of Man, and the Isles of Whithorn and Coll in the Solway Firth ; that of my class-mate and friend, Harry Threlfall, was taken from the retreating tide by the family of a clergyman, who respectfully interred him at WasBerton, in a distant land, far away from the scenes of his childhood and the home of his youth. Farewell, friend of my youthful days, and companion of my rambles; I can tell of thy worth, and still find pleasure in retracing our wanderings among the romantic hills of Craven, our bold adventures o'er the mountain steeps and fastnesses of the Scars of Giggleswick, the rugged falls of Gordale, and the wild heights of Maltham ; one while climbing to the highest peak in search of the haunts of the hawk ; at another time resting and cooling our wearied limbs in the caves of Attamire, or quenching our thirst in the ebbing and flowing spring of Bucker Brow ; and even now the dear remembrance of these by-gone days has not been effaced by the rough hand of the world, but oft bedews my cheek with the tear of tender regret. Nor do I lament, in thy fatal end, the only bereavements that untimely death has wrought among my class-mates. One fell in India's wars, his forehead pierced with a leaden messenger of death; another died a victim to that scourge of heaven, the cholera, when, after ten years of service in a foreign clime, the ship that was to convey the soldier to his friends, was awaiting a prosperous wind; a third administered to himself the cup of suicide ; a fourth and fifth were hurried to an early grave by that bane of youth, consumption. May the dust lie light upon you, till the peal of the last trump 'shall summon us all to that abode of happiness where ties of friendship shall no more be severed by the hand of death, or rudely torn asunder. 'May I but meet you on that peaceful shore, The parting words shall pass my lips no more."