Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:35 am 
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The recent loss of the Italian cruise liner made me wonder about disasters at sea in Nelson's day. Shipping losses averaged 5% of the navy's strength, according to Margrette Lincoln, writing in 'Naval Wives and Mistresses'.

Was there anything in naval law about the procedures for abandoning ship? In the cramped conditions of an 18th century warship, it would have been impossible to carry lifeboats for several hundred men. Was it just a case of 'clinging to the wreckage'? Do we have any contemporary accounts of miraculous survival?

The Italian captain has been much criticised for his early departure, but is there any law of the sea, or is it just tradition or convention that requires a captain to be last off, or to go down with the ship?

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 Post subject: Re: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:50 pm 
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Anna,

You might find this book of interest, and at quite a reasonable price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shipwrecks-Revo ... 730&sr=1-1

I haven't read it, but from the reviews, it would seem as though the author has done some serious research. I would imagine he might include some info on any regulations or conventions of the time, although I'm not so sure there were that many.

Brian Lavery in his 'Nelson's Navy' gives some pages to it, under 'Disaster at Sea'. Between 1793 and 1815, he notes that 101 rated ships were lost all told, but that only 7 were lost from the weather alone. The majority of ship losses were initially due to some other cause, fire, explosion, navigational error, a lee shore, etc. He briefly mentions the loss of the St George and Defence, in December 1811 as from the latter cause, however it seems clear that the disaster was also initiated by the earlier loss of her rudder (to be replaced by a temporary Pakenham device) and her jury rig (which had replaced her normal, and much more substantial, one).

Regarding the ship's boats, these were not really considered as 'lifeboats' (this was a much later idea) but rather as workboats, and for conveying the ship's officers. In any case, from their number (I think the Victory for example carried seven boats, from the Admiral's barge down to the diminutive jolly boat) they could only have carried a fraction of the ship's crew. They could also not have been launched that easily (using tackles rigged from the main stay and the fore and main lower yardarms, all of which would have had to be manned.) This would, in extreme circumstances, probably have taken far too long, but would have depended on the situation at the time. Early davits were just coming in at that time (I think the two aft on the Victory for the two cutters, for example, were introduced in 1804, which may have made it easier to launch at least these two boats fairly quickly.) I would have imagined that in an emergency the men would, if possible, have been mustered in their divisions, on the upper deck, and each told to grab their rolled up hammock from it's place in the nettings, and which was tagged with the man's name. (I would think that each man would know where his hammock was stowed.) The nettings, of course, were placed around the upper deck as some protection from small arms fire. It is known that properly rolled hammocks could remain afloat for several hours, and thus could be used as life preservers. Once the men had jumped into the sea however, hypothermia would in most cases have set in quite quickly unless they were in very warm waters, and most of the deaths can probably be put down to this rather than straightforward drowning.

As another example of the other extreme, when the Pandora was wrecked on her quest to find the mutineers from the Bounty, I believe they had around 11 hours before the ship foundered, plenty of time in which to launch the boats and take other precautions. I believe they nearly all eventually made it to an island, although Captain Edwards left the so-called the 'mutineers' (of whom some were and some were not) chained in the 'Pandora's box' as it was called. I think many of these eventually escaped due to one of the ship's crew throwing them the keys.

I would imagine that the ship's divisional system had a part to play in maintaining discipline when a situation developed, and Lavery maintains that discipline would probably have governed the crew, so long as there was a chance that men thought they would be rescued. Very likely the mental strength of the officers had a large part to play too, but there was always the danger that pressed men would eventually resort to there own inclinations – one of which was to break into the spirit room.

As to the convention that the captain should be the last to leave his ship, I don't know if this is enshrined in law. It may be, but I think it is at least customary, and I would think that any captain worthy of the name would think it his duty to see that all were as safe as they could possibly be, before thinking of himself. Frankly, I find the notion of the captain 'going down with his ship', especially when he had the opportunity to save himself, a rather ridiculous one, and I wonder if this idea has not been spread about by the Titanic drama of 1912. I believe that Captain Smith was said to have swum away, when he saw that the lifeboats were full, and thus committed suicide. Thankfully there are plenty of instances where this did not happen, and the captain was able to resume command of the survivors!

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 Post subject: Re: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:09 pm 
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tycho wrote:
The Italian captain has been much criticised for his early departure, but is there any law of the sea, or is it just tradition or convention that requires a captain to be last off, or to go down with the ship?
There's an interesting article on this today in the Guardian: Why must a captain never leave a sinking ship?

I have also read recently that up until the mid 18th Century the attitude was that God decided who survived a shipwreck and therefore it was OK to fight your way to the front of the queue for the boat because it would make no difference! I have a feeling, but may well be wrong, that in Nelson's time there were still plenty of captains who were not the last to leave their ship.

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 Post subject: Re: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:05 am 
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Many thanks for your comments, both.

I recall that Lord Exmouth organised a ship to shore rescue device which saved the life of every passenger when the Dutton foundered. He preserved order and discipline by the simple but effective expedient of standing at the head of the queue with his sword drawn!

A more recent incidence of a captain being last off his ship was that of the Flying Enterprise in the early 50s. I was a very small child but recall the engagement of the whole country as Captain Carlsen, a Dane, stayed aboard his struggling vessel for several days until he was finally forced to abandon ship, actually running down the funnel to safety as she sank. There wasn't much TV about at the time, but every news bulletin on the radio (or 'wireless' as we called it in those days) and newspaper was full of the drama and Captain Carlsen received a hero's welcome when he landed at Falmouth. I'm sure Pathe News had something on the event. Tony, over to you........

PS - just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy2m--YvOSg

Is it just me or does everyone find it agonising to watch a ship sink?

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 Post subject: Re: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:51 pm 
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Anna,

as you may remember I am still busy writing about Edward Riou (and probably finally finished this summer). He might be one of those involved in inventing the tradition of the captain to be the last man to leave the ship. Even before disaster befell his own ship Riou had very harshly criticised his brother officer, Captain John Inglefield. Inglefield had abandoned his ship, the Centaur and her crew after she had been struck by a gale. He and another couple of men saved their lives in the pinnace while the other about 500 men perished with the ship. Inglefield was honourably acquitted by the court martial that was held over him for the loss of his ship. (As far as I know, no captain was ever court martialled for loosing his crew. At that time it was the ship that counted.)
Riou stayed on board the Guardian, when all - himself included - were convinced she couldn't stay afloat. He seems to have done so out of a feeling of duty towards the people on board. While more than half of his crew and passengers would not find a place in the ship's boats, he did not want to save himself and live with the responsibility for so many deaths.
However he had never intended to go down with the ship as a matter of course. Quite to the contrary he declared that he was perfectly willing to save himself if only he could rescue all or at least the greatest part of the people on board. It is a fitting piece of maritime irony that he and those that had to stay in the wrecked ship survived while most of those that took to the boats never were seen again.
As to an ordered abandon-ship procedure, there was none neither in the Centaur nor in the Guardian. I suppose that only a very limited number of captains bothered to give further consideration to such a matter.


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 Post subject: Re: Shipwreck
PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:23 pm 
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Ned:

many thanks for your post. Please let us know as soon as your work on Riou is published. We are always glad to give publicity to members' publications on the website.

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