HMS Captain 1870         

The Story of HMS Captain (cont)

Gunner John Gribble's Story

Gunner John Gribble, who died in June 1928, was thought to be the last survivor of the sinking of HMS Captain. Announcing his death in Romford, Essex, a local newspaper went on to describe his “Adventurous Career”, quoting from his “faithfully kept” diary, including how he survived the Captain’s sinking.

“Mr Gribble said that he was helping to haul in on the weather fore-top sail brace at the time when the ship heeled over. He immediately sprang and clutched the hammock netting, but the sea tore him from his hold.  He had a frightful struggle to save himself as the ship went down, but he eventually managed to cling to a spar. 

Another man was clinging to this spar and when they were giving up hope, owing to the buffeting of the waves and the tremendous strain on their muscles, they sighted a boat and were able to swim to it and to get in  it.    

After great privations and after being passed in the dark by two ships, they drifted ashore at Finisterre where they were supplied with food, etc. by the Spaniards.  Later they were returned to England, but were very badly treated by the Naval Authorities. 

In his efforts to rise in the Service, he was transferred several times, but some months later, sick of the poor treatment meted out to him, he deserted in Brazil. 

After a time he was arrested by the Brazilians for joining in a mutiny, and to escape their punishment, he revealed himself as a deserter to the British consul, and was given 90 days hard labour on a ship to which he had been turned over. 

In the years that followed he had many adventures in different merchantmen, in all parts of the world, from the tropics to whaling in the frozen Arctic.”

One of his adventures included a spell on a merchantman, Glory of the Seas, which, when rounding Cape Horn in a storm, nearly came to grief. When others refused, John Gribble fought his way along a sea-pounded deck to clear wreckage and take down a sail. Having cleared this and with no-one else volunteering, he was then asked to go below to clear the pumps, which had been blocked by some of the cargo of wheat. With about four feet of water and grain in the hold, John nevertheless cleared the blockage. By his actions alone, the ship was saved.

In the late 1880s, John retired from the sea to become a settler in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada. This very hard life was perhaps alleviated a bit when, using a “Bride Ship” for her passage, he was joined by Grace Catherine Bennett, aged 33 (John was 38), from Devon. John and Jane were married on 23^rd October 1890, in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Grace died on 10^th May 1922, without children.

Two years later, John, then aged 72, returned to England, and married Rose at Romford. John died in June 1928, and was buried in Romford.