HMS Captain 1870         

The Story of HMS Captain (cont)

This basic story has been adapted from Arthur Hawkey's book "HMS Captain" -

On the hurricane deck were stored three boats, one inside the other. The largest, outer boat was a pinnace (a large eight-oared and steam powered boat); inside this a smaller launch, capable of carrying fifty men, and inside this again the smaller `galley’ or captain’s gig. (In Francis Merryman’s story – see later – he says there was a fourth boat between the launch and the captain’s gig, but this was smashed in the disaster and useless.) Earlier in the day instructions were given to lash the boats down with an overall covering of canvas.

Gunner May said after the Court Martial that in fact the instructions to lash  the boats down were not completed, as more important instructions were given to work on the sails, and following a subsequent change of watch, the work was overlooked, thus enabling the boats to float free. As May was a gunner and not responsible for the running of the ship, he may have been told this; or he may have noticed the slip-up but was unaware that the lashing down was in fact done later.

Or maybe May had joined the general conspiracy to hide the illegal act of Thomas Kernan, an act that had saved eighteen lives.

Kernan, in a confession made to one of the officers from Monarch which had picked up the survivors from Corcubion, said that when his watch finished at midnight on that fateful night, he was too frightened to go below, and cut the lashings of the boat to get inside. No sooner had he done this than the ship rolled over.

There seems little reason to doubt this story, recorded by the officer purely for his family chronicle, and not published until after a descendant of the officer (Dr Murray) came across a copy of Arthur Hawkey’s original book.

There seems to have been a conspiracy for a cover-up to the Court Martial. Clearly Dr Murray and others knew the story; it seems to have been well known that Kernan was the only survivor from the watch that ended at midnight , and he should have been below; and he was the only survivor not to have been in the sea – and he was the only one who couldn’t swim.

Someone, at some level, decided that Kernan’s story should be put aside – he had had a horrendous twelve hours, and saved seventeen other men. Let it be.

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The launch in which Kernan had taken refuge had separated from the bigger pinnace when thrown off the ship, and was floating right way up. Amongst the first to get to it were Able Seaman Davis Dryburgh and Leading Seaman Charles Tregennah. Both had been working on deck and, as the ship rolled over, got to the high side of the deck; as it rolled further they both `walked’ round the revolving hull to the keel, before the ship sank under them.

The steam pinnace, although floating, had not righted itself as it should, but was to initially help six survivors. Captain Burgoyne was on deck at the time of the capsizing, giving orders for the taking down of the sails. In the water he found himself close to Gunners Mate James Ellis (who had been ordered to seal the gun turret sighting holes) and Able Seaman John Heard.

The two seaman managed to get themselves and non-swimmer Captain Burgoyne onto the inverted pinnace, where they were joined by the most senior survivor, Gunner James May. He had gone on deck around midnight at the height of the storm, as was his custom in bad weather, to check on his guns. He was inside the aft turret as the ship rolled over, and managed to get out through the top turret sighting hole. Also joining them here were Boy 1^st Class James Saunders, Ordinary Seaman Robert Tomlinson, and Able Seaman William Laurence.

The wind drifted the launch towards the pinnace, and in the stormy, wave-tossed conditions, those on the pinnace started to transfer to the launch. All were transferred – except Captain Burgoyne. Despite pleas from the rest of the seaman, he appears to have made no attempt to reach the launch. He was not seen again.

Having cleared all the unnecessary equipment from the launch, they attempted to turn into the wind and heavy sea to search for other survivors, including Burgoyne. However, they were nearly swamped, and Myers was washed out and was lost. May, as the only officer to survive, realised that another wave would mean the end for all of them, and gave orders to run before the wind again.

The wind was from the west, and was, May realised, blowing them towards the coast of Portugal . He concentrated on getting the crew to row and steer the boat in the continuing storm safely into the seas, whilst pumping and baling, and allowed the wind to take them to the coast, some ten to fifteen miles away. (Merryman, however, says that “as the more practical navigator we unanimously agreed to put Leading Seaman Charles Tregenna in charge of the boat”.)

The lighthouse and Cape Finisterre were seen at around daybreak, but it took until midday to get close. (According to Juan Campos in his book Náufragos de Antaño, the first reaction of the lighthouse workers was to raise the Spanish flag, apparently to inform the obviously shipwrecked sailors which country they were about to land in.) By then they realised they were being blown onto the rocks, and turned south to follow the coastline to find a safe place for landfall, eventually reaching the small village of Finisterre in Corcubion Bay. Spotted by the villagers, two of them came out in a boat and led them safely to the beach through the rocks.

After some wasted hours, caused perhaps by language problems and mañaña, they set off to the village of Corcubion, about ten miles away, to find the Consul. On arriving around ten p.m., they found the Consul was away, but a courier was sent to find the him at Corunna, around forty miles away.

The Consul returned next morning, and organised the recovery of the boat and the seamen’s belongings from Finisterre. At the same time two boats arrived from HMS Monarch – aware of the loss of Captain, they had been sent to search the coastline for survivors. After a stormy night, next day the survivors were taken first to the Admiral on board the Lord Warden, and then transferred to HMS Volage and taken back to England.

In the meantime, the pinnace had been found by HMS Bellerophon, unoccupied and still floating upside down. They retrieved the boat, and took it back to England.

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