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September 07, 2006 |
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At
the mercy of the wind and tide
Standing on the granite
piers protecting the mouth of the River Tyne, watching the sparse river
traffic ride the “Shields Bar” with ease as the ships head in and out of the
Tyne, it is difficult to imagine how dangerous this was in the days of the
sailing ships. To
Ron Wright the piers represent the
encirclement of a mothers arm around her baby in the way that the piers now
protect the River Tyne.
In the middle years of the
19th century it was so very different. The River Tyne was alive
with shipping and commerce yet the river itself was suffering from years of
neglect. The commerce centre of Newcastle upon Tyne were only interested in
trade and maximising their profits. The heavily polluted river was sluggish,
wreck strewn and rock and shoal studded. No dredging had taken place and the
sailing ships were at the mercy of Mother Nature.
The north and south piers did not protect the mouth of
the River Tyne – these were not completed until 1895 – having taken almost
half a century to complete. The Shields bar was a constantly shifting single,
rock and sand bank, which formed across the mouth of the river.
Safe negotiation of the bar
depended on the tides, the prevailing wind conditions and the depth of the
water beneath a ships keel. Many a prayer must have been whispered beneath
a mariner’s breath as he braved the bar.
Given a stiff easterly wind the bar
could become a raging maelstrom of sea, spray and foam. Many vessels
foundered as they tried to enter or leave the Tyne. It was dangerous to
enter and difficult to leave.
Yet despite these problems
over 1500 ships were registered from the Port of Tyne [which included
Newcastle, North and South Shields] and sailing ships from America, Holland,
Greece, France and the Baltic States were frequent visitors.
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Tynemouth Bar
from a seaman’s chart circa 1794.
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The Waterwitch riding the Shields Bar
under towage.
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The sailing ships of the
Tyne ranged from fully rigged four masted clipper ships to lowly coastal
sloops. However the majority of them were two and three masted barques, brigs,
snows and schooners that rarely exceeded 400 registered tons. Although most of
these were colliers who plied their trade between Newcastle and London many of
them tramped around the world wherever their cargoes and trade took them.
Movement in and out of the Tyne was entirely dependent
upon the weather. Pro-longed easterly winds prevented vessels from leaving the
Tyne. In the winter of 1847/48, at the turn of the year, one thousand seven
hundred vessels lay wind bound in the Tyne for several weeks. The day that the
wind abated and provided favourable conditions for sailing four hundred
vessels left on one tide amidst much jostling, bumping and mayhem.
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Ten years later 727 vessels were forcibly tied up in
the Tyne between North Shields and Jarrow Slake whilst many more lay elsewhere
in the river. The number of ships is reputed to have numbered in excess of one
thousand and the river must have looked like a forest of masts.
Entering the Tyne in bad
weather, or when heavy seas were running, the sailing ships must have made for
an exciting spectacle and in such conditions many thousand of onlookers would
gather on the shore. On 5th January 1841, in atrocious conditions,
the sloop Newcastle and Berwick Packet was seen running
the bar for the safety of the river. The vessel disappeared in a fury of white
foam as she crossed the bar but emerged unscathed, the only ship to enter the
river that day. Others were less fortunate,
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The Wear built Medusa 1862,
heals to starboard as she enters
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During the December of 1870
the North East coast suffered from a pro-longed period of bad weather. The
steamship Eagle of London made a run for the river but a heavy sea
swamped her and extinguished the fires in her boiler rooms. Another wave almost
sent her to the bottom before she drove and stranded on the Herd Sands at South
Shields. Shortly after this the 539-ton barque City of Bristol failed to make the Tyne entrance and was driven ashore on Tynemouth Long
Sands. Within a short period of time the Norwegian Schooner Amalie from Stavanger came crashing ashore within sight of the City of
Bristol.
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Cullercoats Lifeboat Station for open
Sea Rescues
The North Shields Station was
located within the piers.
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Later that afternoon the 85
ton Boston schooner Samuel Bernard almost made it into the
refuge of the harbour when a fierce sea hit her amidships and rolled her over.
She disappeared from view and was never seen again. Her crew of seven perished.
The crew were made up of the ships master Captain John Frash, his wife and five
children. The vessel sank within 100 yards of the South Pier.
Leaving the harbour for the
open seas was slightly less dangerous but nevertheless many vessels succumbed to
disaster. Grounding the keel heavily as the vessel “bounced” over the bar could
cause severe leaks that frequently sank a vessel days later whilst on the open
seas.
Fortunately many vessels left the restrictions of the
Tyne safely and the local men could find themselves at the four corners of
the earth provided their luck held.
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Many failed to reach their destination or to return home
between 1830 and 1900, one mariner in five lost his life at sea. No other form
of occupation had such an attrition rate including deep coal mining. In the same
period seventy percent of all Tyne sailing ships were lost at sea as they
foundered, caught fire, ran ashore and became wrecked, was run down by other
vessels or just disappeared and was recorded as “lost at sea.”
The coastal and continental
trade in coal made up the vast amount of trade for the Tyne sailing ships. In
1836 11,226 ships cleared the Tyne loaded with coal for all over the world
whilst a further 148 carried other goods. In the following year it was recorded
that 3845 ships carried coal from the Tyne to London alone.
In 1852 929 mariners lost
their lives but two years later the figure had greatly increased to 1349 lives
lost with 987 ships sent to the bottom of the oceans. In 1850 it was reported to
parliament that during the preceding 4 years 12,041 British vessels had been
lost at sea. Yet there was no shortage of men ready to crew the British Merchant
Fleet.
The application of steam in
the 1850’s as a means of propulsion sounded the death knell of the sailing
ship with Passenger and goods traffic became more reliable and fewer crew
members were required. Consistency of sailings and timetables could be relied
upon and the move from sail to steam increased at a furious pace.
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The Hilda sank in 1930
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Surprisingly many sailing ships continued to trade
commercially into the 1920;s at a time when the steam engine reigned supreme
but by 1930 they were no more.
Two of the last sailing ships
which were regular visitors to the Northeast, in particular Blyth and Seaham
were the Hilda and the Waterwitch. Neither of these
vessels was by now locally owned and was in the hands of foreign ownership.
However they represent the type of vessel that made up the vast fleets of Tyne
owned vessels.
The Hilda was lost off Hartlepool in 1930 when she was run down by a steam
trawler and sliced in two. Fully laden with coal shipped from Blyth she went to
the bottom within two minutes. The fate of the Waterwitch is
unknown but it is believed that she was broken up.
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