1854: Charlotte

1854: Charlotte

Image by awstraton

The wreck of the troopship Charlotte at the foot of Jetty Street.

In September 1854 what was possibly the worst maritime disaster, in terms of human life, ever to have taken place in Algoa Bay occurred.

The 3 masted British Troopship CHARLOTTE, of about 450 tons, was on a voyage from Ireland to India carrying, apart from her crew of 11, 163 soldiers and Officers of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (27th Regiment), 11 women and 26 children.

She had been unable to put into the harbour at Cape Town to take on fresh water and supplies and had been forced to continue to Algoa Bay, notorious for its’ sudden storms,

During the night, not many hours after dropping anchor in the Bay, a storm arose her cables parted and she was sent onto the rocks at the foot of Jetty Street. A lifeboat was launched from the shore but was driven onto the rocks, the crew being lucky to survive. A line was attached to the ship but panic and the power of the storm sent many of those aboard plunging into the raging sea. There was little that the rescuers could do but listen to the anguished pleas for help carried to them on the wind.

The next morning the sea was tranquil, the wind gone. But for the bodies of the drowned scattered along the beach and a piece of what is believed to have been the figurehead of the ship nothing at all remained of the drama of the previous drama. Nothing of the CHARLOTTE was ever seen again, no mast, spar or sail ever found its way to the shore.

There are several accounts of the lives lost but it would seem that the entire crew, all but one of the children, all the women and at least 63 of the soldiers and officers lost their lives.

According to the records of St. Mary’s Church about 27 victims were buried in their cemetery and a similar number in the Russell Road Cemetery (actually in excess of 50) The rest were buried on the beach as they were washed up being “In a state unfit to be conveyed to the burial ground”

The names of the victims buried in St. Mary’s are:

Pte William McCUZON
Pte John BRESLER
Pte John RODGERS
Pte Archibald HENDERSON
Pte James MOORS
Mrs FERGUSON
Mrs MORROW
Thomas DOUGLAS
Sailor George JURY
Sailor William BROWN
Sailor John SLATER

Children were:

Robert STEWART
Mary STEWART
Joseph MORROW
William MORROW
Thomas WOODS
William WOODS

The names of the victims buried by the Catholic Priest in Russell Road Cemetery are:

28 Catholic Soldiers, 7 women and 12 children.

William JOHNSTONE
John KERNAN
Thomas KERNAN
Thomas ROURKE
Peter McKENNA
Thomas DALEY
Mary DALEY
Michael O’HARA
Hugh MAGRAW “and some other”