John Grey - part I ......
In 5-6th January 1867 a fearsome monster of a storm(just 50 years after the even more monstrous storm of 1817), gripped Mount's Bay in its crushing hands, taking four large schooners and a barque from Glasgow. Not being enough it took a Norwegain ship and turned it into matchwood under Rinsey Head, not a survivor. John Grey had headed forty days across the Atlantic from Demerara, heading up to The Thames with rum, sugar and coconuts. The crew was under duress, as Captain Blackney had lost half of his crew through West Indies Fever; he signed on what he could. It was Christmas 1866, and they arrived at Scilly. The sea thrashed, high winds ripped off her sails, her yards and spars were taken down and the decks were draped with timber and rope. It was on the 4th January that she was gripped in the gale, which lulled enough for Captain Blackley to imagine it would ease enough for him to make port. On the 7th they had been taken deep into Mount's Bay, pinned near Porthleven cliffs. The Penzance pilot had offered assistance, but as is the way with some headstrong independent masters, he refused. Presumably fearing salvage or other discovery. The barque continued fighting sea and wind, until she finally foundered. The crew were not of the stalwart standard expected in such situations and began opening the rum to gain whatever warmth and strength they needed, only to begin looking down the barrel of the Captain's pistol, and there they sat in Mexican standoff, with the storm raging all around for five hours, as they lay like a defenseless beached whale on the shore, taken with the will of the elements ......
part II ......
On this terrible day, the lifeboat crew also had their struggle as the carriage had lost a wheel, broken the night before saving the crews of the schooners. The crew of the John Grey needed assistance, but with what? They took the wheels off the stone cart, but they collapsed under the weight of the four ton lifeboat. At Alverton they found a mason's drag, so after taking that the length of the town, they eventually got the lifeboat away from town and to the shore at Marazion, and towed by seven horses, it took until 11 at night to reach the sea. There were two to three hundred men at the edge of the raging sea, every man was at risk of being crushed by the lifeboat as they heaved against the weight of waves and the wind attempting to overturn the boat. It had now turned into a battle of wit and will for the men to abandon the John Grey, under threat of gunfire from the Captain, the rum ahd been forgotten. The lifeboatmen, risking all for the crew and captain, stood by in amazement, but waited until a mad dash by fifteen men to the boat pulled away to shore, leaving captain, mates, carpenter, steward and French passenger on board. At half past one, amidst the fury of Mount's Bay, they pulled up behind Marazion Station. The Isis had been called in for assistance but it could not be launched, the tide bringing in ton upon ton of wreckage onto the shore and sea line, it would have been suicide. At three in the morning the shadow of the John Grey disappeared from view. The morning brought the sight of a beach and village swamped with wreckage, cargo and the strewn bodies of all that had perished, lying amongst rum and coconuts. Men who had paid the ultimate price for an unimportant principle.
Hi Treeve, a very interesting article. Did it originate from a newspaper article? I'm currently researching for a new lifeboat history book which has been commissioned by the RNLI and would like to use some of what's written. Thanks.
This story is also related by Clive Carter, in an interview with the late Ted Gundry (BBC) entitled "Shipwrecks on Eastern Green", which can be found here:
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