The Wreck of the "Royal Charter": Compiled from Authentic Sources, with Some Original MatterFowler, Frank
History
The Wreck of the "Royal Charter": Compiled from Authentic Sources, with Some Original Matter
Fowler, Frank
Royal Charter (Ship); Shipwrecks -- Wales -- Anglesey
'Four more bodies, all males, have been cast ashore since my
communication of yesterday--one last night and three this morning.
Three of them are now lying in the parish church of Llanallgo; the
remaining body has been removed to the church of Penrhos Lligny,
having been thrown ashore in the latter parish. All yesterday
evening a very heavy sea rolled; and about four o'clock the
lifeboat, manned by a crew of eight, put out to rescue those on
board a brigantine, which was observed to be rapidly approaching the
rocks a little to the north of the spot in Dulas Bay, in which the
wreck of the "Royal Charter" lies. The brigantine, however, got
safely in on the sands, in a little creek about a mile from Molfra,
where she now lies. As the waves beat violently in on the Dulas
Rocks last evening, large quantities of clothing were to be seen
tossed about. Some of it was cast ashore, but a great deal was
carried out to sea again. It has been suggested by some of the
relatives of the drowned passengers and seamen, that if boats were
sent out many more bodies would be recovered. I think this extremely
likely, after what I have witnessed with respect to the action of
the waves on the clothing and spars. The Rev. Mr. Hughes is about to
take the matter in hand. There has been some objection on the part
of the authorities, as they apprehend that thefts might be committed
by some of the persons going out in the boats; but if rumour speaks
truly the watchers themselves require watching. It is unfair to make
charges against men having a responsible duty to perform, but one
of the police inspectors has told me that he himself caught a
coast-guardsman in the act of thieving. _Friends and relatives
complain that there is more anxiety to discover gold than bodies_;
but the fact is no gold has as yet been discovered by the divers.
They recommenced operations at ten o'clock this morning, but have
brought up nothing but copper bars. Fathers, mothers, wives,
children, and other relatives pace the beach from an early hour in
the morning. Yesterday delicate women braved the rain and storm all
day, making their melancholy search. Every now and then I was met by
persons with sorrowful faces, one inquiring, "Have you seen any
trace of my husband? his name was ----;" or "Have you found anything
with the name of ----? she was my child." Indeed, it is a
heartrending thing to go near the beach, and to see these mourners,
and to meet the carts carrying the mangled corpses, or the parish
coffins in which they are to be interred. None of the bodies found
last night have been identified. Forty-five bodies have been
discovered up to this time.'
The tone of one part of that communication leads naturally to the
following stinging words from a Liverpool journal:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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