Sad end for ships that gave care and education to many
IN my book Cardiff Remembered, first published in 1997 and reprinted on a number of occasions since, I told how the HMS Havannah which had sailed into the Cardiff East Dock in 1860 and later transferred to a more permanent berth on the side of Penarth Road, near Penarth Bridge, was converted to an industrial school known as the Cardiff Ragged School.
It was home to some 80 or so homeless and destitute chidren who slept in hammocks on the lower deck of the ship in an atmosphere said to be “close and unpleasant”.
They wore uniforms of white round caps, blue blouses and white trousers and on leaving the school the children were found employment in domestic service, shops, warehouses, foundries and coal mines while others joined the Army or Navy.
In 1902 when a fire broke out on the ship the boys were praised by a local newspaper: “Fire stations were immediately sounded and with commendable smartness and coolness, the lads, 72 in number, turned out of their hammocks and took their places.’’
However, three years later, in 1905 the old 42-gun frigate which had been identified with Cardiff for almost half a century, and which was one of the largest ships ever towed into Cardiff was broken up and sold to a Henry Norris, of Cowbridge Road, Cardiff.
It had been built in 1811 at a cost of more than £18,000 and had formed part of the escort that had accompanied Napoleon to St Helena in 1815.
The ship’s bell went to the Vicar of St Sampson’s church in upper Grangetown where the boys of the Havannah used to sing in the choir.
As for the Hamadryad, it was berthed in the Cardiff East Dock for the purpose of a seaman’s hospital and opened on November 1st 1866. It was said to have been built at a cost of nearly £25,000 and was later moved to a more permanent site near the old Glamorgan Canal sea lock.
Right up until the time the Royal Hamadryad Hospital was built in Ferry Road in 1905, this old ship performed a great service to sailors carrying infectious diseases.
It was later towed to Appledore where it was broken up.
The ship’s bell along with the figurehead later were presented to the Welsh Maritime and Industrial Museum in Cardiff Bay but I believe these items can now be seen in the Cardiff Museum in Trinity Street.
Another old ship that came to Cardiff was the frigate HMS Thisbe which had been built at Pembroke Dock and launched in 1824.
Some 151 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth she had a tonnage of 1,083 tons and had been rated fifth in the naval service.
At the request of the Marquess of Bute, the Thisbe was loaned by the Admiralty for the purpose of a mission church to seamen on August 13 1863.
Positioned at first in the East Bute Dock, her gun deck was fitted out as an institute and church for the seafaring community.
There was a reading room where seamen could read the local and national newspapers and they were also provided with stationery to write home.
Regular church services, magic lantern shows and concerts were also provided.
However, when the more permanent Seamen’s Church and Institute in the West Dock was built in 1892, the Thisbe was sold to a Mr WH Caple for £1,000 and he had her broken up near the old Cardiff low water pier.
Later the town clerk of Cardiff, a Mr JL Wheatley, presented to Cardiff Corporation the figurehead of the Thisbe and it was placed for some time in Cardiff’s Roath Park.
You can send your stories and pictures to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, SIx Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or e-mail brianlee4@virginmedia.com.
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