So near, so far
The cruel North Sea... John Vincent takes a looks back at a maritime disaster in Scarborough Harbour that happened nearly 160 years ago.
The lifeboat Amelia put to sea but was wrecked against the Spa walls and two crewmen drowned.
On November 2, 1861, exactly 50 vessels came to grief around the coast of Britain in what became known as the Great Storm – one of the fiercest of the century. The South Shields schooner Coupland was among them, foundering while attempting to enter Scarborough Harbour and sparking perhaps the most memorable rescue in the history of the local lifeboat.
This picture, by Hull-born Henry Redmore (1820-1887), one of Britain’s great marine painters, captures the drama perfectly... mountainous waves whipped up by hurricane-force winds, heroic lifeboatmen rowing out to the floundering ship, locals risking their lives on the foreshore while hundreds more watch in horror and excitement from the headland and on top of the three-storey tower.
The powerful oil on canvas, Wreck of the Coupland, surfaced at Scarborough auctioneers David Duggleby where it sold for £7,320 after a bidding battle between two Yorkshire collectors.
Tragedy first struck the night before when pilot William Leadley, who had already escorted one boat in through the storm, went back to sea to help another. Neither he nor his boat were seen again.
A Scottish vessel, the Gainsborough Packet, was lost with all hands three miles to the south. On shore, huge seas wrecked boats and harbourside property, while 100mph winds blew the roofs off houses in Falsgrave and New Queen Street and destroyed the Marionette Theatre.
At noon on November 2, Coupland, laden with granite bound for London, attempted entry to the harbour but failed and, as it headed for the promenade, the lifeboat Amelia put to sea in mountainous waves but was wrecked against the Spa walls and two crewmen, Thomas Brewster and John Burton, drowned. Coxswain Thomas Clayburn was also swept away and, although he was rescued, he was badly injured and never fully recovered.
There were deaths on shore, too. Lord Charles Beauclerk, 46, fourth son of the Duke of St Albans, died, together with
William Tindall and John Isles (or Hiles), as they tried to help those in the sea just yards offshore.
The remaining lifeboatmen were among many who nearly died from injury, drowning or hypothermia.
Meanwhile, the six men on board the schooner were rescued by Dennett’s rocket, in which a rope was fired to the ship from shore, and were taken to the Dolphin Inn for food and clothing. They lost everything and the ship was a total wreck.
Modern navigational aids mean far fewer maritime disasters nowadays but the Coupland rescue reminds me of a similar, though less dramatic, story I covered as a junior reporter in Lowestoft. Awoken at 6am by the boom of the lifeboat maroons summoning lifeboatmen to a “shout” in the days before dedicated radio pagers, I clambered along clifftops until spotting a trawler which had run aground. I even helped as the crew were taken off by harness in another rope-based rescue device known as a breeches buoy. My reward: a front-page lead in the evening paper.
Fired up: A stunning £10,800 – five times more than expected – was achieved at Vectis of Thornaby for an exceptionally rare trial model of a diecast Matchbox Super Kings airport fire and rescue tender that was never put into production.
Deco delight: That stunning Art Deco sapphire and diamond bracelet which belonged to the 11th Baroness Beaumont, of Carlton Towers, near Selby, also Baroness Howard of Glossop on her marriage to the 3rd Baron Howard, sold to an American collector for £86,250, four times its upper estimate, at Woolley & Wallis of Wiltshire. A member of the Howard family travelled from Yorkshire just to view the bracelet – centred with an oval cabochon 32-carat natural Sri Lankan sapphire and set with rows of graduated circular-cut diamonds in platinum – after seeing my article here.
Novel offer: Mauleverer’s Millions: A Yorkshire Romance, an 1886 novel by Thomas Wemyss Reid, pioneering editor of the Leeds Mercury, is offered by Ilkleybased Modernfirsteditions at £50.
Hot seat: A Charles II joined oak panel-back open armchair, made in the Leeds area in about 1670, realised £4,812 at Bonhams in London, while an oak gateleg dining table made in Yorkshire ten years later went for £1,530.
In for a penny: A York penny from the reign of King Aethelred II (978-1016) sold for £3,470 at a Dix Noonan Webb coin sale in London. A 1649 Pontefract farthing token in the name of Isabell Oats realised £990.
Tummy turn: An early 18th century stomacher – a decorative triangular panel that fills in the front opening of a woman’s gown or bodice – fetched £1,140 at a Tennants costume auction, while a pair of 17th century leather gauntlets with floral embroidery and silver work to the cuffs sold for £1,080.