From Triumph to Tragedy E-Book

Jane Bowen

• Herausgeber: novum pro Verlag
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 309

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The Pegasus, a pioneering ship whose voyages helped promote Victorian enterprise, carried people and cargo between Leith and Hull. Goods included oil for the chemical industry, mail coaches, menageries, and racehorses. She was involved in daring sea rescues, smuggling, and several accidents. Her wreck, off Holy Island, in 1843, was the worst merchant shipping disaster in British waters, with some 70 lives lost. It was also a mystery. Why had she struck a rock on a calm, clear night? A parliamentary inquiry followed. Two of the first deep sea divers worked on recovering the dead and salvaging the wreck. Help for the victims and their families came from many sources, including the author, Charles Dickens. The stories of those lost form the appendix to this fascinating book.

Leseprobe

Contents

Imprint 3

Dedication 4

Foreword 5

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 9

List of Illustrations and Maps 10

Part 1 13

Chapter 1 15

Chapter 2 20

Chapter 3 27

Chapter 4 36

Chapter 5 42

Chapter 6 48

Chapter 7 58

Chapter 8 67

Chapter 9 76

Chapter 10 85

Chapter 11 94

Part 2 105

Chapter 12 106

Chapter 13 114

Chapter 14 123

Chapter 15 132

Chapter 16 144

Chapter 17 158

Chapter 18 168

APPENDIX 172

The Crew 173

Civilian Passengers 182

Military Passengers 210

Bibliography 214

Index 218

Imprint

All rights of distribution, also through movies, radio and television, photomechanical reproduction, sound carrier, electronic medium and reprinting in excerpts are reserved.

© 2021 novum publishing

ISBN print edition:978-3-99107-708-4

ISBN e-book: 978-3-99107-709-1

Editor:Hugo Chandler, BA

Cover images:Ekaterina Gerasimova, Grian12, Rodjulian | Dreamstime.com

Cover design, layout & typesetting:novum publishing

Images:See list of illustrations and maps on page 10–12

www.novum-publishing.co.uk

Dedication

For Janet, who has shared

the search for thePegasus,

and without whose encouragement,

and research and photographic skills,

this book would never have

been completed.

Paddle Steamer, believed to be the Pegasus, from ‘A Narrative of the Life of Charles Bailey’

Foreword

The story of the steam shipPegasusis probably not one well known to many people. It was built in the 1830s for the coastal sea route from Leith to Hull, at a time when steamships were seen as an improvement on the speed and reliability of sailing ships. For many it was preferable to a long uncomfortable journey by coach, assuming it wasn’t a stormy sea!

I first became aware of the ship and its sinking off Holy Island in the 1990s, when a couple of people visited the Berwick Record Office looking for information. I knew the name of the ship but not the story behind it and could only provide access to the local newspaper,Berwick Advertiser. Over the years, I have picked up more bits of information-entries in the Bamburgh and Holy Island burial registers; the badly worn gravestone dedicated to Field Flowers in Holy Island Churchyard and the programme on comedian, Sarah Millican in ‘Who Do You Think You Are’, where it was revealed that one of her ancestors had worked on the wreck as a diver. However, these were only bits and pieces, only part of the story.

When Jane asked me to read her book, I was very keen to do this as I wanted to know what she had found out. As Jane is an avid and meticulous researcher, I knew she would leave no nook or cranny unturned in her quest for information. The book hasn’t disappointed and I have been amazed about what is revealed not only about the boat, the company who ran it and its sad fate on what was really a clear night but in very dangerous waters. However, this is only half the picture, as what really brings this book to life is the previously untold stories of those on board, most of whom were lost and many whose bodies were never recovered. I was fascinated to read about their diverse backgrounds and this book is really a testament and legacy for them and what local and family history is all about – ordinary people and places and how their lives become intertwined with events which shaped the future of shipping.

Who would have thought that a chance discovery of some information in an archive would lead to such detailed and varied research on a little-known disaster off the Northumberland coast, which deserves to be properly recorded and remembered, a fitting memorial to those involved with it.

Linda Bankier, Berwick Archivist

Preface

My interest in thePegasusbegan when I found, in the Northumberland Archives, a collection of proofs of ‘Reward’ notices, looking for information about passengers lost following the sinking of thePegasusin July 1843. The number of different notices suggested a serious disaster, but I had never heard of it. I was curious.

A Google search produced accounts of the disaster, in its day the worst merchant marine disaster in British waters. In the search, I also found that the company records were held in the Glasgow University Archives. From the information there, and in the British Newspaper Archives, a much fuller picture of the ship and its activities began to emerge.

Built in 1835, specifically for the Leith/Hull route, at the time thePegasuswas at the cutting edge of ship design – and a forerunner of John Masefield’s ‘Dirty British coaster’. In the years that followed, the weekly passenger and goods service she provided was a key link in the industrialisation of Scotland before railway communication was fully established. In each country, she created markets for goods produced by other countries. At a time when political revolutions were still current in Europe, the service contributed to the security of the United Kingdom as a whole, allowing troops to be moved efficiently to garrisons across the country. ThePegasusalso had a hand in the entertainments industry of the day. Racehorses, theatre companies and menageries all sailed on her, making travelling shows accessible to a much wider audience.

Her unexpected wreck, on a clear summer’s night in 1843, shocked the nation, and left grieving families across Britain, from Inverness to London, and Wales to Lincolnshire. Even then, she was at the forefront of salvage activity, with some of the first deep sea helmeted divers working on her to retrieve bodies and goods. From the disaster, and the enquiries which followed, came the beginnings of better shipping regulation.

This is the story I have tried to tell – I hope you will find it as fascinating as I have.

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the help, encouragement and advice of those who generously shared their own work and research with me. Particular thanks are due to:

Judith Fawcett Armstrong; Linda Bankier (Berwick-upon-Tweed Record Office), Ann Bevan (The Historical Diving Society), John Bevan (Holy Island), Michael Finchen (The Quartermaster’s Store), Alexander Findlater, the late Ron French, Norman Frisby and Graham Knox (St. Chad’s Church, Rochdale), Jill Groves, Louise Harrison (London Metropolitan Archives), Kathryn Jones (Lincolnshire Archives), Eva La Pensée, Ervine Long, Bill Longbone, June Slee, Philip Somervail, Wendy and Alan Urwin, and Lisa Waters (Bamburgh Castle Archives).

List of Illustrations and Maps

Illustrations

Paddle Steamer, believed to be thePegasus, fromA Narrative of the Life of Charles Bailey.frontispiece

A slip dock on the River Clyde 1827; University of Glasgow Library, Archives & Special Collections. 16

Barclay and Curle’s Slip Dock, 1845 by William Simpson; © Glasgow Museums. 23

Pegasusflier 1840; © National Museums Scotland. 50

Van Amburgh and the Lions; engraving after Landseer’s painting; Author’s copy. 54

Manor House Street Station, Hull;Hull Packet3 July 1840. 59

Advertisement promoting onward travel in Scotland;Sheffield Independent, 16 January 1841. 64

Advertisement promoting onward travel to London and the Eastern and Midland Counties of England;Fife Herald29 April 1841. 64

Bill of Coals April 1842; by permission of University of Glasgow Library, Archives & Special Collections, Leith Hull & Hamburg Steam Packet Co Ltd Collection, GB248 UGD255/4/35/1. 65

The Launch of the Steam ShipForth;(detail) ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. 71

Advertisement for Reduced rail fares for Steam Packet Passengers from Leith to Hull;Fife Herald14 July 1842. 79

Watson’s Signal Code from theHandbook of Communication by Telegraph1842. 93

Leith Signal Station, 1829 print by Thomas Shepherd; Author’s copy. 99

Bailey & Hildyard’s Letter of Thanks;TheScotsman26 July 1843. 118

Reward Poster for James Richard Elliott; Northumberland Archives. 128

Notice of Trinity House Wreck Buoy;Shipping and Mercantile Gazette5 August 1843. 130

The Goldstone Buoy today; photograph courtesy of John Bevan, Holy Island. 130

Deane Divers Helmet; photograph courtesy of John & Ann Bevan. 132

John Morrell MacKenzie’s Gravestone at Bamburgh; photograph courtesy of Janet Ward. 135

The Early Divers at Work; fromSubmarine Researches, by Charles Deane, 1836; image courtesy of John & Ann Bevan. 141

Sketch of Charles Bailey; fromA Narrative of the Life of Charles Bailey.183

The Barton Family Gravestone, Market Rasen; photograph courtesy of Janet Ward. 186

Reward Poster for Sarah Briggs; Northumberland Archives. 187

Mungo Easson’s Gravestone, Holy Island; photograph courtesy of Janet Ward. 190

Reward Poster for Mrs Edington; Northumberland Archives. 191

James Elliott’s eroded Gravestone, Holy Island; photograph courtesy of Janet Ward. 193

James and William Elliot’s Memorial Plaque, St. Chad’s Church, Rochdale, photograph courtesy of Graham Knox and Norman Frisby. 193

Engraving of Edward William Elton;Illustrated London News5 August 1843. 195

Reward Poster for Field and Fanny Flowers; Northumberland Archives. 196

The Flowers’ Gravestone, Holy Island, from an early postcard of Lindisfarne Priory. 197

Maps

The area covered by thePegasuson her voyages. 14

Alternative sailing routes along the north Northumberland coast. 31

Sketch of Leith Harbour based on 1842 Admiralty Chart. 68

River Humber and Hull Docks; Greenwood’sPicture of Hull,1835. 73

The route of thePegasuson the night of 19/20 July 1843; based on that published in theKelso and Berwick Warder19 August 1843. 110

Part 1

SAILING THE LEITH/HULL ROUTE

The area covered by the Pegasus on her voyages

Chapter 1

The Barclay Family Shipwrights

Glasgow 1818; Britain’s twenty-year war with France was over. With peace had come new developments. In Glasgow, a key feature of this was the growth in shipping. Apart from the revival of industry, several other things contributed also. At a time when water rather than road was the most efficient form of transport, good access was critical.

Until the end of the 18thcentury, most Glasgow bound ships had docked at the appropriately named Port Glasgow, or Greenock; both over twenty miles away, because the Clyde was too shallow and twisting to let them sail up to Glasgow. During the war years, however, the establishment of jetties along the banks of the Clyde had narrowed and deepened the channel, and a dredging machine worked by seven men helped make the river navigable for larger ships up to the city harbour at the Broomielaw. Before the war, only 40-ton ships could dock at the city, but now 100-ton vessels could make the journey, and trade had risen from some 56,000 tons per annum to 141,000 tons. The ability to sail between Glasgow and Edinburgh on the Forth and Clyde Canal attracted even more shipping into Glasgow. Further encouragement was given when, in 1817 and 1818, the Government allowed the establishment of bonded warehouses in the city. This did away with the need to pay duty immediately to both Customs and Excise Officers before goods could be unloaded. The delays which this caused, had been a considerable deterrent to both merchants and shippers. The difference it made can be judged from the duty collected. Whereas in 1800, only £ 460 had been collected in duty, by 1820 the figure was £ 11,428.

Overall, it was a time of opportunity, and among those ready to seize the chance was John Barclay and his sons, Thomas and Robert. John Barclay seems to have been born around 1775, possibly in Port Glasgow. He is thought to have trained as a carpenter, and certainly his son, Robert was apprenticed to him as a carpenter; possibly also his elder brother Thomas, although Thomas went on to be an auctioneer. The first records of John, in Glasgow, describe him as a manufacturer, and then as a merchant, dealing apparently in tobacco and clay pipes. In 1818, however, he began boatbuilding on the north side of the Clyde at the Broomielaw, running his business from his house in York Street. Five years later, he leased two and a quarter acres of land at Stobcross to create a shipbuilding and repair yard. The chosen site, sloping gradually towards the river, was at a point where the water was deep and wide enough for large ships to be launched. In many ways, however, the repair element of the business was the more important. John built a slip or means of drawing ships out of the water for repair, at the time there were no dry docks, and this was the only such facility on the upper Clyde, well positioned to meet the needs of the growing numbers of vessels coming to the city.

A slip dock on the River Clyde 1827, possibly Barclays’ at Stobcross by permission of University of Glasgow Library, Archives & Special Collections, James Hopkirk

This picture,drawn on or before 1827, shows the slip in use for repairing a wooden sailing smack. Ships were pulled out of the water with the aid of a windlass. This enabled damaged hulls to be repaired and re-tarred to make them watertight, the process which seems to be going on in the picture – note the two men heating the tar over a fire on the riverbank. The slip was also used to clean the hulls. Just as cars today need to be serviced to run efficiently, so at this time, ships needed their hulls cleaned of growths which would accumulate on voyages, most commonly seaweeds and barnacles, and which if not removed would slow the ship in the water. Wooden ships sailing in warmer waters were also liable to be attacked by ships’ worms. Before the French wars, the Navy had pioneered the use of copper plating on ships’ hulls to protect the wood from attack. Although the process was costly, by the end of the war this process was increasingly being adopted by merchant shipping. John’s slip could be used for this work. The development of the slip is a good indication of John’s opportunism. He recognised a gap in the market and took steps to fill it. It also demonstrates another aspect of his opportunism. In March 1824, Thomas Morton, a Leith shipbuilder, took John Barclay’s Stobcross Shipwright Company to court for infringing his 1818 patent (valid for fourteen years) on machinery, for use when pulling ships out of water on a slip, and claimed £ 500 damages. The Barclays did not contest the action. They were fortunate that the Lord Chief Commissioner, who heard the action, decided that the complainant had not shown he had suffered damage as a result of the infringement. The jury were directed to find in Morton’s favour, but to award only token damages. As a result, the Barclays had to pay damages of one shilling, but also the costs of the action.

At this time, theGlasgow Post Office Directoryshows John’s business interests thus:

Barclay, John, & Co. boat builders, 29, Broomielaw; slip for repairs, Finnieston; office, 15, York streetBarclay, John, ship carpenter, house, 15, York street

Other records show that John was also a Burgess and Guild Brother of Glasgow, a respected member of the City community.

John may have seen a great opportunity, but sadly his timing was not quite right. By the end of 1825, the Stobcross Shipwright Company was in financial difficulties, probably due to too few ships using the repair facilities. Even if experiencing problems, most ships’ masters would prefer to get their vessels, themselves and their crews back to their home port if possible. In April 1826, the Stobcross Yard was advertised for sale in theGlasgow Herald:

SHIP-BUILDING CONCERN.

FOR SALE, BY PRIVATE BARGAIN,

THE YARD at STOBCROSS, a little West of the Broomielaw, with the Slip, Erections, &c. thereon. The Slip affords room for three vessels to repair; there is room and trade for another, which may hold more and of larger tonnage, besides ample accommodation for every branch connected with Ship-building. The trade of Glasgow has been progressively increasing, and the improvements on the River hold out a certain prospect of its accelerated continuance.

Such a property is rarely to be met with, having peculiar privileges and advantages, besides offering a most favourable opportunity for carrying on an extended business. The Premises are most excellently calculated for building and repairing vessels, or for connecting the Engineer business with Ship and Steam-boat Building, as there is room for constructing a Dock for putting in Machinery without interfering with the Carpenter’s Slips. Such a business, from its connection with the Harbour, would command a preference from the great saving of time to Steam Vessels requiring repairs of both Boat and Engine.

For further particulars, apply to John Barclay, No. 15, York Street, or at the Works.

Glasgow, 6th April, 1826

In June and August 1826, there were unsuccessful attempts to sell the property by public auction. Then on 11 November 1826, John Barclay ‘merchant and tobacco-pipe maker in Glasgow, and also carrying on business as a carpenter at Stobcross, near Glasgow, under the firm of THE STOBCROSS SHIP-WRIGHT COMPANY’ applied to be made bankrupt. All the estates of both John himself and of the Stobcross Shipwright Company were sequestered, but when the notice to appoint commissioners for his bankruptcy was drawn up on 20 December 1826, John was recorded as dead.

What happened to John is a mystery. Did he know he was dying, and was this the reason for offering the business for sale, and then making himself voluntarily bankrupt to protect the assets of other members of the family? If so, why is there no record of his death, either in parish registers or in the press? Was the business actually failing and did the shame of this drive John to suicide, which might explain the lack of death records? Whatever the situation, it was left to his two sons, Thomas and Robert, to pick up the pieces.

Chapter 2

The Business expands, and the Pegasus is built

At the time of John’s death, Thomas, the elder son, was twenty-four, and a partner in the firm of Barclay and Skirving, Auctioneers and Appraisers, with premises in Glasgow’s Trongate, one of the major streets of the city at that time. Robert was twenty-two and the one who had been actively involved in the Shipwright business. Both men continued to live in what had been their father’s house.

Immediately after John’s death, Robert was recorded in thePost Office Directoryas a ‘Shipwright, Stobcross Slip’, but with the note that orders would be received at Barclay and Skirving. The brothers were working together to try to salvage the business. The Receiver seems to have abandoned attempts to sell the Stobcross Yard. In 1828 there are further signs of the Company’s recovery. There was an application for John’s Bankruptcy to be discharged and the new directory entry for the business is:

Barclay, Robert, & Co. shipwrights, Stobcross Slip, Finnieston, and 31, McAlpine Street.

Robert had found a partner, and from other sources, 31 McAlpine Street can be identified as a Blacksmith’s Shop, doubtless producing the necessary metalwork for the ships under construction or repair. There must have been an injection of money into the business from somewhere. A public auction or roup was held in January for the Liverpool registered brigKitty,which had been left on the Stobcross Slip, the sale presumably to recover the unpaid costs of repairs. Additional money almost certainly came from Thomas (or he raised it from some of his associates). Although there is no explicit record of a partnership being set up between Robert and Thomas, from that time until 1840, when there is a record of Thomas withdrawing from the Partnership on 20 January; both men appear to have been actively involved in the Stobcross business. Until 1830/31 the brothers also continue to share their father’s house in York Street. By 1831, Robert had moved into a house on what was then called Steam Boat Quay, but shortly after was renamed Anderston Quay;more or less ‘living above the shop’. Thomas settled himself in the city, changing houses every two or three years, probably being upwardly mobile as we would say today, but at this distance in time, it is difficult to be sure.

In 1832, there are the first records of Robert Barclay & Co. building rather than repairing ships. The first was theGlasgow Merchant – a two masted schooner. The brothers are recorded as the first owners, so possibly it was a speculative build with a view to selling the completed ship. Although there are no further records for this ship, the enterprise must have been successful as the Company then built and launched a further three ships in the same year – two wooden paddle steamers, theInvernessfor Messrs Young, Smith Melvin & Turner, and theStaffafor theStaffa Steam Boat Company, both intended for coastal trade, but more significantly theLusitania,a brigantine for the Glasgow merchant John Mitchell to use in the cork trade with Portugal. TheMorning Postreported that this was the first sea-going vessel to be built in Glasgow, and that its launch attracted a great number of spectators. This was the good publicity that Robert Barclay & Co. needed. Mitchell was certainly satisfied with his purchase as in 1835 he took delivery of the schoonerLisbonfrom them for the same route.

Over the next three years, records show that Barclay & Co.built a further three coastal paddle steamers, a paddle tug, and two three-masted barques, one for a Liverpool company. Of particular interest to the story of thePegasus,was one of the steam paddleboats, theNorthern Yacht, launched in May 1835 and built for the Barclays themselves to operate on the Glasgow to Millport run. Subsequently Thomas took sole ownership and transferred the ship to a route between Newhaven, Edinburgh and Dundee, before selling it on to the Shields and Newcastle Steam Navigation Company, for use on a route between Hull, Newcastle and Leith. Shortly after the sale, theNorthern Yachtcame to grief on the Farne Islands.

By the middle of the 1830s, the Company had established itself as successful shipbuilders, building a variety of different vessels, but they were also starting to dabble in using their own ships commercially. It seems likely that Thomas was the driving force behind this move, probably both as a means of earning the company extra money and developing an aspect of the business in which he, as a businessman, could be more directly involved. These initiatives highlighted for him the so far unrealised potential for East Coast shipping routes.

These strands came together in 1835, when the brothers decided to build the paddle steamerPegasusand use it to provide a twice weekly service between Hull and Leith. Although to modern eyes it does not seem a particularly exciting route, in those days it was potentially a very lucrative one. The ‘new-fangled’ railways were still only just getting under way. Although Liverpool and Manchester had been connected in 1830, followed by a line between Manchester and Birmingham, so far they had had no impact on East Coast travel. A fine steamer completing the journey between Hull and Leith in twenty-four hours was a far more attractive prospect than at least two days bumping north in a coach. The Government had need of an efficient means of moving the mail to North Britain, as they labelled it, and also for the swift transport of soldiers to serve in the northern garrisons at Inverness, Perth, Edinburgh and Berwick.

Barclay and Curle’s Slip Dock, 1845 by William Simpson

000-000-131-571-C – ©Glasgow Museums

Most important of all, was that Birmingham and the surrounding towns increasingly became the workshop of Britain, if not the world. With the aid of a canal link to Hull, the route offered excellent transport links for the Scottish markets; nor was it all one-way trade – after years of droving cattle to the south for the growing towns, the animals could now complete half the journey in a day with little loss of weight. Grain, coal, whisky and iron were also likely cargoes. It was doubtless with these considerations in mind, that, in setting up the infrastructure for their Leith/Hull route, the Barclays did not employ one of Hull’s established shipping agents. Instead, they went into business with John Thompson & Co. (later Thompson McKay). John Thompson had begun his career as a canal broker in Manchester at the start of the nineteenth century. He based himself at Rochdale Canal Wharf, the Manchester end of the canal route through to Hull, and developed his business to become a carrier on the rapidly expanding canal network. By 1835 the company he founded could be described as ‘the Canal’s leading public carrier, paying £ 5,528 in tolls -10% of the total Rochdale canal toll income’.1

It was a shrewd move, ensuring that the Company was well positioned to benefit from the ever-growing trade from the Midlands and the North West.

The ship the Barclays planned was to be ‘state of the art’. She was a hybrid, equipped with engines made by one of the most noted Scottish manufacturers, Tod & Macgregor, but also schooner rigged. The combination was designed for economical operation – no need to use the engines if the winds were good, but also to ensure that the advertised service was not disrupted by unfavourable weather. ThePegasuswas large – 132 feet four inches long, 18½ feet wide (39 feet across the paddle boxes) and, having consideration for her proposed cargo carrying role, a deep hold of 11 feet one inch. To meet the needs of her passengers she was luxuriously appointed with fixtures and fittings of ‘the very best quality and elegance’. The main sleeping cabins were panelled in mahogany; there were also four lavishly furnished family state rooms under the quarter deck at the stern. Copper-bottoming would help maintain her speed.

The new ship was formally registered in Glasgow on 13 December 1835, with the owners listed as the Hull and Leith Steam Packet Company (HLSPC) of Leith. The shareholders of the new company were Thomas and Robert Barclay, also Robert Cook, who had been appointed master of the new vessel. On 30 September 1836, Robert Cook married Janet Barclay, the brothers’ younger sister, so, in dividing the shareholding with the captain of their new flagship, the brothers were certainly giving him encouragement to do his best for the enterprise, but possibly with the assurance that the money would be kept within the family. It is worth noting that thePegasusjoined the British merchant fleet at a time when less than 5% of registered shipping was steam powered, and most of those ships were river craft.

ThePegasuswas launched on or about 20 January 1836, and proceeded to complete her trials on 21 January, taking two hours to sail to Gourock against a strong breeze, and in competition with one of the fastest of the river boats. It was all very successful – according to theGlasgow Courier –‘theresult establishedPegasusas a sailor of the very first class’.

By now, the new service was being widely advertised in newspapers across Britain with notices in, among others, the Hull, London, Staffordshire and Manchester papers.

STEAM CONVEYANCE BETWEEN HULL AND LEITH, CALLING OFF SCARBOROUGH, WHITBY, &c.

THE powerful and splendid new Steam-Ship, PEGASUS, captain ROBERT COOK, built expressly for the Hull and Leith Trade, will be on the Station in a week or two, her Machinery being already fitted up. Her Accommodations for Passengers are of the most commodious and elegant description, comprising every comfort of which any Steamer can boast. Besides large Sleeping Cabins for Ladies and for Gentlemen, she has Four distinct State-Rooms, in each of which a small Party or Family can be accommodated.

The great dimensions of this Vessel secure ample Stowage for Goods, and the average time of her trips between Hull and Leith will not exceed Twenty-Four Hours.

Hull Packet 1 January 1836

Fares were given in subsequent advertisements – twenty-five shillings for the cabin (with two shillings to the steward); 12/6 steerage, and freight charges – sixpence per foot. She had also secured a valuable mail contract with the Post Office – this was a definite asset – mail was a high value cargo, but one which occupied small space on the ship. Those sending letters by thePegasushad to mark themper Pegasus Steamer, and deliver them to the post office an hour before sailing.

All that remained was to get thePegasusto her station at Leith. Small ships used the Forth and Clyde canal to cross from west to east, and the majority of the remainder sailed through the Great Glen on Telford’s Caledonian Canal, reaching the East Coast at Inverness, thus avoiding the dangers of the Pentland Firth. ThePegasus, however, was too large for either of those routes and so had to take the longest and most dangerous passage round the north of Scotland, at the worst time of year.

Nor was the weather good for the voyage – the whole of Britain had experienced what the newspapers generally described as a hurricane moving north in the last days of January. It certainly caused considerable damage across the country. ThePegasusprobably encountered the tail end of this as she entered the Pentland Firth, but she proved more than capable of handling the conditions. On 10 February 1836,The Scotsmanreported her arrival at Leith on Saturday 6 February at four o’clock, with the following comments:

The passage round the north … served one purpose effectually – the proving her capabilities as a seaboat in the hardest weather that blows. So stormy a period as that which she has just weathered is of rare occurrence; and her speed and power have been most satisfactorily demonstrated.

It was an auspicious beginning.

Chapter 3

The Pegasus enters service

No time was wasted on fine adjustments for thePegasusafter her rough journey from Glasgow. The next day she entered service, beginning her first commercial voyage to Hull on the afternoon of Sunday 7 February. Again, she encountered stormy weather, and rather than the advertised twenty-four hours, it took thirty to reach Hull. There, however, she received a warm welcome, and before sailing back to Leith, there was time for visitors to look over the ship’s facilities. The local newspaper,The Hull Packetgave strong support to the enterprise:

… after attracting a great number of visitors, who appeared highly delighted with her elegance, she sailed for Leith on Wednesday morning, and went down the river in gallant style. Such a conveyance has been long wanted, and we have no doubt that the spirited undertaking will meet with abundant success.

Hull Packet 12 February 1836

More positive publicity followed thePegasus’second sailing to Hull. On this occasion, as she reached Bridlington, she met with the whaling shipAbram, which, along with much of the Hull whaling fleet, had been trapped by ice in the Davis Straits throughout the winter. Six ships had been totally lost, and now theAbram, having broken free of the ice on 30 January, was returning home, bringing with her survivors from three of the sunken ships – theDordon, theLeeand theMary Frances.As the faster ship, thePegasusagreed to take on board the captains and surgeons of theDordonand theMary Frances, and two unnamed seamen. They reached Hull on 14 February, two days ahead of theAbram, bringing definite news of the whaling fleet’s fate. Although it was not all good news, there was great relief in the town, that at last they knew what had happened. The rescue had owed little to thePegasus, but nevertheless she featured in all reports of it, and was present during the rejoicing which followed the men’s return, doubtless being one of the ships which hoisted her colours to the peals of church bells.

Gradually, the Company’s sailings fell into a fixed schedule, leaving Leith on a Saturday afternoon and returning from Hull on a Wednesday, where, because of the tidal access, exact times of departure varied from week to week. It was not until 2 July 1836, that thePegasusalmost achieved the published time of twenty-four hours for her voyage. Leaving Leith at two-thirty p.m. and calling at both Whitby and Scarborough on the way, she docked at Hull at three p.m. the following day. Certainly, it was proving a popular route – a report of the voyage a fortnight later includes the information that the ship carried ‘upwards of ninety passengers’.

The Company, however, did not have it all its own way. It faced competition from the much longer established Irish St. George’s Steam Packet Company. Founded in 1821, the Irish company had run routes serving Liverpool, the Isle of Man, North Wales and Bristol and in 1831, even sent the paddle steamerSophia Janeto Australia! In 1834, they established a base at Hull to serve seasonal routes to Gothenburg, Hamburg and Rotterdam. In 1836, at about the same time as thePegasusentered service on the Leith/Hull route, they introduced sailings on the same route. These were to continue until about 1840. In Spring 1836, their flagship, theSt. George,was advertised as providing a better and cheaper service – it had two 55 horsepower engines, as opposed to thePegasus’single one, and it offered first class tickets for five shillings, and second class for three shillings. These were not claims whichcould be allowedto go unchallenged. In July 1836, the Company published the following statement regarding thePegasus:

The Pegasus has proved her decided superiority in the severest Weather on her present station; and Puffs to her disadvantage come with a bad grace from a Vessel which has been regularly beat here and elsewhere, and has now only SECOND-HAND ENGINES, saved from the wreck of another boat. Accidents from OLD ENGINES are tenfold more numerous than from those of the Pegasus’ construction, and most frequently arise from DEFICIENT BOILERS. The Pegasus has TWO which are NEW and UNSCORCHED.

Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette 22 July 1836

The war of words with theSt. George Steam Packet Companywas to continue for the rest of the year. On 4 November, another notice appeared in the press:

THE PEGASUS, – This splendid steam-ship still continues to ply between this port and Leith with her accustomed regularity. During the heavy weather of last week, which has proved so fatal to shipping, she made her passage down against a tremendous head wind all the way. After discharging and loading, she again left Leith on Saturday evening, and arrived here on Sunday about nine P.M., having met about noon that day, while off Scarborough, the St. George, which had sailed with her the previous Wednesday, still on her passage to Leith.

Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette

TheSt. Georgeand its sister ship theInnisfailcontinued to challenge the Company’s monopoly of the Hull/Leith route until the end of the decade, but then the Irish company, its resources overstretched, reduced its continental services and seems to have abandoned the coastal route to Leith, Dundee and Aberdeen.

The HLSPC, however, was not problem free during 1836. ThePegasusencountered its first serious difficulty in August 1836. Setting sail from Leith on 6 August, in the words ofThe Hull Packet, it ‘struck on a sunken rock nearly opposite Bamborough Castle. She arrived safe on Tuesday last’. The incident was also reported inThe Scotsmanof 10 August:

The Pegasus steamer, on her passage from Leith to Hull, went on shore on the Ferne Islands, about seven o’clock on the evening of Saturday last. The passengers and crew were, however, with the aid of boats from the Northumberland coast, safely landed; and we are happy in being enabled to state, that the Pegasus was so little damaged that she proceeded on to Hull with her goods and passengers, on Monday at 12 o’clock, from Newton Haven Bay, on the coast of Northumberland.

There is no mention of this incident in the surviving Barclays’ records, but it is referred to in two letters published byThe Timesafter the sinking of thePegasus, and one of the passengers, Robert Skeen, a London printer, returning home after visiting his family in Tweedmouth, included an account of the events in a privately published autobiography. He recorded that he was chatting to other passengers on deck, when just after they passed the Farne Islands, the ship struck an underwater rock with such force that several people were knocked to the ground. The ship’s bows were pierced, and five feet of water entered the hold. ThePegasusraised a distress signal, which brought help from a fishing boat, whose master skilfully ran the steamer ashore between two ledges of rock.

The passengers disembarked to find themselves at the small village of Newton-by-the-Sea, where they were left to their own devices. Skeen and some of the others walked in the direction of Dunstanburgh Castle, admiring the scenery. Meanwhile Captain Cook returned to Edinburgh to report the accident, and to make arrangements for repair. He brought back several carpenters, who worked on the ship during the low tides. It was fit to sail again on the Monday, although Skeen said that a number of the passengers, not surprisingly, preferred to complete the journey by road. His comments on the cause of the accident, however, are particularly interesting:

It (the rock) was not marked in the chart – but there are many such on that coast – and the captain ought to have kept further out. His silly excuse was that he wished the passengers to have a good view of the picturesque and precipitous shores of Northumberland!

One of the letters toThe Timessuggested another cause for the accident. The author, who used the initials W.W. and wrote from Bedford, explained that because of the damage to thePegasus, in 1836, he had had to travel north on theSt. George