Wealth Beyond Compare....

Yet They Never Lived to Spend it.............

There were many ‘Gold Rushes’ in the 1800’s that drew tens of thousands of people to travel all over the world at the mere whisper of such an event.   Poverty can make the dream of huge wealth a very strong magnet.   And so it did when such information arrived in Europe about an Australian Gold Rush in the 1850’s.   The promise of vast fortunes caused many to sell everything they owned and make their way there.   The discovery of gold and the quantity being recovered was second only to the Californian Gold Rush of the same period.   In the Australian Victoria area where this rush was based, the miners gleaned over three million ounces of gold.

In the ten years covered by the gold rush, the population of Australia almost tripled.

Many of the miners were from England but also included many Irishmen who had come to England to escape the Great Famine in their homeland.   Many struck it rich and with their newfound wealth began the homeward journey and the dream of future happiness.   For many that dream was to turn into a tragic nightmare and instead of spending their riches, they and it were to end up at the bottom of the Irish Sea.

In 1855 on the River Dee, at Sandycroft, North Wales, a new type of ship was launched.   She was steel hulled and along with her clipper style masts and sail, she was equipped with auxiliary steam engines for use in calm weather.   She was commissioned primarily for the voyage to and from Australia.   There was room for 600 passengers on board with a crew of around 112.   There was luxury accommodation for the rich and basic quarters for the poor.   There was limited room for some cargo.   She was one of the fastest ships on the route and the company’s advertising boldly claimed that she was capable of completing the journey in‘Under 60 days’.   This boast probably lead to the disaster that I will relate.......

She was named The Royal Charter.

In September 1859, she sailed from Melbourne Australia with the aim of reaching her home port of Liverpool within the sixty days as advertised.   She had about 371 passengers on board with a crew of 112 together with some company employees.   Many of the passengers were successful gold miners who had large amounts of gold in their possession.   A large consignment of gold was also carried as cargo – it was insured for £322,000 (a vast amount of money in those days).    Many of the passengers had placed their wealth in the ships safe but equally, many of the miners who did not trust anyone, carried large amounts of gold strapped to their bodies.

Late October, 1859 she entered the home stretch from the Atlantic and on the night of 25/26 October, as she passed Anglesey on the west of Wales, she was about 400 miles from Liverpool, her home port and destination   The barometer was rapidly dropping signalling a severe storm.   Some claim that the Captain of the Charter was advised to take shelter in Holyhead Harbour and to sit out the storm.   However, Captain Thomas Taylor decided to stay on course in order to protect his 60 day boast.

As they passed the safe harbourage of Holyhead, the wind had increased to storm force 10 with signs that the weather was yet to worsen.    During the night, the wind did in fact increase to force 12 – ‘hurricane force’.   The night’s storm was later to become known as ‘the Royal Charter Gale’.     As they continued to slowly make their way towards Liverpool, the wind changed direction forcing the ship towards the coast of Anglesey.

At 11pm they anchored at sea, the Captain now deciding to ride out the storm in open water.   However, and tragically, at 1.20am the port anchor chain snapped quickly followed by the starboard chain doing likewise.    They were being forced towards the coastline.   In desperation, Captain Taylor ordered that the masts be cut in order to reduce drag but it was to be of no avail.   The steam engines were unable to fight against the atrocious wind.   The ship struck a sandbank and held firm......

Later that morning the wind forced her free, if one can use such a word, for having done so, she was forced onto the rocks just north of a fishing seaside town of Moelfre.   The 100 mph winds continued to batter her and she quickly broke up.

An extreme act of bravery by one of the crew, Joseph Rogers, was performed when he swam ashore with a lifeline tied to his body which resulted in a few people being saved.   Most of the remaining passengers and crew were actually killed by being dashed against the rocks rather than by drowning.   Many of the gold-miners, weighed down by their gold strapped to their bodies, sank to the bottom and drowned.

Out of the initial estimated crew and passengers of almost five hundred people, over four hundred and fifty perished.   21 passengers and 18 crew members survived.   No women or children were saved..............

Before the wrecking of the Royal Charter, the fishing village of Moelfre was a poor community.   Almost immediately they became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  Fabulous new houses were built – many say by means of the gold that was washed up along the shore.   Occasionally small items, including gold coins are still to this day washed up on the nearby coast.

Two final facts about the disaster are:

 1.  In October 1959, almost a century later, another ship struck the rocks almost at the same place in a gale.  This time however all hands were saved by incidentally, the Moelfre lifeboat.

2.   The celebrated writer, Charles Dickens visited the scene shortly after the disaster.   He wrote about it in The Uncommercial Traveller and describes the night from witnesses’ statements thus:   ‘So tremendous had the force of the sea been when it broke the ship, that it had beaten one great ingot of gold, deep into a strong and heavy piece of her solid iron-work: in which also several loose sovereigns that   the ingot had swept in before it, had been found, as firmly embedded as though the iron had been liquid when they were forced there’.

I find it ironic that many of the men who drowned that night had spent many years of hard labour in the goldfields of Australia and having travelled half-way around the world to return home and an expected life of luxury, died that night unable to give up the gold strapped to their bodies – a fact which might well have saved their lives.

--------------Mike---------------