StraitTales2

 

The loss of the Lizard:

Over the years Gibraltar has seen at least her fair share of shipwrecks.  In recent years the New Flame and the Fedra stand out as both spectacular and potentially devastating.  Spain even tried to blame us for the loss of the Prestige - which caused a massive oil spill when she sank off the Galician coast - on the ludicrous premise that her destination was Gibraltar. But if we look further back, beyond the world wars, to the days of sail and of paddle steamers, we can find detailed and fascinating accounts of ships lost to the violence of the enemy, to the vagaries of the weather and to the negligence of masters and crew. This is one such tale.

 

                                              Lord Grey a nearly identical paddler.

HMS Lizard, a paddle steamer of 282 tons, (BM) was launched at Woolwich on 7^th January 1840 as a steam survey vessel, and was initially engaged in a survey of Ireland.  Her hull was wooden, with a single expansion boiler mounted amidships, driving port and starboard paddle wheels, housed in outboard paddle boxes. She mounted 3 guns of unspecified calibre. This was the time when the Royal Navy whilst continuing to build sailing line-of-battle ships had, for a decade or more become enamoured with steam. By the end of the 1830s the Navy had 37 steam vessels; mostly tugs, dredgers and packets, and had established a steam department.

Steam frigates were still experimental. Their engines could not be protected by housing them below the waterline because they were too bulky and large quantities of coal were required to achieve any sort of range. So they were equipped with fold down funnels to allow sails to be set from their masts, as and when required.

In November 1840 Lizard returned to Woolwich, her crew turned over to HMS Lucifer, and she was re-commissioned with a replacement crew and a new master, appointed in December. Meanwhile she remained in dock whilst undergoing minor repairs. On 16^th January (1841) Lizard very nearly lost her new crew. As they left their temporary accommodation, the hulk HMS Salsette, on board a liberty boat, the boat capsized tipping 25 men into the river. Some were carried down with the tide whilst others clung to the chains of the hulk. Fortunately, a waterman by the name of Goddard happened to be nearby and rescued the exhausted men from the water. One week later Lizard left for Portsmouth, Plymouth and the Mediterranean, arriving in Gibraltar on the 12^th March.

Along with her twin HMS Locust, Lizard provided a despatch service between Gibraltar and Malta. It was considered that these two were fastest vessels of their class in the service. When Lizard arrived in Gibraltar she was commanded by a Lieutenant, who rejoiced in the name Walter Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, and who quickly made a name for himself… for all the wrong reasons. In July, articles in the Spanish newspaper L’Emancipacion accused him of attempting to kidnap some inhabitants of Nerja. A flurry of activity and numerous letters from William Mark, the British Consul, eventually resolved the issue.

However, Lieutenant Estcourt was able to redeem himself some time later when attending a wrecked East Indiaman on the coast of Morocco. The Gibraltar Chronicle reported the event as follows:

“On the night of Sunday the 14th February (1841), the East Indiaman Heroine, from China for London, was totally lost near Azyla, near Cape Spartel. Out of sixty persons on board, about thirty four are believed to have perished, principally Lascars. The vessel is a complete wreck and it is feared that no part of her valuable cargo can be saved, though every measure is taking to effect that desirable object, as well as to afford the necessary protection on the coast. Her Majesty’s agent and Consul-General hastened from Tangiers to the wreck, to render personally all the aid in his power.”

Clearly, there was considerable concern for the cargo; somewhat less so for the Lascars.

Lieutenant Estcourt’s assistance to the East Indiaman and to a felucca Richard, (a Gibraltar trading vessel captured by pirates) got him noticed for the right reasons.    The Honourable East India Company was frequently generous when in receipt of salvation by the Royal Navy and the Lieutenant left Gibraltar promoted Commander, in Nov. 1841. The replacement master for the Lizard was the sober and experienced Lieut. Charles James Postle, who arrived here on 12^th January 1842.  He had passed for lieutenant ten years earlier and was known to be a steady hand. Lieut. Postle was shortly to add to that experience in a most dramatic and perhaps unnerving way.

On the 23rd July 1843, HMS Lizard left Gibraltar, in a light southerly wind, and headed east, making passage for Barcelona. At 7.25pm the second master, Mr Hall, took several bearings of the land, establishing a position 80 miles off Cape Palos, Cartegena. The vessel was making 8knots on a course East by North. As darkness approached Charles Postle established two bright lights at the masthead, as was required practice when steaming at night and left ‘particular orders that a strict lookout be kept’ and that the ‘lookout man be constantly hailed.’  The helmsman was instructed that if another vessel was sighted, he was to stay well clear of her. Satisfied that all was in order and leaving Mr Hall on watch, Charles Postle went to his bed.

In the middle of the night Lieut. Postle was awakened by a tremendous crash; the vessel shuddered to a stop, dead in the water. As the Lizard was well out to sea, in deep water and well away from danger, it could only be a collision. Arriving on deck it was immediately apparent that what is nowadays termed a major incident had occurred. The bow of a large French paddle steamer, had impaled the Lizard just ahead of the port paddle box and her bowsprit and gear lay across Lizard’s main deck. Indeed the weight of the stranger’s impact had lifted the Lizard’s port side out of the water; so she must have been travelling at full speed. Crew on deck had been flung to the floor and Chief Officer Mr Hall was calling out to them to save themselves by clambering into the bowsprit and rigging that lay across her deck. Mr Hoar, the Engineer, blew off the steam - to forestall any possible explosion - and commenced pumping out the engine room, already knee deep in seawater. But it was a vain attempt; the inrush of water was so great that the situation was hopeless. When the seawater put out her fires, there was no longer any power to operate her machinery and it was now only a matter of time until Lizard sank.

As Lieut. Postle went forward to the focs’le he became aware that the stranger was backing clear. Instructing his crew to climb on board the vessel, he followed; finding himself aboard a French Man-of-War, the paddle corvette Veloce, of 1200tons and 220HP. The Veloce had sustained little or no damage and quickly lowered her boats to return to Lizard, which by now was 2 cables distant, to collect any persons left behind. They recovered a sick boy, a passenger and two or three others left behind in the initial confusion, including James Gullick, Captain’s steward, who had apparently slept through the whole ordeal until the water reached his bed. Within twenty minutes, just after the last boat had left her, Lizard slipped head foremost into the deep; but not a man was lost.

The Veloce proceeded to Gibraltar with the crew of the Lizard, where they were received on board Her Majesty's Ship Indus (72). Whilst the lives of the officers and ship’s company had been preserved, everything they possessed on board was lost, as were the ships stores, furniture, etc. and now they faced a Court Marshal. 

The Court Marshal was held at Portsmouth, on board HMS Victory, presided over by Admiral Hyde-Parker. This is an extract from Lieutenant Postle’s deposition, explaining how he believed the collision had occurred:

“ From all I could learn on board the Veloce, their helm was put hard a starboard; indeed by the way the Lizard was struck, I hope it will sufficiently appear that the Lizard’s helm must have been hard a port, and the Veloce’s helm a starboard. I feel assured, even if the Veloce had kept the course she was steering when she was seen from the Lizard, that the vessel could not have struck us. The Veloce was only seen a quarter of an hour at most before we were struck. By the acknowledgement of the French Officers, the Lizard was seen half an hour before the collision, and if the Veloce had then put her helm a port, even to alter her course only one point, she must have gone well clear of us.”

“I observed the Veloce’s lights which were on the forepart of each paddle box (both on the night of the accident and on the following night, on our passage to Gibraltar) to burn very dimly, which may account for their not being seen so soon, or at so great a distance as ours, which were burning brightly; and permit me Sir, and Gentlemen, to hope this Honourable Court will consider, that as commander of the Lizard, I used every precaution that could be taken, for preventing accident at night, by giving general orders that an Officer should be constantly on deck, that the lantherns at the mast-head should be kept well cleaned and brightly burning, and that the Officer of the watch should always have them trimmed just before the end of his watch, that two muskets should be kept loaded with blank cartridge at sea, and a blue light and rocket within reach, and that I should always be called if anything particular occurred. I trust also, I can then but attribute the melancholy loss of the vessel lately under my command to the unfortunate circumstance of the Veloce having put her helm a starboard, for if her helm had been hard a port, she would have gone right away from the Lizard.”

“Having thus, Sir, and Gentlemen, laid before you a full and correct statement of the circumstances connected with the loss of her Majesty's steam-vessel Lizard as far as I am able to detail them, I can but express my gratitude to Divine Providence for the merciful deliverance of my Officers and Ship’s Company, and myself, from the perilous condition in which our lives were placed by this melancholy accident. I feel it due also to Captain Du Parc and the Officers of the French steam frigate Veloce, to take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the humanity and hospitality with which we were received and treated on board that ship; trusting that this Honourable Court will consider that I have acted throughout this unfortunate proceeding to the best of my ability, for the benefit of the service and for the safety of the lives of the Officers and Crew, and that I used every possible exertion to save the vessel, as long as a chance remained of doing so; but which we found to be altogether impossible.”

The Court favoured Lieutenant Postle’s report and produced their verdict, thus:

"That the loss of her Majesty's steam vessel Lizard was occasioned by the French man-of-war steamer Veloce running foul of her, on the morning of the 24th July last, by which the said steam vessel  Lizard was sunk; that no blame was imputable to Lieut. Charles James Postle, her Commander, for his conduct on the occasion; that Mr Daniel Slaughter, a Supernumerary Midshipman, serving on board her, was highly blameable for having left the deck before he was relieved, and that no blame was imputable to any other of the Officers, or of the Ship’s Company and did adjudge the said Lieut. Charles Postle and the Officers of the said late steam vessel, to be fully acquitted."

HMS Lizard was replaced with the HMS Flamer, fresh out of re-commissioning at Woolwich, and given into the care of Lieutenant Postle to return to Gibraltar on 6th October 1843. She was a 500 ton gunship, mounting 6 guns, commanded by Lieut. Postle for a further three years.  Lieut. Postle had the gratification, in Dec. 1845, of receiving a most complimentary and flattering address, signed by the Chairman, and members of the Exchange Committee of Gibraltar, expressive of the deep sense they entertained of the numerous obligations they owed him for the prompt and efficient manner in which he had at all times, both in the Lizard and Flamer, rendered protection to the trade of the place; and of their admiration of the spirited manner in which he had, when occasion offered, exacted a proper respect for the British flag. The humane and devoted nature of the exertions he afforded, in the course of the same month, to the crew of the French steamer Pepin, wrecked between Azamoor and Mazagan, on the coast of Barbary, had the effect of eliciting a glowing letter of thanks as well from the Consul-General for France in Morocco as from the Consul of France at Gibraltar. The King of the French, too, being desirous of publicly testifying his appreciation of the noble conduct exhibited by Lieut. Postle, expressed his intention of conferring upon him the Cross of the Legion of Honour. The regulations of the British service, however, not permitting him to accept it, His Majesty presented him instead with a pair of valuable pistols, appropriately inscribed.

Lieut. Postle was promoted to the rank of Commander 12 December 1845 to be employed as Inspecting-Commander of the Coast Guard at Dundalk.

First published at Gibraltar History Society Chronicle Mar 2025.       Paul Hodkinson.