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HMS SHEARWATER..2 young seamen

 
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mhomac



Joined: 15 May 2010
Posts: 779
Location: South Lanarkshire

PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:48 pm    Post subject: HMS SHEARWATER..2 young seamen Reply with quote



The memorial is situated on the road out of Millport, Cumbrae.
The wording is almost impossible to read so this transpript tells the story.

HMS Shearwater, 1844; memorial to two young seamen
In the summer of 1844 Shearwater under the command of Commander Charles Gepp Robinson was surveying the west coast of Scotland. By mid May they had reached Largs Bay and on the afternoon of Friday 17th was at anchor.
Two young midshipman friends from the Shearwater, Charles Cayley and William Jewell, borrowed a small sailing boat to amuse themselves. They were out near the north end of Cumbrae when a strong north-east wind caught them and drove their boat bow-first under the waves taking the boys with it.
This was observed by the crew of another Government steamer in the bay called Vulcan which, having its steam up, went to the rescue. Unfortunately all they could recover were the boys' caps. There was a thorough search for their bodies but they could not be found.
Later Commander Robinson and his crew erected a sandstone obelisk at Tomont End in memory of Charles and William. Inscribed on it is -
IN MEMORY OF
MR. CHARLES D. CAYLEY
AGED 17 YEARS
AND
MR. WILLIAM N. JEWELL
AGED 19 YEARS
MIDSHIPMEN OF
H.M.S. SHEARWATER
TWO PROMISING YOUNG
OFFICERS DROWNED BY
THE UPSETTING OF THEIR
BOAT NEAR THIS PLACE
17TH MAY 1844
THIS MONUMENT IS
ERECTED
IN TOKEN OF THEIR WORTH
BY
CAPTAIN ROBINSON
AND
OFFICERS
OF THE ABOVE VESSEL
H M S Shearwater was a wooden paddle steamer Royal Navy surveying ship with a displacement of 328 tons. She was constructed in Harwich in 1827 and launched as a Post Office Steam Packet called Dolphin. In 1837 she was acquired by the Royal Navy and commissioned in 1840 at Liverpool as Shearwater. After surveying the coasts of Wales and Scotland she was sold off in 1857.
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David McNay
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 11425
Location: Lanarkshire, Scotland

PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As this is a monument to two sailors in the Royal Navy I have moved this to the relevant section in Ayrshire.
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