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| The
Royal Charter Shipwreck |
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Reproduced with
the kind permission of the artist E.D.Walker |
The 2700 tonne steam
clipper "Royal Charter" was built at the Sandycroft
Ironworks on the River Dee and launched to great acclaim in
1857. It was a state of the art vessel built specifically for
the route to Australia. Built of steel with the lines of a
clipper it had auxiliary steam engines to prevent it from being
be-calmed in the tropics.
It was designed as a passenger ship with limited cargo capacity
and could accommodate up to 600 passengers and crew - passenger
accommodation ranged from sumptuous first class to very basic
third! The "Royal Charter" was the fastest ship
between Liverpool and Australia (less than 60 days) - however
despite it being state of the art for the time it was wrecked in
a hurricane on the rocks around Moelfre on 26th October 1859
with a loss of 454 lives.
One theory why the vessel got into difficulties was that it was
essential in those days for it to maintain its reputation for
speed (Australia in under 60 days ) and the captain appears to
have chosen to stay on his course for the Mersey rather than
change bearing to avoid the storm and seek shelter - despite its
steam engines it could not escape the grip of the storm - it was
de-masted, both anchor chains broken, and even beached but it
still foundered on the rocks at Moelfre.
A fortune at the time but it is believed that £370,000 of
gold was scattered in the waves - rumour has it that Moelfre
became rich overnight with many of the large houses built (and
still to be seen to this day) in Moelfre being funded by gold
either washed ashore or according to folklore looted from the
wreck !!
A memorial to the dead can be seen in the nearby Llanallgo
churchyard - check out
www.royalcharterchurch.org.uk
for more informastion on Royal Charter shipwreck
Prints of the above painting
of the Royal Charter along with the rest of E.D Walkers works
can be obtained through www.edwalkermarine.com
- this site is well worth a visit to view the work of this
renowned marine artist |
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