An extraordinarily detailed first-hand account of a 19th century shipwreck in the Indian Ocean is recounted in a letter written by survivor Sergeant Alfred Addyman to his mother, which is to be sold along with his Victorian King’s Royal Rifle Corps Medals and related material in the Militaria and Ethnographica Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 24th June. The medals comprise the Indian General Service Medal with clasp for Samana 1891, and the Queen’s South Africa Medal with claps for Talana, Defence of Ladysmith, Transvaal and Laing’s Nek, and the lot will be offered with an estimate of £600-700 (plus buyer’s premium).
On 14th January 1897, the Royal Indian Marine Troopship Warren Hastings fell foul of a storm and ran aground on the rocky shores of Réunion whilst travelling to Mauritius from Cape Town. Addyman was part of the 1st Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who had boarded the ship in Bombay, having been stationed at Jullundur. Combined with members of the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment and numerous officers, women, children and crew, there were 1,244 people on board. Having veered eight miles off course due to fog and a malfunctioning compass, the ship hit the rocks.
Addyman’s letter begins detailing his role in the decampment from Jullundur, and getting troops settled on the Warren Hastings in his position as acting Quarter Master Sergeant. The journey to Cape Town via the Seychelles was fairly trying for Addyman, with constant rain and a cold forcing him into the hospital on board with ‘veneral [sic] patients’, which he did not appreciate. On arrival in Cape Town, he listened to a speech given by Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Colony, and got into a bar fight, all whist disapproving of the ‘lazy lot’ who resided in the country. The journey was only set to get worse. On the night of the wreck, Addyman had retired to his hammock soaking wet and fed up from constant rain and recounts that “At 2.20am the ship gave a terrific shock from stem to stern, which threw me out of my hammock”. After initial confusion, the troops gathered on deck.
“Still on the waste deck, the water more furious, the ship is going over, now comes the most trying ordeal that can happen in a mans life, being closed in, with hundreds and seeing the water rising and breaking iron doors in, as if it were matchwood”.
With the ship listing increasingly badly, the order to evacuate came. Two officers were sent to inspect the safety of the rocks at the bow of the ship, and men began climbing down rope ladders onto the shore in darkness, the electrical systems having failed. With increasing urgency, men were ordered to swim if able, and thick ropes were strung through the water as guidelines. In an extraordinary feat of disciplined and order, only two people died during the evacuation, in what could have been a large-scale tragedy.
“I now lay hold of the rope with my hands and went sliding into the water, it was a terrible drop, my shoulders and head are just out of the water, I find it is very hard climbing hand over hand on the rope you are assisted a little when the wave comes in, but it is terrible hard work to hold on when it returns, it is so strong that you have to hang on to the rope with superhuman efforts, landed and pull ashore by willing hands, who said come along corporal that’s another one safe and sound”.
Having made it safely to shore, with what little baggage could be safely recovered, the troops stayed overnight in the nearby village of Saint-Philippe, where the residents offered what little assistance they could with food and shelter. Addyman, who had lost his shoes at this point and was wearing a pair of boots with the toes cut out, assists the Quartermaster in doling out rations to the troops, and spends the night in an old carriage kept warm by a dog also sheltering from the rain. With little food, the company make their way over the next few days to Pointe des Galets, where they left the island on the SS Lalpoora.
A little indignant at having had to be on duty and take care of his fellow soldiers since the shipwreck, on arrival onboard the SS Lalpoora he promptly refused orders.
“The next morning I was wanted very early, the Q M Sgt of the Y & L Regt and a ship warrant officer of the Warren Hastings, wanted me to perform some work, but I strongly refused to do it, I told them that they had been on the ship about a day before me and having had nothing to do they had time to have a good rest, as this was not my case, I was not going to do anything until I did have a rest, so went down below for a few more hours rest and left them with their own work”.
The company travelled onward to Mauritius, where they recovered, and awaited the arrival of clothing and equipment that was being shipped over from England.
“I hope you will preserve this letter, as it is a record for a mother to be proud of her son, who has faithfully carried out this. I never thought I should be ever able to perform what I have done in the army, I always thought and being so often told so, that I was a little delicate, but the severe tests I have been put to, seems to prove the contrary”.
Although, being British, Addyman’s closing words to his mother are a complaint about the weather.
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