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The following information, giving fascinating accounts of the wreck of the "Chusan," were collected and compiled by Mr. Jim Hunter and the late Mr. Hugh Anderson, both of Ardrossan.
We are extremely grateful to Jim Hunter for his kindness in contributing the material to this website.
From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated 20th October, 1899, page 4
Extracts, and drawing by the late E W Findlay.
On the morning of Wednesday, 21st October, 1874, the paddle steamer "Chusan," built for the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, and intended for their local trade between Shanghai and Hankow, was wrecked on the Crinan Rock, at the entrance to Ardrossan Harbour, with appalling loss of life.
Built by John Elder and Company, Glasgow, and was launched American fashion with her machinery on board on 17th September.
Ran the measured mile at Wemyss Bay on 10th October, attaining a speed of eight knots.
After the trial she steamed for Waterford to land the pilot and then proceed to Shanghai via the Suez Canal.
In the Channel one of her paddlewings was damaged, and on the Irish Coast she put in for repair.
It was necessary to return to the Clyde for more thorough repairs before attempting the over-sea voyage.
On the way back she was caught in a terrible gale. The velocity of the wind was 63 mph and the pressure between 30 and 40lb to the square foot.
The pilot steered for Ardrossan, but just failed to reach it.
The "Chusan" struck on the Crinan Rock, at the south end of the present breakwater, and became a total wreck.
Crew 48 and five passengers.
The crew was largely composed of coloured people, thirteen of whom were drowned.
Of thirteen white people on board, the Master and second mate were drowned.
The captain's wife and child, her sister, and a passenger named Captain King, the first mate, the chief, second, third, and fourth engineers, and the pilot, were saved.
The catastrophe happened at six o'clock, in the twilight of the morning, when the difficulty of navigating in the blinding rain and heavy sea was aggravated by the imperfect light.
The vessel struck the rock bow on, knocking off the beacon, and immediately parted in the middle, as if cut with a knife.
The forward portion of the ship, with a number of the crew on board, was carried right into the harbour, and the occupants were, with one exception, saved.
The after portion sank, leaving only her funnel, bridges and paddle-boxes showing above water.
With the sea breaking over the wreck, the position of those on board was perilous. The steward stripped himself entirely of his clothing and swam ashore in safety.
One unfortunate fellow who got jammed at the stern of the vessel presented a heart-rending spectacle to those on shore.
Notwithstanding the violence of the storm, four carpenters put out in a small boat to his assistance.
They threw him a line, but he was so fixed that he could not get clear.
At last he turned on his side and was lost sight of altogether.
The captain's wife and child were placed on the lower yard of the mainsail, in charge of two sailors, but in the violent tossing of the beam by the wind, the child was shaken out of the mother's arms and washed overboard.
One of the sailors gallantly leaped after it and effected a difficult rescue.
Till seven o'clock when the harbour tugboat, under command of Captain Bannatyne, proceeded to the wreck.
The scene was of a most harrowing description.
The Captain, with his wife and child, and a number of the crew, were clinging to a spar, the Captain supporting his dear ones, and striving desperately to prevent them being washed away.
A line was passed from the tug-boat, to which the Captain succeeded in attaching his wife and child, but he himself was drowned.
One account says that he was so exhausted he was obliged to let go his hold, and another says that one of the crew, a black man, who had been swimming, caught hold of him and dragged him down.
One man lay disabled between a float of one of the paddles and some floating spars.
The life-boat, imperfectly manned, in the absence of the coxswain, Mr Mayes, chief Coastguardsman, who was on drill in Greenock, was taken out by the tug, and an attempt to save the man under the paddle-wheel proved vain. A rope was fastened round him but only succeeded in tearing off some of his clothes.
Captain King, the passenger, was holding on to the boom when a wave struck him, throwing him to the deck. He managed to lay hold on a piece of wood and struck out for the shore.
After getting a short distance he was observed from the tug, and picked up.
Despite the severity of the storm large crowds assembled on the quay to view out of the total of 52.
The white persons rescued were accommodated in hotels and private houses in the town, and in the printed accounts of the occurrence, frequent mention is made of the kindness they experienced from the people of Ardrossan.
The blacks found shelter in the fore part of the ship which floated safe in the harbour.
In the Board of Trade Inquiry and newspapers, much was said of the unseaworthiness of the "Chusan."
She was one of the type of vessels once popular on the American rivers, and also in favour in China. She was to have steamed out with bare decks, and been fitted with her saloons in China.
306 feet overall, 50 ft beam, and 83 ft over the paddle boxes, 1381 gross tonnage, with a main draft of 8 feet 6 inches.
She was fitted with a 68 inch cylinder walking-beam engine, with 12 ft stroke and 31 ft paddle wheels.
The hull, boilers, engine and materials were sold by public auction in the coffeeroom of the Eglinton Arms Hotel, Ardrossan, on Monday 16th August, 1875, and were purchased by Mr James Craig, East Blackhall Street, Greenock, for ?1045 - 10s.
Captain Johnson, who died, was well known throughout commercial circles in China. He was, for ten or twelve years, one of the most popular captains on the River Yangtze.
His nickname was "Whispering" Johnson, because of the thunder of his voice, in giving an order, could be heard above the wildest din of the elements.
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On her maiden voyage on 21st October, 1874, the "Chusan" an iron paddle-steamer en-route to Shanghai, encountered a violent storm near Arran, and ran for shelter in Ardrossan Harbour.
Within 200 yards of the harbour, she was swept out of control on to the Crinan Rock and immediately broke up in the stormy seas.
The smaller forepart of the wreck was washed into the harbour and those in this section were saved, but despite frantic efforts made by the lifeboat and a small tug to save the rest of the crew and passengers, fifteen of them including the Captain were drowned.
They were buried in Ardrossan Cemetery where a memorial stone commemorates one of the most serious shipping disasters in the history of Ardrossan Harbour.
A twenty-two verse poem "The Wreck of the Chusan" is dedicated to Mrs H. A. Johnson, the Captain's widow, who was saved from the wreck.
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LOSS OF STEAMSHIP "CHUSAN"
Built by John Elder and Company at Fairfield yard, Govan, for the China Steam Navigation of Shanghai, and intended for the Yangtze River trade.
Launched on the afternoon of 17th. September 1874 by a Miss Lorimer.
The vessel was registered in London in the name of Charles Lloyd Norman, of Baring Brothers, who was British agent for the China Steam Navigation Company.
She was an iron paddle-steamer of 1381.13 gross and 953.43 net registered tonnage.
Her dimensions were: -
Length 300.9 feet: breadth - 50.2 ft: depth moulded - 13.6 feet: depth for tonnage - 10 feet.
The engines fitted were second hand, having been sent from America after being used in the previous Chusan.
She was a steamer known as type Hush model.
The vessel was schooner rigged with pole masts and supplied with temporary fittings. The tiers of deck houses called for in the specifications were to be fitted in China, resulting in considerable increase in strength.
There were thirteen whites on board as well as Negros from the southern states of America - one or two West Indians, West Africans and several Lascars.
The whites were:
Captain Johnson - master:
John Johnson - mate:
William Miller - second mate:
William Gardiner - Chief Engineer;
William Ortwin - Second Engineer:
William Wrench - Third Engineer;
Ed Humphreys - purser:
Miss Elliott - stewardess:
Captain King - passenger:
Mr Moir - pilot:
Mrs Johnson - passenger:
George Johnson - passenger.
Coloureds.
Firemen - 16 : Cooks - 2 : Stewards - 3 : Seamen - 18 :
The Chusan left the Clyde under the command of Captain G. C. Johnson, an American, with a crew of 48.
In addition were three members of the captain's family; his wife, his four-year-old son and his wife's sister Miss Elliott, sailing as a stewardess.
Also on board were an Engineer, Mr May, who superintended the building; Captain King, who was to command a sister ship the "Kiang Loongs" being built at Govan; and Mr Moir, a river and Channel pilot.
Some defects were detected, while sailing, in the rivetting and plating, and on arrival at Waterford, in order to land Captain King, Mr May and Mr Moir, the Captain decided to contact the owners regarding the state of the vessel.
A master mariner and ship surveyor, Captain Lodge, was sent to Waterford, and as he reported the vessel was unfit to proceed to China, it was agreed to return to Glasgow.
The vessel left Waterford for Glasgow on the evening of 19th October, in favourable weather.
Off Wicklow, the head-wind began to increase, and course was set for Maidens, after Belfast Lough.
Off Maidens the wind changed from westerly to south-west, with rapid fall on barometric pressure, and resulted in the course being set for Pladda, when the wind changed again to west, accompanied by an unusual violent storm.
At 2am she passed Ailsa Craig, doing about 9 knots.
When passing Pladda, course being steered was North-East by North.
The vessel was steering so badly off Holy Island that engines were put to slow and the fore staysail was bent.
The wind suddenly shifted to north-west, and blew violently and the vessel was not answering to helm.
At 5 am the position became desperate, and the glare from the Ardeer Ironworks became visible, as well as the perch on the Crinan Rock, and it was decided to attempt an entry to Ardrossan Harbour.
Mr Moir was familiar with the entrance, and on instructions of the Captain, the ship was considered to be of less importance than the crew.
Efforts were made to get the vessel's head into the harbour, but proved impossible due to the wind catching the big paddle-boxes and boiler coverings, making them like sails.
They tried to get her in broadside by use of the engines, but they wouldn't work in reverse mode, due to lack of steam to operate the valves.
As the width of the channel between the Crinan Rock and Lighthouse Pier were little more than the length of the vessel, in attempting the passage she drifted on to Crinan Rock, striking about 100 ft from her stern, knocking down the perch on the rock, and breaking in two.
The forepart remained watertight and drifted into the old harbour, with the majority of the crew in it. Pfeiffer
The afterpart of the hull swung round, slid off the rocks and, after drifting a bit, took ground and remained buoyant by means of the watertight compartments, and with the remainder still aboard.
The compartments gradually filled with water and settled in fifteen feet of water, where it lay 104 yards north-west of the head of the Steamboat Pier.
The lookout in the pilot-house called out Mr Steele, harbour master, and the berthing crew to attend to what he thought was the Belfast steamer.
By the time the mistake was realised, the Chusan struck on Crinan Rock.
The alarm was raised and a lifeboat launched.
The forward section of the Chusan struck the pier-head, and three men jumped ashore, two were successful but the other drowned.
Those remaining in the fore-section landed safely when it grounded further up the harbour.
The Coastguard service in Ardrossan had normally five members, headed by George Mays.
As four of them were not available, being absent on exercises in other ports on the Clyde and the keys of the Lifeboat house not immediately available, some time was lost and eventually one hour after the Chusan foundered, a boat was launched, manned by Mr. Lipscomb, 2nd. coxwain, and a crew of fourteen, consisting mainly of carpenters, sailors and others, including William Breckenbridge, one of the pilots.
It set off about 7.10am.
While the lifeboat got ready, a tug, commanded by Captain Bannatyne, proceeded to the wreck and rescued nine people, including the Chief and 2nd engineers.
As the lifeboat couldn't make its way out of the harbour, it had to give up and be taken in tow by the tug to the wreck.
The lifeboat then took off the remaining six, including Miss Elliott, the Captain's son, mate Johnson, and three others.
Three crew members floating on wreckage were handed on to the pier, but other three floated past the pier and were drowned.
Captain Johnson and his wife were lashed to a line thrown from the tug, but it was found impossible to haul them aboard. The captain was said to have cut himself free and was drowned, thus saving his wife.
Four men in a small boat set out to rescue a crew member who was jammed at the stern of the vessel, but even with a line thrown to him, he couldn't be released.
Finally he was seen to fall on his side, and was lost to sight.
Rescue attempts were abandoned at 9:am
Nine members were lost: -
Captain George C. Johnson, from Massachusetts - his body was found on the North Crescent, in a nearly naked condition.
A service was conducted at the Harbour Hospital over the remains of Captain Johnson, who was buried in Salem, U.S.A.
The service was conducted by Rev. George Lakeman of Ardrossan Episcopal Church, and was attended by Captain King, Mr Johnson, Chief Officer, and Mr Humphreys, Ships Purser.
The remains of Captain Johnson were put in a lead coffin encased in two shells of pine, made by Mr Angus Hamilton, joiner, of Barr Lane, Ardrossan.
William Miller, Second Officer -- aged 34, single and a native of Fort William. He was lost overboard before the ship struck and his body never found. His sea-chest was thrown up and contained a bank book with a credit of ?34 but no money.
Juan Pedro -- Quartermaster, from Jamaica.
Sam Munro -- Ordinary Seaman from Jamaica. His body, badly composed, was found at Burnfoot.
David Cunningham -- Ordinary Seaman from Jamaica. His body was found on the beach near Burnfoot.
John Gunton -- Fireman, from Sierra Leone
Joseph Little -- Fireman, from Jamaica.
George Cline -- Fireman from Bathurst.
J. B. Roziero -- Servant, from British East Indies.
Some of the bodies recovered could not be identified, but all the coloured seamen were buried in plots 56 - 63 in Ardrossan Cemetery.
Details are known for only the white survivors: -
Murdoch Johnson -- 1st Mate - unmarried from Glasgow - displayed great bravery in handling the situation and saved many lives who might have been lost.
William Gardiner -- Chief Engineer, married, from Leith.
William Ortwin -- Second Engineer, married, Liverpool.
George Marr -- 4th Engineer - Aberdeen
Ed Humphreys -- Purser, Salem
Captain King -- Passenger
Mr Moir -- Pilot, Greenock
Helen Elliott -- Captain Johnson's sister-in-law, Stewardess.
Mrs. Johnson & George -- wife and four-and-a-half year old son of Captain. Neither came to any harm, although Mrs Johnson, being in advanced state of pregnancy - Mrs Johnson, her son and sister, stayed at the Pavilion, the residence of Mr Cunninghame of Messrs Merry and Cunninghame.
The Court of Enquiry was held early in November in the Town Hall, and apart from the witnesses concerned, it was visited by the Earl of Eglinton.
The court recommended to the Board of Trade, the following for their conspicuous gallantry and efforts to save life : -
John Templeton, ships carpenter, Ardrossan;
Gavin Kear, ships carpenter, Ardrossan;
Archibald Boyd, Carpenter, Ardrossan;
Patrick Mackay, Pig Iron Labourer, Ardrossan.
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From issues of "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald"
October 24th 1924. page 4
From 50 years ago ... 24th October 1874
On Wednesday morning the steamer "Chusan" was wrecked at Ardrossan.
October 24th 1924, page 5 ... a sketch is included
AN ARDROSSAN CALAMITY OF FIFTY YEARS AGO
The above is a reproduction of a drawing by the late Mr. E.W. Findlay, of Nobels Explosives Company, of the wreck of the steamer "Chusan" at Ardrossan fifty years ago.
The drawing was made the morning following the wreck.
The news columns of "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" of 24th October 1874, record that on Wednesday morning, 21st October 1874, the new iron paddle-steamer "Chusan," Glasgow for Shanghai, was wrecked in the course of a terrible gale, on the Crinan Rock, Ardrossan.
She was thrown on the rock three times, and on the third occasion she parted amidships as clean as though she had been sawn right through.
The "fires of the engines," says the report, "glared out on the raging sea as the stern half sank, and a scene of indescribable terror and confusion ensued."
The fore-part of the ship, with a number of the crew on board, floated into the old harbour, but the after part remained on the rock.
The tug and lifeboat were put out and everything possible was done to save the remainder of those on board.
There were 51 on board, all told, 38 of whom were coloured members of the crew.
Nine lives were lost, the Captain, the second mate and seven coloured men.
Among the rescued was the Captain's wife and child, and his wife's sister.
Many daring deeds were done in effecting rescues, and the scene was witnessed by a large crowd on shore.
The "Chusan" was 300ft in length and 1000 tons registered tonnage.
The following is an extract from School log-book of Eglinton School, Ardrossan, 21st October 1874;
A very stormy morning, a very large number of the scholars absent. steamer "Chusan" wrecked at the harbour has no doubt been an attraction to some.
The work of lifting the wreck and taking it to the Horse Island was carried out by Messrs. Barr & Shearer, and it is interesting to note that one of those engaged in the work was Mr William Craig, who retired a few years ago from his grocery business in Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, and who still resides amongst us.
31st October 1874, page 4.
50 Years Ago
The body of Captain Johnson of the wrecked steamer "Chusan" was found on Sunday forenoon at North Crescent Beach, Ardrossan.
It was deposited in a lead coffin encased in two shells made of pine by Mr. Angus Hamilton, Barr Lane, for trans-shipment to Salem, Mass, USA, to which place he belongs.
7th November 1874
50 Years Ago
At a meeting of the members of the Lodge Neptune, Kilwinning, Ardrossan number 442, a purse containing 54 sovereigns was presented to the officers of the wrecked steamer "Chusan," to aid them in obtaining another outfit.
Mr. David Casey, mate of the "Ada Baston," who gave valuable assistance on board the tug steamer while picking up survivors of the wreck, was presented with a valuable gold ring, suitably inscribed, from the Lodge.
16th December 1876.
THE WRECK OF THE "CHUSAN"
In the Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice, at the Guild Hall, London, Baron Cleasby and a special jury had before them on Wednesday the case of the Earl of Eglinton versus Norman, an action brought about to recover from the owners or underwriters of the steamship "Chusan" the sum of ?12,000 is the respect of the removal of the wreck of that vessel from the Harbour at Ardrossan, where she was lost in the Autumn of 1874 under somewhat peculiar circumstances.
Mr. Cohen, in opening the case for the plaintiff, explained that his client, the Earl of Eglinton, was what in Scotland was called heir of intail in possession of the harbour at Ardrossan, and that under the Ardrossan Harbour Act he was really Trustee of that harbour and the works, rights and interests connected therewith whilst the defendent Mr. Norman was a partner in the firm of Messrs Baring representing the owners and the Marine Insurance Company.
The action was brought to recover the sum mentioned on account of expenses incurred in clearing the harbour of the obstruction occassioned by the wreck in question.
The defendent denied liability.
The "Chusan" sailed from Glasgow in October, 1874, under ballast, bound for Shanghai.
She put into Waterford on the 12th October, when Captain Johnson telegraphed to the owners that she was so weak he did not consider it was safe to proceed with her to China, that she was making water and suggesting that he would be obliged to return with her to Glasgow to have her strengthened and repaired, and it was in the course of the short voyage between Waterford and Glasgow that the disaster occurred.
Ultimately Captain Large, representing the Marine Insurance Company, took possession of the wreck, with the stores and appliance saved from it, and refused to give up any portion of it for the work of removal.
The total expenses incurred in the removing the obstruction was ?12,000.
Mr. Moffat, civil engineer, who had been harbour master at Ardrossan for 25 years was examined and cross-examined at some length, and the further hearing of the case was adjourned.
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for ?11,532 against Norman, as representing the owners of the steamer, the case against the Insurance Company being dismissed.
24th September 1897, page 4
Private records, kept by the late John Norris, throw a light of one man's view, and that a singularly reliable one, on past events.
Following the wreck of the "Chusan," on October 21st 1874, come the recovery of the bodies of the drowned - nine men, including the Captain and the second mate.
The body of the Captain was the first to be given up by the waves. It was found on the forenoon of Sunday 25th October, on the shore at North Crescent, and the others - all save the second mate, having been coloured men - at various dates extending to Monday 16th November.
26th December 1924, page 5.
"CHUSAN'S" SISTER SHIP
Captain C. Taylor of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, Shanghai, a son-in-law of Mr. Crawford, stationer, Ardrossan, has sent home an interesting letter and photograph regarding the S.S. "Kiang Teen," the sister ship of the S.S. "Chusan," which as we mentioned in a recent issue, was wrecked off Ardrossan Harbour fifty years ago, on her way out to China.
We reproduce one of the photographs of this steamer.
In the course of his letter, Captain Taylor says :-
The "Kiang Teen" is the last steamer running out of Shanghai with the beam engine.
In the photograph you will notice the beam on the top deck abaft the funnel, and if you examine the monument in the cemetery, you will see the beam carved out on the gravestone.
I was in command of the "Kiang Teen" during 1914, and, again, before I came home on leave, so I know a little about her.
She arrived in Shanghai in 1870.
She has therefore been running for fifty-four years, and she is likely to run for a long time yet, as she is in very good order. The "Kiang Teen" is a different type from the "Glen Sannox," her draft, when loaded, is 12 feet, as compared with the "Glen's" 6 or 7 feet.
Her length is 280 feet, and her beam, across the paddle-boxes, is 78 feet, so you will have an idea what she is like.
She was built by A. and J Inglis, the noted builders, and she is a credit to them - 54 years in constant service.
Captain Taylor's letter and photograph are peculiarly interesting at the present time. It is the irony of fate that one of the two sister ships should meet with disaster at the very outset of her first voyage and the other should put in fifty-four years' hard service and still be going strong.
February 27th 1925
The wrecked "Chusan" has now been moved from its position out of the way of shipping.
9th October 1925.
Fifty Years Ago .... Sept 25th, 1875
Mr. Gilroy, who lately purchased the wreck of the "Chusan" at Ardrossan is making great progress with its removal. |
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