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From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated 21st January 1972
SALTCOATS FISHERMEN TO THE RESCUE
?LORD HELP the sailors on a night like this? is an old saying still echoed in coastal towns on wild occasions at this time of year, and events often turn our thoughts to stories of shipwrecks and the hardship and braveries connected with them.
Of wrecks in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats area the ones which are recalled most seem to be the ?TRELAWNEY? and the ?CHUSAN.?
One more forgotten, although more recent than either of these, was the ?LOVEN? which struck rock between Horse Island and Ardrossan Harbour breakwater on Saturday morning, December 22, 1894.
The ?LOVEN? was a brig belonging to Christians, Norway. She cannot have been very large - we have no knowledge of her dimensions and tonnage, but she carried a crew of only eight men.
She left Ardrossan for her home port with a cargo of coal on the morning of Thursday, 20 December, and headed down the channel in a fair wind which lasted till the night when a stiff gale sprung up from the south west and the vessel lay to.
On the Friday the crew squared in the braces and made for the shelter of Lamlash, but they did not enter the bay as Captain Nelson was unacquainted with the waters.
Sail was shortened and the ?LOVEN? tried to ride out the storm, but the wind increased and was blowing at 50 miles an hour by Friday midnight.
The brig?s fore rigging fell down and the ship was steadily blown across the firth until she entered the shallow water between Horse Island and the breakwater. There at 7 a.m. on Saturday she grounded and split beneath the mainmast.
In the words of the second mate, Victor C Nelson of Slite, Sweden ?We thought she had grounded on sand and we let go the port anchor. She was settling down. She rolled over to the starboard and the water rushed all over her. She then rolled to port and went down. We saw our mates on the top of the water for a moment and we never saw them again. The mate reached the main rigging and pulled me on to the maintop. An able seaman caught hold of a stay and clung on till daylight. We then hauled him on to the maintop where we clung all day?.
Captain Duncan Murchie, who lived in Hamilton Street, Saltcoats, was a pilot at Ardrossan Harbour and coxswain of the lifeboat ?CHARLES SHIRROW?. About 10 a.m. he became aware of the wreck which although it had been daylight for two hours had not been discovered before on account of the flying spray and spindrift. It seemed quit impossible to launch a rescue boat, but by 11.30 when it was seen that at least one man was clinging to the wreck Captain Murchie determined to make the attempt.
The boat was launched from the Pilot House and the crew managed to get to the north end of the breakwater, but were driven back three times.
VOLUNTEERS
On the last occasion this happened, a volunteer crew on the dock decided to have a go themselves and obtained a rowing boat from a Mr Cook.
There were six of them - William Pllu, fisherman, Neil Robertson, fisherman, Archibald McMillan, sailmaker, George Fabian, diver, Duncan Rodman, mate - all of Saltcoats, and James Boyd, boat hirer, Ardrossan.
William Pllu had earlier been helping to shove the lifeboat out when Catain Murchie slipped and fell in the water.
He was soon helped out, and later was asked, ?I believe you had an accident?? ?No,? he replied, surprised. ?Did you not fall in the water?? Oh that, yes I fell some 20 feet over the sea wall ?.? then hurried away to make another rescue attempt.
It was later discovered that five of the ?LOVEN?S? crew had perished before the wreck was sighted; the remaining three clinging to the wreck were rescued by the Saltcoats volunteer crew. As to how it was accomplished, it cannot be better told than in William Pllu?s own words:
?There was a boat in the old harbour filled with water which we got into and baled her out, but the water was gushing in so that it would have taken a bucket to keep her going. It was the last resort, but we were willing to take it to save our fellow creatures.?
After they got the good boat from Mr Cook, someone shouted: ?You will want life-jackets, ?but Pllu replied ?No,? and he continues: ?We stripped our jackets, throwing them in the bottom of the boat, and made a start.
?We got to leeward of the breakwater and soon found we would have to change our positions in the boat to get her into trim. There was a strong tide running that made us go a good piece to the leeward, and I shouted, ?Wire in lads, we are making great progress,? although we were making little progress, just to put backbone into the men.
?I saw one of the men on the wreck try to clap his hands, but he was so exhausted that he could not get his hands to meet. I gave him a wave, and he gave me a wave.
?We got the men into the boat and came back to the shore the southward way.?
Pllu?s last sentence is a masterly understatement - how did they get the three exhausted rescued men into the boat? William Pllu and his five companions just smiled, shrugged, would say no more, and went off home to change into dry clothes. The survivors were being cared for, and the Saltcoats men could see no need for any fuss. |
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