Chirgwin Disaster 1906

BOATING DISASTER AT PENZANCE. 

A DOUBLE FATALITY. 

THE COXSWAIN OF THE PENZANCE LIFEBOAT DROWNED.

 Chirgwin Family page.


chirgwin and davies

                      The family of George Chirgwin



A boating disaster has occurred at Penzance which is probably one of the saddest in the annals of Penzance.

On Friday evening Mr. George Chirgwin, one of the most trustworthy and respected boatmen of Penzance, of wide experience, and the coxswain of the Penzance lifeboat, went off in his gig in company with a man named Morris Davies, for the purpose of taking the captain of the Cornubia on board his vessel, which was lying in the Bay.

As the boat did not return some uneasiness was felt, especially as the weather was very bad during the evening.  There were blinding showers of snow accompanied by squalls.

At daybreak boats went out to search for the missing men, and at low water a boat’s mast was seen about a foot above water, also the yard and peak of a sail.  The boat had evidently sunk between the Gear Pole and the Chimney Rock, in a line with a rock known as the Frenchman, and about 400 yards from the shore.

No traces of the men were to be seen, and it is supposed they were caught in a squall on returning from the Cornubia.

Mr. Chirgwin was one of the best known boatmen on the coast, and has had an adventurous sea career.  Some twenty-five years ago he was one of the crew of a large steamer, carrying thirty-five hands, which was lost on a desolate part of the coast of Spain.  With the exception of Mr. Chirgwin all hands were drowned.  Half-dead and almost naked he was thrown ashore, and remained in a Spanish village for some weeks.  When sufficiently recovered he came back to Penzance, where he was warmly received by his townsmen.

Another account says :  An appalling disaster occurred in Mount’s Bay on Friday evening, resulting in the loss of two lives, one being Mr. George Chirgwin, coxswain of the Penzance lifeboat, and the other Mr. Morris Davies, who lives opposite the Barbican House at the Quay.

On Friday evening Mr. Chirgwin and Mr. Davies left about six o’clock to take the captain of the s.s. Cornubia, of Hayle, off to his ship, which was lying about a mile out, just east of the Gear Pole.  They left the harbour in Mr. Chirgwin’s own gig, and that was the last heard of them.

Time passed and the pilots became anxious on their behalf, the weather being squally, accompanied by blinding showers of hail and snow.  Unable to bear the suspense longer, the pilots put off to the Cornubia, and learnt that the captain had arrived in safety and that Mr. Chirgwin and Mr. Davies had left with the intention of going ashore.  Sufficient time had elapsed before the pilots arrived to have enabled the men to get to ashore, and with this in their minds the hearts of the pilots were filled with forebodings.  They recognised that in Mr. Chirgwin there was a man whose knowledge of handling sailing craft was unsurpassed, and they entertained the faint hope that they might have come ashore rather out of their course.  Inquiries instituted shewed no trace of the missing men, and it became generally believed that both had perished.

The news created profound sensation, not only at the Quay, where they could be seen daily, but throughout the town, where they were well known and respected.  Early on Saturday morning three boats were out dragging for the bodies, and eventually discovered Mr. Davies lying near the sunken craft, just off the Battery Rocks.  The body was raised and taken ashore, being subsequently removed to the mortuary.  Grappling operations were continued by Joseph Hill, of Coinage Hall Street, Philip Nicholls, of Regent Terrace, and the body of Mr. Chirgwin was found about 20 yards distant from that of Mr. Davies.  It was reverently taken ashore and placed in the lifeboat house.

Mr. Chirgwin was forty-three years of age and leaves a widow and several children.  Mr. Davies was about forty-eight years old, and leaves a widow and four children.

Many theories have been advanced as to the probable cause of the disaster, and it is believed that as the men were coming ashore a squall struck their boat, she filled with water, and sank immediately.  Mr. Davies, it is understood, could not swim, and that in all probability accounts for his body being found close by.  Mr. Chirgwin, on the contrary, was a most powerful swimmer, and before his clothes and the cold water impeded his progress and numbed his limbs, he must have made a hard struggle for life.

On every hand expressions of the deepest sympathy arise for the bereaved relatives.

THE INQUEST - January 1907 - available in .pdf format.



THE LIFEBOATMEN’S “GOOD-BYE.”

Sleep on Comrades; no more shall earthly storms thy duty claim,

Not rousing rocket call from slumb’rous couch to rise,

And aid the shipwrecked mariners, far out on raging main,

Watching for the Lifeboat with straining fear dimmed eyes.

 

Oft in the dark watches we have worked together afloat;

Defying wind and wave and freezing rain, speeding on our way,

Fighting, not with cannon, but with a goodly boat,

Old ocean in his wildest moods, baulking him of prey.

 

Good bye Comrades; may God’s lifeboat of infinite Love,

Carry you safe through the shallows to the promised haven of rest;

May your coming be signalled by the crown of light awaiting you above,

And your weary souls find shelter in the Loving Saviour’s breast.

WILL NICHOLLS.



Welcome. This site is not for profit © 2008/16