The following article refers to a Samuel Warland having drowned in a shipwreck on board the Curlew when another ship, the Taunton, collided with it.
Samuel Henry Warland was the son of Samuel Warland (1826 - ) and grandson of John Warland (1798 - ) and Ann Marie Stickland. Samuel Warland senior moved to Weymouth and was a Painter & Decorator who lived at Burdens Building, Commercial Road, Weymouth. 'Samuel Hy Warland 'is registered, aged 11, with his father in the 1871 census.
On Saturday forenoon a telegram was received from Lloyd's agent at Yarmouth by the Aberdeen Lime Company announcing that the schooner Curlew, owned by them, had, while on the voyage from Aberdeen to London, been run into and sunk by the ship Taunton, of London - Captain Diack, two apprentices and two seamen being drowned. A later message stated that the survivors, 3 in number, had been landed at Yarmouth
The following is a list of the drowned:
The survivors are:
These men arrived in Aberdeen by the mail train yesterday, having been sent home by the Shipwrecked Mariners Society on being landed at Yarmouth.
The Curlew was an American built three-masted schooner of 209 tons register, and was built in 1865. She left Aberdeen for London about eight o'clock on the morning of Tuesday last, with a full cargo of causeway blocks for Messrs Manuella Company. The Taunton, a full-rigged ship of 688 tons, was bound from Havre for Shields, in ballast. The survivors on their arrival in Aberdeen, seemed greatly fatigued and exhausted, and were reticent as to the manner in which the sad disaster occurred; but so far as can be gathered from a statement made by the mate to the owners, the particulars are as follows.
On Saturday morning, about half past five o'clock, about seven miles outside of the sands, the Taunton, of London, bound from Havre to Shields, ran into the Curlew upon the starboard bow. The wind was West, inclined a little southerly, when the mate whose watch it was, perceiving that they were in danger, called to the Captain, who was lying on the top of the locker with his clothes on. The Captain reached the deck before the crash took place, and shouted to those on board the ship, asking what they were about. Before a reply could be given, or anything done to avert a collision, the Taunton ran into the Curlew upon the starboard bow, cutting right through the vessel, so that she sunk in two minutes afterwards.
Immediately before the crash took place the Captain shouted every man for himself but the survivors state that they never saw anything of their comrades after the shock. The mates version of the accident is that he observed the Taunton a long way off, sailing on the port tack, while the Curlew was preserving the starboard tack, so that the two ships ought to have passed each other in safety. By some means or other, the Taunton shifted her helm, and, swerving round, struck the Curlew. The whole was the work of a moment, and the mate says that shortly before the crash he apprehended no danger. The whole of the watch on deck exclusive of the mate himself, were lost. Warland was at the wheel, and James Burns was at the lookout. Alexander Park, the boy, was also on deck. The boy Smith was sleeping in the forecastle, and never reached the deck. He was the only one who did not do so, and probably met with a death more fearful to contemplate than that of drowning, as he lay near the spot where the bow of the Tauntonstruck the ill-fated ship.
Instantly on the vessels coming together the mate succeeded in laying hold of the Taunton and scrambling on board. The Taunton was brought to a standstill by the yards of the Curlew (???) and allowing the anchor to drop. Notwithstanding this, nothing was left of the unfortunate persons who have been drowned. The Curlew was laden to the extent of 370 tons, and went down bow first. The mate afterwards discovered his comrades, Skinner and cook, clinging to the bow of the Taunton, and hauled them on board by means of a rope. Cook is understood to state that he was below when the calamity occurred, but this is scarcely considered probable, as the time between the crash and the sinking of the the vessel was so brief as to render such a thing almost impossible. The drowned persons probably went down in the swirl which accompanied the collision. The survivors were taken off the Taunton by a fishing smack and landed at Yarmouth, and, on arriving at Aberdeen, were met by a number of their friends.
It may be mentioned that Warland, the young Englishman, was to have been married on his return.
Information in this story is copyright William Ironside, 3 Ash Place, Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland, PA5 OAS. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9267/
Copyright Andrew Warland.