Post by Administrator on Jan 7, 2017 16:21:09 GMT
THE BIRKENHEAD DISASTER
26th FEBRUARY, 1852
But to stand and be still to the Birken ‘ead drill. Is a damn tough bullet to chew
From Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Soldier an’ Sailor Too
On February 25th, 1852 H.M. Troopship Birkenhead steamed out of Simon’s Bay near Cape Town set on course for disaster. The intended destination was Port Elizabeth.
The ship was iron built, and modern, by the famous John Laird shipbuilding family in 1845. She was just over 200 feet long and of 1400 tons. On board were 643 personnel and several officer’s horses. Among these was a draft for the Queen’s (Second) Royal Regiment of Foot consisting of a Corporal and fifty one men under the command of Ensign Boylan.
The evening was calm and clear. The soldiers and families were in their hammocks below and Captain Salmond had retired for the night. Soon after midnight the Birkenhead, which had taken the Regiment to the Cape in the previous year, struck a hidden reef off the aptly named Point Danger, some fifty miles out from Simon’s Bay. A few feet to port or starboard and she would have missed it. The impact ripped her open from the forepeak to just forward of the engine room and the sea poured in.
LINK 1
women and children first” was the standard set by the men of the Birkenhead who died seeing it fulfilled.
LINK 2
26th FEBRUARY, 1852
But to stand and be still to the Birken ‘ead drill. Is a damn tough bullet to chew
From Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Soldier an’ Sailor Too
On February 25th, 1852 H.M. Troopship Birkenhead steamed out of Simon’s Bay near Cape Town set on course for disaster. The intended destination was Port Elizabeth.
The ship was iron built, and modern, by the famous John Laird shipbuilding family in 1845. She was just over 200 feet long and of 1400 tons. On board were 643 personnel and several officer’s horses. Among these was a draft for the Queen’s (Second) Royal Regiment of Foot consisting of a Corporal and fifty one men under the command of Ensign Boylan.
The evening was calm and clear. The soldiers and families were in their hammocks below and Captain Salmond had retired for the night. Soon after midnight the Birkenhead, which had taken the Regiment to the Cape in the previous year, struck a hidden reef off the aptly named Point Danger, some fifty miles out from Simon’s Bay. A few feet to port or starboard and she would have missed it. The impact ripped her open from the forepeak to just forward of the engine room and the sea poured in.
LINK 1
women and children first” was the standard set by the men of the Birkenhead who died seeing it fulfilled.
LINK 2