Post by Administrator on Mar 13, 2021 19:48:16 GMT
VIA: Southampton Stories
Southampton City Archives recently acquired a fascinating diary written by Samuel May, a merchant seaman who went to sea in 1879.
May sailed all over the world over a period of 22 years on cargo ships going between Southampton, South Africa, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Between 1883 and 1900 May was involved in two shipwrecks and a further six near misses while at sea.
The last shipwreck he describes in his diary is the loss of RMS Mexican, a 4600-ton steamer built in 1883. May had joined her in December 1899 as a fireman and trimmer on her run between Southampton and Cape Town. She carried general cargo, including the first batch of chocolate boxes from Queen Victoria to the troops fighting in the Boer War.
In April 1900, the Mexican transferred into the service of the Union-Castle Line. She was on her way back from her inaugural voyage to Cape Town under her new owners on 5 April 1900 carrying just over 100 passengers and a cargo of 120 mail bags when she was hit by the troopship SS Winkfield at just after 1.30am.
“It came on a thick fog we were going slow…I was in my hammock reading when I hear a blast of another steamer…there was a crash and I go out to the forecastle and saw a big steamer going along our side, she had rammed the fore part of the bridge.’ Samuel May, 5 April 1900
The crew, including May managed to get all the passengers off the ship in the lifeboats; by his reckoning there were 250 women and children ‘mostly soldiers wives going home from the firing line’. May and the crew stayed aboard operating the pumps in an attempt to save the ship, but she had taken too much damage. They finally abandoned her to her fate at 5pm on April 5th 1900.
Poignantly, May remembered when he was writing an account of the sinking years later that ‘there is a bird singing away to his heart’s content’. We are very grateful to Samuel May’s family for donating the diary.
Southampton City Archives recently acquired a fascinating diary written by Samuel May, a merchant seaman who went to sea in 1879.
May sailed all over the world over a period of 22 years on cargo ships going between Southampton, South Africa, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Between 1883 and 1900 May was involved in two shipwrecks and a further six near misses while at sea.
The last shipwreck he describes in his diary is the loss of RMS Mexican, a 4600-ton steamer built in 1883. May had joined her in December 1899 as a fireman and trimmer on her run between Southampton and Cape Town. She carried general cargo, including the first batch of chocolate boxes from Queen Victoria to the troops fighting in the Boer War.
In April 1900, the Mexican transferred into the service of the Union-Castle Line. She was on her way back from her inaugural voyage to Cape Town under her new owners on 5 April 1900 carrying just over 100 passengers and a cargo of 120 mail bags when she was hit by the troopship SS Winkfield at just after 1.30am.
“It came on a thick fog we were going slow…I was in my hammock reading when I hear a blast of another steamer…there was a crash and I go out to the forecastle and saw a big steamer going along our side, she had rammed the fore part of the bridge.’ Samuel May, 5 April 1900
The crew, including May managed to get all the passengers off the ship in the lifeboats; by his reckoning there were 250 women and children ‘mostly soldiers wives going home from the firing line’. May and the crew stayed aboard operating the pumps in an attempt to save the ship, but she had taken too much damage. They finally abandoned her to her fate at 5pm on April 5th 1900.
Poignantly, May remembered when he was writing an account of the sinking years later that ‘there is a bird singing away to his heart’s content’. We are very grateful to Samuel May’s family for donating the diary.