Birkenhead survivors
Corporal William Smith
CORPORAL WILLIAM SMITH was born at Eyden Northants,
enlisting in the 12th Regiment of Foot at Weedon Bucks in 1848. Following the
wreck he saw active service with his regiment in the South African bush.
In an account of the tragic circumstances he wrote
....
After
four years service in England I embarked on board the
Birkenhead
at
Spithead
on January 1st, 1852. We took in men and stores at Queenstown. We had it very
rough in the Bay of Biscay; made Madeira; then sailed on to Sierra Leone from
thence to St. Helena. At Simon`s Bay we took in stores and a few Colonial
troops. We left Simon`s Bay about 6 pm on February 25th en route
for Port Elizabeth and East London as our different corps were stationed on
the frontier. We surmised that Captain Salmond R.N., commanding the
vessel, was anxious to get ahead of HMS Styx
then on the Cape coast. At two o`clock in the morning on the wheel being
relieved a tremendous shock was felt, and we knew the ship had struck. This was
on Danger Point a short distance from Cape Agulhas. There was a panic for a
short time but admirable discipline was maintained through the efforts of the
officers. A few Congreve rockets were thrown up but were of no avail. A gun
could not be fired as the magazine was almost instantly under water. Good order
was eventually restored but the shock was so sudden. I believe twenty
minutes had hardly elapsed before the vessel was in pieces. I was sleeping on
the lower deck when the shock came and crowded up the ladder with others but
found it difficult work. Some never came up at all but were drowned
in their hammocks the water rushing in so suddenly. Most of the troops
were fallen in on deck with the exception of some sixty men who were told off
below to man the chain pumps; they never came up again but were all
drowned like rats in a hole. After gaining the deck I went and assisted the crew
in rigging the chain pumps I remained there, and I think it was about the
hardest twenty minutes work I ever did in my life. We all worked like
Trojans.
As
I have said there were sixty men told off. I remember nothing about
reliefs I know I remained below the whole time. I know very little about
what happened on deck during this time. I think I was
the only man that ever came up again from the pumps. Lieutenant Girardot was on
the ladder giving orders and encouraging us. I was over my
knees
in water as it was gaining fast on us. I happened to be working nearest the
companion ladder when one of the ships` officers told Lieutenant Girardot that
it was no use attempting to keep the water down and we had better try to get the
boats out or anything in the shape of a
raft. With
that I sprang up the ladder on deck and not a moment too soon as immediately the
main deck was under water which poured down the hatchway so that it would
be impossible for any to escape. In about two minutes the main crash came
and I was washed into the sea. I saw Captain Salmond on the poop deck with a
lantern in his hand surrounded by a crowd. I heard him say “I will save
you all and the ship too.” Some short time after this the poop deck gave
a lurch and went under. I don`t remember his telling the men to swim out to the
boats; I might have been too far off together with the noise of falling
timbers. The women and children were placed in the second cutter and the
horses thrown over the gangway most of them swimming ashore. A master's
assistant, Mr. Richards took charge of the boat which cleared from the
sinking ship at once - had they remained the boat would have been drawn in
the vortex. This and one other small boat were all that could be got afloat. Had
there been time to get the long boat and the two paddle box boats afloat many
more would have been saved. The boat with the women and children was fortunately
sighted and picked up at sea the next day by a coasting schooner the Lioness
and taken into Simon’s Bay. A small portion of the wreck was jointed into
the sunken rocks with a part of the mainmast standing, to which a few men clung
for some hours, till, becoming exhausted they fell off one by one into the sea
and were drowned.
I
managed fortunately to meet one of the ships` spars when in the water to which I
clung and getting on top I stuck tight to it as I could not swim. I was about
twenty hours in the water. Some others managed to get ashore in much the same
way - I should think it would be about two and a half miles. I believe most of
the swimmers were drowned in miscalculating the distance as the mountains looked
much nearer across the water in the darkness. Many lost their lives by the
falling and smashing of timbers others by the sharks which infested this part of
the sea as the waters were tinged with blood in many places. The Birkenhead was an iron vessel - had she been a wooden
ship she might not have broken up so quickly and there would probably have been
more time and a better chance to escape. After being a long while without food
we managed to scramble to a sort of farm owned by Captain Smales who had a small
store. Here we got a glass of grog each and procured clothing food and
shelter. Captain Wright who has served in the Cape before was the only officer
who knew the coast. Information of the wreck was conveyed to the
commanding officer at the Cape who forthwith despatched the Rhadamanthus
sloop which took us to Simon`s Bay where we remained a few days to recruit
our strength. We then proceeded further to join our different corps.
On returning to Cape Colony Smith joined the Mounted
Rifles. In 1857, during the Indian mutiny, he made two trips to
India with horses later serving in the mounted police with a spell as a convict
warder. He volunteered for the Colonial Wars, went through the Transkei War
in 1877, across the Bashee River under General Wavell; fought with the Frontier Light
Horse in the Zulu War of 1879 under Colonel (later General) Buller V.C. and again
in the Basuto War of 1880-1 under General Sir Mansfield Clarke. He returned to England
in 1888 after an absence of thirty six years.