Synchronicity is an amazing thing. You start by looking at one object and in your desire to learn more you pursue your quest down the many rabbit holes and avenues and find out that it relates to events that are not too far removed from you and where you come from.

We all know the association of Shane McGowan with Nayna. However, consider this...

 

Take ‘Rum, Sodomy & the Lash’, a record released on 05/08/1985. This was the second studio album released by Celtic Punk band The Pogues and also one of the last produced on L.P. before the advent of C.D’s. This last fact made all the difference. Remember those times….if you had a party, invariably someone was sat in the corner picking apart your collection of sounds and you were thus judged (I remember being introduced in Dublin as a 'sound bloke' because I owned 'The Man who Sold the World').

 

With the Pogues album as you sat listening to the raw “music for drunks’ your eyes focused on the cover. The cover illustration itself was based on Theodore Gericault’s famous painting of the Raft of The Medusa. However the artist had cleverly substituted the faces of the individual band members for those in the original painting. A desperate group cast adrift on the music ocean....

 

The original painting (23 x16 foot approx) was completed when Gericault was 27. It launched Gericault’s career as an artist. It concerns the aftermath of  the sinking of the French frigate Méduse after she ran aground off the desert country of Mauritania. A raft was hastily constructed and on 05/07/1816, 147 people clambered aboard as they were set adrift off the coast. 13 days later when they were rescued, all but 15 had perished. They had endured starvation and dehydration before finally succumbing to the ‘custom of the sea’ - cannibalism. 

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On the shores of Lough Derg lived a wealthy landlord named Francis Spaight. His home, Derrycastle had originally been owned by Michael Head who had built Derrycastle House and landscaped the surrounding county side turning it into a paradise of vistas. Spaight was no exception to the landlords of the day, seeking to improve his situation he removed his tenants from the land and offered them free passage to New Brunswick in Canada. It transpires that human ballast is cheaper than conventional ballast and is also a lot easier to dispose of so having paying passengers on the outbound journey made economic sense. Spaight was a wood importer based in Limerick (where Dunnes Stores is today) so his ships would be returning loaded with Canadian wood.

 

On the 24th of November 1835, the 345 ton, self-named Francis Spaight sailed from St John, New Brunswick on a return trip to Limerick. The barque itself was a three masted, square sterned vessel with her figurehead presumed to have been a bust of Francis Spaight himself. The ship had been built at Sunderland in 1835 and was classed A1 by Lloyds Insurers. Francis Spaight owned 44 shares in the equity of 64. The ship had a crew of 18 of whom 4 were apprentices, which was a legal requirement at the time. She also had a deck cargo of Canadian timber bound for Spaight’s warehouses and timber merchants on the Limerick Quays. 

 

The ship had previously delivered 216 emigrants to Quebec, the majority from the Derrycastle Estates on Lough Derg. Her first similar voyage had caused reproach as the Francis Spaight delivered starving emigrants to Quebec, having set sail inadequately provisioned for passengers aboard. It would appear profit was the prime motivator.

 

On the morning of the 3rd of December, following a few good days sailing with fine weather, the wind increased so much that the barque ‘broached to’ and in less than an hour lay on her beam ends (basically she capsized and lay on her sides). Three of the crew were drowned but the others managed to save themselves by clinging to the rigging. According to Lloyds Lists 20 other vessels were reported to have foundered that same night

 

The Captain, Timothy Gorman and crewman Daniel Mulville managed to cut away the fore and mainmasts and the mizen mast followed. This resulted in the ship righting itself once more and settling. However, much of the ship was now under water which meant having to stand in the salt water for long periods. This made the survivors peevish and bad tempered with only the strongest and most alpha of the males able to secure a dry place to stand and ease their open sores. Pat O’Brien the 14 year old friendless cabin boy, a loner and son of a displaced widow woman from the Derrycastle estate, bore the brunt of this. 

 

The immersion in the sea meant that all their food provisions had been washed overboard and fresh water supplies having also been submerged were spoiled and beyond use. Initially they found three bottles of Port wine which they managed to ration out. They also managed to retreive a cistern from the galley and cobble together a means to collect whatever drizzle fell their way. Some tried eating the horn buttons on their jackets but despair lay over the entire crew as the gravity of their situation sank in. Twice they saw ships in the distance but with no masts they had no means of signalling as they lay low in the water. They would have been invisible to any distant vessel.

 

By the 19th of December, the 16th day of the wreck, the Captain came to the decision that it was either one or all of them that would die. By sacrificing one of the crew, the others could take sustenance from their flesh. It was decided that as the older sailors had wives and families, the four youngest and single, should be considered for sacrifice for the greater good and have lots drawn to decide. These it turns out were the apprentices….There were to be three long sticks and one short. I'm sure the apprentice would have had different opinions on the matter.

 

One of the four, young Pat O’Brien was blindfolded by Mulville and asked to name which stick as it was drawn belonged to who. He named the first stick…”For little Johnny Sheehan”……he would live….he was asked to name the second stick… “On myself”, to which Mulville confirmed that was the Death lot. 

 

O’Brien was told to prepare himself. To say his prayers and to resign to his fate. Captain Gorman suggested they bleed him by cutting his wrist and collecting the blood. However even though the boys wrist was cut, no blood issued. Young Pat himself tried by piercing the vein in the crook of his elbow but again to no avail. Gorman suggested cutting Pat’s throat but the lad wanted none of it threatening to haunt forever any who did so. In the end, a crew member named Harrington grabbed the boy and the Cook cut his throat with a penknife, collecting the lad’s blood in a tureen to save for later. This was then distributed amongst the survivors. Afterwards they separated the limbs from the torso and hung them over the stern while some of the offal such as liver and heart was immediately consumed. Everyone ate that evening.

 

Blood is salty though, and a couple of days later the thirst which had been endured was now a craving. Some succumbed and slaked their thirst by drinking the seawater. Several of the crew were now raving with the Cook having gone quite mad. He became the second victim as his neck was cut and the blood once again saved. Two others exhibited signs of raving so were tied up for their own safety . One of them, Burns, another young lad succeeded in cutting his own throat. His companion just died suddenly. They also would provide sustenance.

 

Finally, on the 12/01/1836 a sail was spotted heading towards them. They held Pat’s arms and legs aloft to signal the oncoming vessel which turned out be the Angenora under Captain Jellard en route to Falmouth. The rescue itself was not without incident as the sea  was running high with a strong gale accompanying. Captain Jellard couldn’t risk the safety of his own ship so with the help of three volunteers, they had to rescue the stranded crewmen by using the ‘Jolly’ boat. 

 

The 11 members of the surviving crew were landed at Falmouth and housed in the Workhouse as no Seaman’s Mission existed at this time. No attempt was made to conceal the events or what had happened. Captain Gorman wrote to owner Francis Spaight detailing the occurrences of which details were later published by the Limerick Press. Eventually by the end of January, the crew had returned to Limerick. Francis Spaight launched an appeal for a benevolent fund for the survivors and families. He contributed £10 of the £70 raised. …and young Pat’s mother, Margaret O’Brien…she haunted Spaight’s dwelling at Derrycastle with her hysterical cries over what had happened to her son….

 

An enquiry at Teignmouth under four magistrates voted Captain Jellard a Gold Medal with Silver medals being awarded to his three helpers. There was no suggestion that any criminal prosecution of the survivors was appropriate. The get out clause and expedient at the time was that lots had been drawn. It was after all “the custom of the sea”.

 

….and the ship itself?  Half submerged as it was, the Francis Spaight was salvaged, pumped out and repaired. On 07/01/1838 she was reregistered with a new owner and master. She spent her remaining years in the South Seas sailing to Bombay and New Zealand. She finally met her end on 07/01/1846 at the Cape of Good Hope when she parted from her anchors and was driven aground. A whaler arrived to take off the crew of 15 but the carpenter, James Robertson, refused to leave the stricken ship. The whaler capsized and only the Captain, Henry Patterson and a crew member, John McLeod of the Francis Spaight survived. All of the 6 man crew of the whaler perished.