Words like Heroism and Bravery, are brandished about too often these days, especially by the British Press, however, here is one Liverpool story, where the words previously stated, are as true today, as they were in the latter part of 1859… to which this account is set.

Joseph Rogers… was born (Jose Rodgers) on the Island of Malta in 1829, little is known about his early life, but the occupation he chose was a seafaring life on the Clipper Ships of the day and for this accounting we fast forward… Joseph is now 30 years of age, and working onboard one of the finest and fastest iron constructed Steam Clippers of the era, The ‘Royal Charter’… transporting passengers and Cargo to and from Liverpool-Melbourne/Australia.

 

Joseph reached the shore with the rope… which was hauled in by the waiting rescuers, the rope was attatched to thicker ropes, in order to make a bosuns canvas chair, to carry passengers and crew off the stricken Clipper, which was breaking apart on the rocks in front of their eyes. The rescuers managed to save 40 passengers and crew, thanks to the heroism and bravery of Joseph. However, and sadly… over 400+ Men, Women and Children were to lose their lives in the sea off Anglesey that day, of 26th October 1859…

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THE ROYAL CHARTER

 

The Australian ‘Gold’ Rush of the mid 1800’s, advertised on posters of the day, stated that a man could simply find gold nuggets as big as a mans fist… simply lying on the ground waiting to be picked up… and so the ‘Call’ went out… and many responded… flooding into the Port of Liverpool, to buy tickets for their Passage to Melbourn/Australia one one of the many Steam=Packet Clippers operating out of the Port for passage to the Gold-Fields…

The price of one-way passage, from Liverpool to Melbourne, started at 16 Guineas (£2,100+, in today’s money) for a third class passenger… and went in stages up to 75 Guineas (£10,000+ in today’s money) for the top first class passenger rate…

The voyage of, 9192 nautical miles was averaging 60 days… Many of the Steam Clippers of the era, were sumptious in there design, and Press adverts of the day describe particular Clippers for example the ‘Royal Charter’ of having a Ladies Boudoir in the Saloon as well as Baths etc… It also offered the ultimate in accomodation depending on ticket class, and an upper ‘Noble’ Deck with lighting every 6 feet, by side-ports… All enquiries to their agents on North John St. AND Tower Buildings / Liverpool.

his was indeed, a lucrative route.. as each shipping company was offering 2 sailings per month… and as many passengers who left Liverpool in that gold fever rush… many were returning to Liverpool via the same route, but as ‘gold’ millionaires with their families facing a ‘new’ life with much hard earned wealth…

It is the story of one of these returning Steamer Clippers which we focus on in this account… The Liverpool & Australian Co’s. Steam Clipper, ‘Royal Charter’… with a passenger list of 375 and 112 crew, and with a cargo of Wool, Copper, and the individual locked Miners Gold Bullion Boxes, to a value £41.5 million (in today’s money)… as well as this, many of the men, had gold secured in their money belts which they wore constantly, and their women folk, had sewn nuggets into their own, and their childrens coats for the ultimate in safe keeping, however, this was to be many of their undoing as the full events of their last afternoon were realised.

The journey from Port Philip/Melbourne was uneventful, with no doubt many passengers, eager and pleased with their good fortune, and the thought of returning homewards, to friends and family as independantly wealthy citizens… Before the Clipper, reached Liverpool, it had a scheduled stop at Queenstown, in Ireland, where 10 passengers, dissembarked. All that was left of the journey… was the relatively short trip, over the Irish Sea, and into the embrace of friends and relatives waiting at the Port of Liverpool in anticipation of their return.

On the 58th day at sea, and as the Clipper made its way across the Irish Sea… The Captain and crew sighted Holyhead/Anglesey but they also noticed a storm from North/N.E. quickly descending on their position, and before they knew it, they were facing a force-12 hurricane… Captain Thomas Taylor, tried deserately to keep his ship off the rocks by anchoring in the sea off the coast, and battled with the storm for hours, however the anchor ties eventually broke, and the ship was blown onto the rocks, where upon the ship started to break apart… In the commotion of the ship on the rocks, Joseph, volunteered to swim to the shore, without the aid of a life-jacket, and with a rope around his waste, so that the rope could be pulled in, attached to a larger rope, until it reached a size that a bosuns chair could be erected.

The crewman reached the shore, then returned to the stricken clipper ship to secure another rope and return once again to the shore, and it was by his actions that he saved the lives of the survivors. However, the sinking of the ‘Royal Charter’ remains to this day… the greatest loss of life in any ONE incident on the Welsh Coast… with over 400+ fatalities

Further information regarding the sinking of the Royal Chater, can be found on this excellent short and easy to read webpage…

Liverpool Mercury… 11th September 1897… DEATH OF A BRAVE MAN.

The death took place yesterday at the Liverpool Northern Hospital of Joseph ROGERS in his 68th year. In October 1859 on the occasion of the wreck of the Royal Charter, on the Anglesey coast, (he being a member of the crew) he performed an act of valour, which secured him lasting fame. Carrying a rope, he swam through boiling surf to the rocks, and was the means of saving the life of 35 persons, mainly women and children by means of a canvas chair, he went twice from ship to shore with a line. His achievement was acknowledged by presentation from the Board of Trade and The Liverpool Sailor’s Home. He recieved £200 (£25,000+ in today’s money) collected for him on the Liverpool Exchange. For some years he kept a small Public House in Prison Weint, at the bottom of Water Street. Until a few years ago, the once famous auxiliary screw steamer Great Britain lay in the upper reach of the Birkenhead float and ROGERS, while the caretaker of that ship, he used to recount his adventures to curious visitors. He continued to follow the sea and latterly had been skipper of a steam flat on the Mersey. He died of bronchitis.

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Joseph was buried in ‘Ford’ Cemetery/Bootle, on 13th September 1897… in an unmarked multiple occupancy ‘PUBLIC’ plot (B 2080), in which he shares the plot with 7 other interments (8 in total).