The heroic role of a Welsh sailor in a terrible shipwreck

One hundred and fifty years ago Able Seaman Thomas Lewis became the hero of the worst shipwreck in British maritime history – one that involved drowning, fire and cannibalism.

In the autumn of 1874 Twm Pen-Stryd, as he was known locally, from Moelfre in Anglesey, was working on the ship Cospatrick, transporting workers and goods to New Zealand.

On the night of 17 November, off the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, an uncontrollable fire broke out on the wooden sailing ship, resulting in the loss of their lives in all but three of the 479 passengers and crew.

Yet if it wasn’t for the Twm – which included urging them to drink the blood of the dead – even the survivors would not have returned to Britain to tell the story ten days after leaving the lifeboat.

Twm – his nickname is loosely translated as Tom, Top of the Street – was born into a fishing and seafaring community in 1828, one of seven children.

In his 1976 book, The Survival of Twn Pen-Stryd, RR Williams wrote that Twm’s father was blind, which may have been the reason his son needed to go to sea and provide for the family.

Whatever his motives for the trip, when Twm returned from the Cospatrick disaster at the age of 46 it was said to be only the second visit home in 25 years.

Williams added that little is known about Twm’s early life and seafaring career, although he did mention serving in the Young Navy.

“It also appears, from some of the periodicals that he had worked with Belgian crews on foreign ships, that as a Welsh speaker, he had received a mixture of Welsh and Flemish signs when communicating in the English language,” Williams. he wrote.

In the 1870s an agricultural depression hit rural Britain, partly due to wet summers and poor harvests, but also to cheap transport costs and falling taxes.

As a result, large quantities of grain were exported from the newly settled North American Prairies and Steppes of Russia, to the detriment of British farmers.

New Zealand was good at this time as it encouraged new immigrants with assistance or free travel.

In contrast to the convict journey to Australia, the Cospatrick was relatively comfortable, with an A1 safety certificate and good food and passenger accommodation.

But Rhodri Clark, editor of the Welsh history website History Points who has researched Twm and the disaster, believes Cospatrick may not have been as welcoming as the owners wanted people to believe.

“The Board of Trade’s investigation into Cospatrick found that the possible cause of the fire was that passengers broke in at night looking for alcohol, lighting an open candle,” he said.

“It seems that they found more than they bargained for, as the cargo contained highly flammable grass, palm oil and linseed, and things like turpentine, paraffin, paint, candles and varnish, and a lot of coal nearby.”

Mr Clark – who posted a QR code on a shop front in Moelfre bearing Twm’s name, and an audio description of the story on his website – added that there were only six lifeboats, with a maximum capacity of 187, available for around 500 people on board.

“It is remarkable that Cospatrick was awarded the A1 safety certificate because his six lifeboats met the regulations of the time, which determined the value, not by the number of passengers, but by the tonnage of the whole ship.”

This law will not be changed until the Titanic sinks nearly 40 years later, he added.

Twm’s bravery began immediately after the fire broke out, manning water pumps and dousing the flames and smoke after many officers abandoned their positions.

He was eventually forced to run for his life as the fire got out of control – although his actions allowed dozens to escape.

Of the six lifeboats, four were destroyed in the fire, the fifth, which was overloaded, capsized, leaving one standing still and unmanageable.

Twm and two other survivors – Second Mate Henry MacDonald and Ordinary Seaman Edward Cotter, aged just 18 – swam to the right side of the overturned boat, helping the 62 people who were stranded.

Without food, water and broken oars, they drifted for 10 days, unable to respond to the cries for help of those still aboard the stricken Cospatrick.

Second Mate MacDonald was glowing in his praise of Twm during the 1875 inquiry.

“Thomas Lewis gave Peter Cope, the ship’s baker, his breeches, as he was almost naked, and that was his behavior during our distress.

“When other men were struggling, he found the inner strength to do what was necessary,” he said.

With only a few still alive, Twm was the first to make the sinister suggestion that they should drink the blood and eat the livers of the dead.

Twm told the inquest that: “I took out my knife, and I put the sharp point on the wrist of one of the dead, I cut him badly. I quickly bent the bleeding wrist, and drank his blood.”

He said he also urged the other two to “follow that if they are going to see each other at home”.

“Then I cut out the livers of the two dead, and put the pieces in the others in the boat… After this the bodies were brought to sea.”

Finally, on their tenth day of flight, they were sighted by the British Sceptre, an ironclad sailing to Dundee from Calcutta.

Two of the five survivors died en route to St Helena, in the mid-Atlantic, but Twm, MacDonald and Cotter finally returned to Britain on New Year’s Eve 1874.

Mr. Clark said Twm was already volunteering on the Moelfre lifeboat less than a month after he returned, including “being involved in an important rescue” just days before traveling to London to conduct an investigation.

Twm returned to commercial shipping, but again met with bad luck.

Williams wrote that years after Cospatrick’s affair, Twm was unloading a load of slate slabs into the River Thames as mate on the CS Atkinson, a Bangor-owned barge, when the hoist failed, breaking his leg.

“After a long period of painful treatment, which resulted in the amputation of his leg, he finally ‘swallowed the anchor’ and spent the rest of his life sharing his parents’ home with his married sister in Pen-Stryd,” Williams wrote.

“He became a popular figure in the area, swinging his wooden leg in a dramatic sweep as he roamed the village.

“Bearded and weather-beaten, this retired old salt wore a sailor’s cap, green sweater, and steel trousers until his death at the age of 66 in 1894.”