Woodham - a general history

Official No. 62757: Code Letters MRQB.

Owners: 1869 Richard Young, Wisbech: 1874 Pembroke & Co (James Alex Burness) London

Masters: 1869 Hewitt: 1871-73 Hill: 1874 Clarke: 1876 Thomas Benjamin Page.

Woodham left Britain on 28 September 1876 bound for Odessa with a general cargo & a crew of 22 all told. Taking on a cargo of between 1,400 & 1,500 tons of wheat, 160 tons of coal for her use & a crew of 23 she left Odessa on 14 November bound to Falmouth. She used about 26 tons of coal to reach Constantinople where she took on another 25 tons. On her way to Malta she met with strong head winds with the voyage taking eight days & the vessel using 13 tons of coal a day. Two days before reaching Malta the coal stock was low so they began to use all the spare wood about the decks. It became necessary to open the sliding doors which separated the engine -room from the lower main hold & to use a portion of the cargo of loose grain to keep the fires alight. The port boiler & the tubes of the starboard boiler began to leak & when they reached Malta the port boiler was caulked at the bottom & the tubes were expanded. Grain was moved from another area to replace that which had been taken to keep the load from shifting. They took on more coals at Malta & as the continued their voyage to Gibraltar the starboard boiler began to leak. Arriving at Gibraltar on 3 December they took on another 120 tons of coal & left the same evening. The following morning it was blowing a gale & there was a heavy sea. By 5 December the vessel had developed a strong list to starboard & by 6 December she was taking on water. The cargo of grain was moved about & trimmed to try to right the vessel which appeared to be successful but the following day the cargo had shifted & the crew again tried to trim it. On 7 December the master decided to make for Lisbon & she reached Cascaes Bay on the morning of 8 December. A pilot came on board but told the master they could not enter Lisbon because there was an ebb tide & a strong current. She then made for the usual channel to enter the Tagus but the leak began to increase. At 2.30 it was assumed that the flood tide had begun so they made for Lisbon but they could not breast the force of the stream. The water she was taking extinguished the fires & just before midnight the mate & 11 of the crew got into one of the lifeboats & left the ship. About an hour later the master & the remainder of the crew also left in a lifeboat. The Woodham by then was settling into the water & it is believed she sank. The inquiry found, that although how the cargo was moved about was confusing, there could be no doubt that removing some of the grain to use on the fires had been the initial cause of the casualty & that the engines were not powerful enough to take the vessel into Lisbon. There were charges by some of the crew that the master & chief officer were drunk at the time the vessel was abandoned. Other crew members stated that these accusations were false. It appeared that grudges were held towards the two men accused so these charges were dismissed as there was not enough evidence either way. It was concluded that the loss of the vessel was not due to any omission on the part of anyone. No lives lost. Ref: Wreck Report PortCities Southampton.

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