John Burrell - a general history

Voyages: 1842 Hartlepool for Algiers; Liverpool for the Mediterranean.

John Burrell foundered off the Tees on 28 December 1852. The master & a seaman were picked up by the vessel Supply. Other survivors were landed at Shields by the Fraserburgh schooner Sir William Wallace.       

Crew 1852: John Arrowsmith & Robert Hogg, mate.   

The following was extracted from the master’s official report on the loss of John Burrell;

‘That he proceeded on his said voyage to London until Saturday, the 25th, following, being at the time off Whitby, when he encountered a very heavy gale from WSW with a heavy sea, which made frequent passages over his vessel & on this occasion lost his foretopsail. That after the gale subsided, which was on the afternoon of the said last mentioned day, he proceeded on his voyage. That on the morning of Monday, the 27th, being off Scarbrough, he encountered another very heavy gale, the wind blowing from W to SW, with the seas running very high & making frequent passages over his vessel, & the storm so great that the boats, stanchions, galley, & bulwarks were swept away & lost, & the vessel was laid on her beam ends. That on this occasion he was at the pumps & continued working there for four hours, when on sounding he found the ship strained & making water, there being about four feet of water in the hold, & he lost both his top-sails & trysail, & was obliged to put his vessel before the wind & run to the eastward under the foresail, the ship being in a sinking state & lying on her beam ends. That on the night of the said Monday, when about 70 miles off the Tees, he fell in with a vessel, which he has now ascertained to be the Jane, of North Shields, bound to Shields from London; that he made for the said vessel, but she sailed away from him without giving him any assistance. That about two hours after this he fell in with the bark Supply of Rye bound to Newhaven, which he hailed for assistance, as his ship was in a sinking condition, with about six feet of water in her hold & still on her beam ends. That the said bark launched a boat, with a warp attached to it, but without anyone in it, & allowed it to drift down to his vessel (the bark being close to him on the starboard tack). when the mate got hold of the boat with a boathook, & one of the crew, named John Arrowsmith, jumped into her with the intention of passing her astern, when a sea, struck the boat & washed her on the deck of the John Burrell. That he then ran to the boat to get her shoved off the deck, in order to prevent her being stove in, when another sea washed both him and the boat, with the said John Arrowsmith still in her, into the sea, and the representer was pulled into the boat by the said John Arrowsmith. That the bark, having the tow line attached to it, drew the boat from his said vessel till about 10 yards from the said bark, & when at that distance the boat was upset; and both thrown into the sea, on which John Arrowsmith held by the warp end was drawn into the bark, and he, the said representer, wae rescued by a line thrown to him from the said vessel. This happened about 2 o’clock on the morning of Tuesday the 28th, the moon being full at the time. That when he had got on board of the bark he requested the captain to send a boat to the rescue of the rest of his crew, but he refused as his hands were unable to do so. That he did not see his vessel nor the remainder of his crew again, and he has no doubt but that she soon foundered, in consequence of the state she was in and the severity of the weather.’

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