I would like to tell you a true tale told in taverns and upon the seas by sailors for more than a century . . . a story of murder and suicide, mutiny and justice. Pay attention, there will be questions!
On 7th June 1880 the Cutty Sark set sail from Cardiff Docks laden with best Welsh steaming coal to restock the US Navy’s Pacific bunkers.
The ship had set sail from London 3 days earlier, but alas she could not find enough crew to sail with her as superstition deemed it unlucky to set sail on a Friday.
The Captain, John Wallace was regarded as a fine seaman and a good Captain, his second in command was First Mate John Anderson who went by the alias of Sydney Smith. Sydney was an uncompromising man of ‘hard-fibred, despotic character’ was inclined to give seamen a hard time.
John Wallace had made many visits previously to Cardiff, so he knew where to find likely men and boys willing to sail the seas, Wallace turned to the Seaman’s Mission (aka Plymouth Pub) on Clive Street. One of the crew taken on at Cardiff was a seaman named John Francis.
The journey did not bode well, and as soon as the ship set sail from Cardiff it ran into difficulties in the Severn Channel and was held up for three days in a severe storm. Testimonials of other seaman described Francis as a physically powerful man and not well-liked by his fellows, but ‘incapable and clumsy’
And so the Cutty Sark continued towards its destination, the American fleet anchored in Yokohama, Japan.
Tensions rose between First Mate Anderson and Able Seaman Francis, as the cutter rounded the Cape of Good Hope and descended to latitude 42° 30′ South to catch the winds of the ‘roaring forties’, drove eastward before gales which gradually intensified into a hurricane that eventually reduced her storm canvas to shreds. However, the sail was finally repaired by German sailmaker, Alexander Jansen, and the ship went on to make over 1,000 miles in three days, until it reached the longitude 90° East, when it became necessary to alter her course north-north-east towards the Sunda Straits and Anjer.
On the 10th August 1880 John Francis, who was on the look-out forward, twice ignored Anderson’s order to release a line to the foresail to allow the men aloft to make the required adjustment to the foremast yard. Losing his temper, Anderson attacked him; Francis retaliated with a heavy wooden bar, and a struggle ensued during which Anderson got hold of it and brained his opponent.
Francis fell to the deck unconscious and he died of his wounds three days later. He was buried at sea with a service and prayers performed by Captain Wallace.
Francis was not a very popular man even with his own crewmates but they were incensed with Anderson for having killed an Able Seaman and swore to see him tried for murder. Captain Wallace had no choice but to put Anderson under arrest and he was confined to his cabin.
When the ship arrived at Anjer for orders, Anderson talked the captain into letting him quietly escape over the side and onto an American steamer, Colorado. After the ship had sailed for Yokohama and the crew found out what had happened they went on strike and it was left to the officers and apprentices to continue to sail the ship.
Three days into the passage to Yokohama, on the 5th September, Captain Wallace grew moody; the strain of the strike by the crew and the guilt over his conspiracy with Anderson was weighing heavily on his mind. He realised that his career as a ship’s master was probably finished. And the heat and lack of wind as the ship lay becalmed in a flat sea only added to his dejection. Early in the morning Wallace emerged from his cabin, spoke quietly to the helmsman and then silently stepped over the taffrail at the stern of the ship. The crew quickly lowered a search boat but although the sea was totally calm, no sign of the captain could be found. He had sunk like a stone and was missing presumed drowned. The ship was left in command of the second mate who almost wrecked her as the vessel made her way slowly back to Anjer where a replacement master and mate were found. It was not one of the Cutty Sark’s most memorable of voyages.
Anderson was eventually arrested and went on trial at the Central Criminal Court in London for the murder of John Francis. But the jury took account of the circumstances of the incident and they convicted him on a charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment at H.M.P Brixton, and spent much of his time in hard labour, working on the breakwater at Dover. After completing his term he returned to the sea where he made his way up to becoming a master himself with the Anglo-American Oil Company. Still a hard man but perhaps mollified by his experience aboard the Cutty Sark and her 1880 passage out of Cardiff, he died in 1922 at the age of seventy-two.
N51 CD.EFG
W003 KL.MNO
CD = Flip Andersons age when he died?
E = How many search boats were lowered to look for the Captain?
F = How many letters in the prisoners surname?
G = How many times did Francis ignore a direct order?
KL = Day of the month Anderson attacked Francis
M = Number of years Anderson served at Her Majesty’s Pleasure
N = Sail maker says no but is only listened to 2/3 of the time.
O = Just before finishing a ‘century’ at Her Majesty’s Prison.
We hope you enjoyed learning a little nautical history of Cardiff, the cache location will offer great views for you to reflect upon the doomed voyage of the Cutty Sark in 1880. The cache is a tupperwear box big enough for plenty of trackables and swaps :)
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.