LINDSAY James Captain "of Coleford" Shipwrecked 1899 (Documents Articles)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, February 19, 2015, 03:16 (3558 days ago) @ admin

I’ve spent a few hours researching this interesting query, after initial confusion I think I'm almost there ! This confusion is largely because this site's old newspaper Article describes two sailing ships sinking within a few hours & miles of each other in 1899, the “City of York” and the “Carlisle Castle”.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/stories-and-articles
On first reading the old Article was not overly-clear, but on second reading page 2 appears to state that it is the Captain of the “City of York” who'd written letters to his wife at “Duncan Cottage, Coleford, Gloucester, England”. I took him to be James Lindsay, following the lead of researchers before me.

From this I searched for PRs, BMDs etc for Lindsays/Lindseys in the Coleford area, but without success. Similarly no obvious luck searching the Census’s etc on Ancestry, altho I did find a James Foster Lindsay aboard ship in the 1891 Census for Alexandra Dock in Newport;
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=uki1891wales&rank=1&...
However, he's a London-born Chief Engineer of a steamer from Hartlepool, so seems unlikely to become Captain of a large sailing ship.. ?

A general Google showed that forty years later there was indeed a Duncan Cottage in Victoria Road, Coleford, but was this the same house ?.
See “Coleford House Fire” here http://gloucestershirepolicemuseum.co.uk/page_2724158.html

I next searched the BNA “Old Newspapers” site, still looking for “City of York & Lindsay” c1899. This gave hits describing both sinkings within one article, but it appeared that Captain Lindsay was not from “City of York”, but the “Carlisle Castle” ?. At first I supposed this was maybe a newspaper error in the heat of the moment, as it appeared at odds with this thread’s linking of Lindsay to Coleford ?

Re-reading the Article in this FoD site gave this useful passage, on page 8, and the penny dropped !
“Captain Parkin… knew the master of the Carlisle Castle (Captain Lindsay) intimately. It was three years since the unfortunate old gentleman visited this port in the “Niola”, and on that occasion he had his wife with him. Mrs Lindsay……invariably accompanied her husband on his voyages, and it would be singular if she were not with him on this occasion……they had had only one child and that it died.”

I then found this Australian newspaper article confirming this;

"Albany Advertiser (Western Australia) of Saturday 15 July 1899;
The recent gale has left a sad tale behind. This morning, news reached Fremantle, from Rockingham that the barque, Carlisle Castle, 1,460 tons had foundered near Penguin Island, and it is feared all hands are lost........ The statement that Captain Lindsay had his wife on board is not correct."
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/69892897?searchTerm=&searchLimits=l-title=175

Page 9 of this FoD's site Article contains a suggestion that Captain Lindsay of the “Niola”, who usually travelled with his wife, was probably NOT the same Captain Lindsay of the “Carlisle Castle”; however there appears NO suggestion in the article that Lindsay was Captain of the “City of York”, or that it was Lindsay who had a wife in Coleford...

I’m unable to provide a full transcription, but have downloaded the following article if anyone would like to read it. The British newspapers of 14th July 1899 contain an extensive report describing the crew, saying "Captain James Lindsay was about 50 years old and a native of Aberdeen. It was his first voyage on "Carlisle Castle", but had sailed to Australia for a number of years. He leaves a widow, who lives at Forest Gate, but no children.”

Forest Gate is in east London, just north of the docks; so not related to our Forest, another mental red-herring perhaps ?. Other newspapers confirm Lindsay was a native of Aberdeen, which also explains the Bible connection to that port five years earlier. The iron sailing ship "Carlisle Castle" was built & registered in London, and carried general cargos around the world; in this voyage between Glasgow, Fremantle and back to London.

More information about the loss here;

http://web.archive.org/web/20060819084231/http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/marit...

http://demelzacarlton.com/tag/carlisle-castle/

http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/Libraries/Fremantle_Heritage_Walk_Trail_Images/31_Carlisle_cap...

So this all indicates to me that the writer of the letters to his wife in Coleford was in fact the Captain of the "City of York", and so NOT Captain James Lindsay.

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I’ve searched the old newspapers for more details of the loss of the “City Of York”, but the brief reports I've found only give it’s Captain as “Jones, an Englishman”.
However more general internet searches provided the following sites, which state he was Phillip H. Jones. I've no reason to doubt their findings, altho I am surprised I cannot find more references to him in the BNA, or particularly the Welsh Newspapers site given their liking for local stories. Phillip Jones' ship was famous as a record-breaking iron bargue, only slightly-slower than the smaller clipper “Cutty Sark”, also built on Clydeside in 1869. Sadly Captain Jones and ten crew drowned with their ship. Despite at first being blamed for the loss, I’m pleased to say he was subsequently exonerated by Parliament.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_York_%28barque%29

http://web.archive.org/web/20060826204351/http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/marit...

So far I'm unable to find Captain Phillip H. Jones or his wife in the local Census', altho I have found a namesake who was born in Cheltenham in 1844, served in the Royal Navy all his life, but died in Woolwich, London in 1894.
Similarly I cannot find related local PRs, or his widow in the local Census, etc. There are, of course, several Jones in the Coleford area including a few Phillips.

I hope this has helped clarify things, I can fully understand why others may have been thrown off the scent by the initial Articles.

If anyone else can help to tie-down the Coleford link, I'd be very grateful, thanks.