Drummond Castle

In the night of the June 16th 1896, the Paquebot Steamer Ship Drummond Castle sank in 15 minutes in the passage of the Fromveur, after having run up against a rock of the roadway of the Green Stones. There were only 3 survivors out of the 250 embarked people.

The shipwreck

Left the Cape to South Africa, the steamer Drummond Castle had carried out until now a voyage without encumbers.

In this evening of June 16th 1896, the passengers prepared for a dinner marking the last night on board. But if the sea is calm and the very pleasant temperature, the commander William Pierce is anxious because a fog has fallen for more than 24 hours and it cannot locate with precision the position of its ship. It knows however that it is with broad Brest, in trimmings of the islands of Ushant and Molène and knows the dangerosity of the surrounding shelves. Pierce made carry out several surveys, ordering even once to stop the machines in order to maximize the precision of it. Vague survey or bad recognition of a headlight? Always it is that the commander thinks of having sailed round Ushant and it gives the order to travel in the East. The Drummont Castle goes then straight towards the Roadway of the Green Stones, together of reefs in the South of the island of Ouessant.
The steamer will break all its front third on a rock which does not emerge. If the shock is felt violently for the few sailors being with the front one, it of it is nothing for the passengers whose majority are already laid down and who learn, incrédules, which should be risen, to get dressed warmly and to move towards the lifeboats. But there is already water to the bridge and 15 minutes after the shock, the Drummond Castle sank in the Fromveur without no boat being put at the eau.

Three survivors

June 17th in the morning, sinners molénais and residents of Ouessant leave at sea to raise racks and nets. Their respective fishing zones, they realize quickly that a shipwreck took place in this water. Two boats left earlier than the others will find the three survivors: Joseph BERTHELÉ of Ushant manages to save a passenger and Mathieu MASSON of Molène with his team brings back two team members of the steamer, stiff, but in vie.
Alarm is then given. The fishermen start to seek survivors. The Maritime police chief of Brest, prevented by telegram, sends a military patrol craft, helped by the vapor carrying out the connection between the islands and the continent. During 48 hours, this flotilla seeks survivors vainly and brings back only bodies without vie.
More than two months after the shipwreck, in a ray of more than 20 thousand, the sea continues to return bodies: one finds some with the Conquet, with Portsall,…
In 1896, mistrust and even sometimes hatred towards the English was very present in the French population and particularly at the Breton ones. But vis-a-vis a drama of sea, the nationality of the shipwrecked men does not enter in account at molénais and the ouessatins where the majority of the families count a missing at sea. The assistance then will flow from the two islands. The three survivors are heated and nourished while their unfortunate companions receive the last sacraments: one draws up burning chapels, the veils of replacement are used as shroud, of the coffins are made and a family made gift of clothes of ceremony so that a 10 year old young girl is equipped with dignity and finally, all the bodies are carried in terre.

The following months the official visits will follow one another: representatives of the company, parents of the missings,…
Then, in 1897, a Minister for the Reine Victoria accomplishes a voyage to thank in the name of the United Kingdom all the actors who took part in the rescues, research and the burials. Medals are distributed. The residents of Ouessant are seen offering moreover the financing of the construction of an arrow for their church. In Molène, it is a cistern as well as a clock for the bell-tower which is offered. This ceremony will have also given the opportunity to see a building of the Royal Navy in the roads of Brest.

The centenary

In 1996, the centenary of the shipwreck of the Drummond Castle was commemorated on Ushant and Molène. Representatives of the French and English State were present with descendants of the rescapés.

The redécouverte of the Drummond Castle

Since June 16th, 1896, the Drummond Castle rests in the Fromveur, on a sand bottom, with a 65 meters depth environ.
The wreck was discovered in the Thirties by the Italian company specialized in the recovery of cargo and reinforcement on wrecks, the SORIMA. To reach the interesting parts of the ships, the plungers of the SORIMA had a tested technique: they dynamited the obstacles, waited until the visibility becomes again correct at the bottom then they recovered what they had come to seek. The wreck had to undergo large détériorations.
In 1979, the wreck was redécouverte by a Breton plunger after many unfruitful research. Of its divings, it went up some objects (crockery mainly) which are exposed to the museum of the Drummond Castle on Molène.
The wreck of the Drummond Castle is broken and very ensablée even if the shape of the boat is still recognizable. The stem goes up of approximately 4 meters and has always its two pipes. The bridge as well as almost the whole of the sides of the boat crumbled and disappear sometimes under sand; guindeaux, a heap of chains sintered or port-holes are visible. To two thirds postpones, the two boilers approximately 4 meters in diameter, thanks to their thickness, resist corrosion rather well. Towards the poop, sheet clusters hide the Propeller shaft, but the four-bladed Hélice is always present.

Books

The novelist Henri Queffélec has fictionalized this drama in " Islands of Miséricorde" in 1974. (" Novels of the îles" Bus editions).
The journalist Tangi Quéméner wrote " Shipwrecked men of the end of the monde" (ED. The Telegram) where he reports the history of the Drummond Castle .
Henri de Noussane also devoted a chapter of his book " Great shipwrecks - Dramas of mer" with this shipwreck.

References

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