The Binnacle. The SS Gem 1887 ~ 1914

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1 The Binnacle The SS Gem 1887 ~ 1914

S.S. Gem 1887 1914 Built 1887 by J. Fullerton & Co. in Paisley Owned by William Robertson & Co. of Glasgow 3 Masted Iron Steamer 464 Tons Carried a cargo of 460 tons of salt cake.

2 S.S. Gem Built 1887 by J. Fullerton & Co. in Paisley Owned by William Robertson & Co. of Glasgow 3 Masted Iron Steamer 464 Tons Carried a cargo of 460 tons of salt cake. Struck a German mine off the coast of Yorkshire near Scarborough at 6.15pm on 25 th December The Captain and 9 members of crew lost their lives. The Mate and one member of crew saved.

3 Christmas Day marks the centenary of an event off Scarborough which shattered a small Irish community. After shelling Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough on 16 December 1914, German battle-cruisers laid the world s largest and densest minefield, between Cayton Bay and Filey Brigg. It is now thought the bombardment was carried out partly as a cover for minelaying, close to shore. The mines, anchored to the seabed and floating out of view just below the surface, claimed 11 British vessels within 10 days. Among those ships was the SS Gem, a Glasgow-built cargo boat built in 1887 and carrying salt-ash from Mostyn in north Wales to Newcastle. In those days it was cheaper to sail a boat hundreds of miles around the country than transport it 200 miles overland. In choppy waters at 6.15pm on 25 December 1914, a terrific explosion destroyed the 464-ton, 53-metre steamer, tearing it in two and devastating the village most of its crew hailed from. Nine of the 10 men who died, out of a crew of 12, were from Cushendall, a tight-knit, Gaelic-speaking village on the Antrim coast of what is now Northern Ireland. Villagers had to wait a nerve-wracking week to find out who had died and who had survived. Three men reported lost at sea had been delayed in Belfast so never boarded the ill-fated ship and eventually turned up safely. Fast-forward 66 years, to August Scarborough Sub Aqua Club was recording wrecks lost in the minefield when the two halves of the SS Gem were discovered, 150 metres apart. Diver Pete Lassey noticed a small circular object protruding from a silt seabed 40 metres down, near Filey Brigg. It turned out to be the top of the SS Gem s large compass binnacle, whose mechanism and glass had survived the trauma intact. Finding it was one thing, bringing it to the surface another. Including its brass pedestal, the binnacle weighed 18kg and was buried upright in dark mud which clouded the water at the slightest movement. It was like working in Indian ink! says underwater film-maker Andy Jackson, who recorded the recovery. In those days we did not have the benefit of GPS to help navigate and relied on making cross bearings from fishermen s charts, using horizontal sextant angles and the use of transits or meets, Mr Lassey recalls. Before echo sounders were available, we would employ a grazer, a small three-pronged hook dragged across the bottom.

4 Later, GPS, VDU, echo sounders, proton magnetometry and sonar would revolutionise wreck finding. The divers wore 6mm wet-suits and heavy aircylinders in the cold, murky water. They recovered the Victorian relic after a week of intensive diving. It was cleaned and found a new home among the vast horde of items recovered from the seabed by the club. Besides Mr Lassey, the divers were Colin Lawson, Gordon Wadsworth, Les Jensen, Dave Sawdon, Ian Robinson and Phil Kent. Thirty-four years later, with the centenary of the tragedy in sight, people from Cushendall asked the diving club if anything had been recovered from the Gem and learnt about the binnacle. They wanted something to commemorate with and asked to borrow it but we insisted on giving it to them, says Mr Lassey. We decided they should be the custodians of it. The binnacle was too delicate to send by courier so the Cushendall development group paid for two members of the community to fetch it. Joe Burns and Danny Beaven, who made the 626-mile round trip over two days, were formally presented with the relic at the diving club. You ve no idea what this means to us, said an emotional Mr Burns, who has written a play based on the tragedy. The binnacle will be cleaned up and kept at the Red Bay lifeboat station near Cushendall, which is chaired by Mr Beaven. Mr Burns is a deputy launching authority for the Red Bay lifeboat. Four current crew are direct descendents of the men who died. The two visitors presented Scarborough RNLI coxswain Tom Clark with a hurling stick, which he said could double as a crew controller. David Barry Press Officer Scarborough Lifeboat Station

5 The Mining of the SS Gem 25/12/14 Captain McKeegan James McNaughton

8 A Dive Guide From Dive Yorkshire By Arthur Godfrey & Peter Lassey

9 Captains assigned to the SS GEM, : Captain McNicholl 1889: Captain McNicholl & Captain W Hamilton 1889: Captain W Hamilton 1890: Captain W Hamilton 1891: Captain W Hamilton 1892: Captain W Hamilton 1893: Captain W Hamilton 1894: Captain W Hamilton & Captain H McGuffie 1895: Captain W Hamilton & Captain H McGuffie & Captain J McKeegan 1896: Captain J McKeegan 1897: Captain J McKeegan 1898: Captain J McKeegan 1899: Captain J McKeegan 1900: Captain J McKeegan 1901: Captain J McKeegan 1902: Captain J McKeegan 1903: Captain J McKeegan 1904: Captain J McKeegan 1905: Captain J McKeegan 1906: Captain J McKeegan 1907: Captain J McKeegan 1908: Captain J McKeegan 1909: Captain J McKeegan 1910: Captain D McCormick 1911: Captain J McKeegan 1912: Captain J McKeegan 1913: Captain J McKeegan 1914: Captain J McKeegan

10 Crew of the Robertson Steamship ~ SS Gem on 25/12/14 Captain: James McKeegan, 65 Uncle of Hugh Single Bosun: John Wotherspoon, 47 Wife, Isabella. Engineer: Duncan McInnes, 64 Wife, Jeanie. Second Thomas Simpson, 24 Engineer: Single. Fireman: Henry O Dornan, 23 Wife, Catherine. Fireman: William Graham, 23 Wife, Sarah. Born in Ballymena Cook/Steward: Hugh McKeegan, 27 Single, Nephew, of Captain Cushendall Tarbert Govan, Glasgow Glenarm Carnlough Glenarm Cushendall Able Bodied Seaman: James Umphary, 25, Wife, Mary Jane. Born Shetland Ted Williams, (22) Wife? James McNaughton, 22 Single Midlothian Able Bodied Seaman: Holywell Able Bodied Cushendall Seaman: Mate: James McCambridge, (48) Saved Cushendall Ordinary Seaman: (Owen)? Rice Saved Holywell

The Vasa: The Sunken Treasure of Sweden

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