When the SS Tynemouth Arrived in Victoria: The Story of B.C.’s Most Famous Bride Ship

The Tynemouth by Kate Redfern Ford

Much has been written and told recently of the tonnage and carrying capacity of the world’s biggest luxury liner, the “Queen Elizabeth”, which has transported as many as 14,4790 men on one voyage during the European War.

Interesting by comparison and contract is a flashback to early days when, on June 9, 1862, the first passenger steamer left Dartmouth, England, for British Columbia.

This vessel was the “Tynemouth” (15800 tons), considered a large ship in those days, and it arrived at Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, at 6.00 p.m. September 17, 1862, ninety-nine days from England. The actual time at sea was eight-four days, the balance of the time being spent at Stanley Harbor, Falkland Island, taking on coal and water and awaiting favorable weather before rounding Cape Horn – and two days at San Francisco for more fuel. The daily average was about 200 miles, a good record in those early days of ocean steamboat navigation.

On board were a few first class; some second, and a large number of third class passengers. There were also about sixty women passengers, and a portion of the vessel was set apart for their exclusive use. The presence of these women on board gave the name of the “Bride Ship” to this vessel.

In the part of the ship allotted to third class passengers, who paid 30 pounds sterling (about $150.00) fir the passage, there were cabins – or staterooms as they are now called – containing six bunks or berths, with enough standing room to allow for dressing, but this dressing space would not accommodate all at once.

Meal were not prepared and served as is customary now. Periodically rations were served out, for the number of occupants, to a representative from each cabin, who had to prepare these rations for cooking and take them to a large galley on the forecastle where the cook attended to them and supplied hot water for tea and coffee. Anything like oatmeal, porridge, requiring constant stirring, the passenger had to look after himself. Rations consisted of flour, oatmealm, biscuits, tea, sugar, salt, and fresh water for drinking purposes. As the steamer had no condensers for producing fresh water, washing had to be done with sea water.

For the first night out a terrible store was encountered which continued for twenty-four hours, during which time nearly all the passengers suffered severely from seasickness. A cow that was on deck was killed, and a number of live pigs were washed overboard.

The storm having abated the passengers were now surprised one morning to find the steamer motionless in the middle of the Atlantic, with calm weather and a smooth sea. They soon learned that the coal passers, who had refused to work, had been put in irons as mutineers by the Captain, a Naval Reserve man. Volunteers were called for amongst the passengers to coal the engines until the Falkland Islands were reached, the alternative being to return to England under sail to recruit men for the work. Appalled at the prospect of the delay this would entail, a number of the young men volunteered for the work, among them the writer’s father, and for a month had the doubtful pleasure of filling wheelbarrows with coal and conveying them to the bunkers.

At the end of each day’s work they were munificently rewarded with a pint bottle of stout and, what they prized above all, plenty of fresh water with which to wash. As they could not get baths, some of the men would get up early when the sailors were washing the decks, and get them to turn the hose on them, which the sailors did to their great glee and to the satisfaction of the men.

All went smoothly for a time, until one morning at breakfast a terrible noise was heard on deck. A fight had started between Captain and officers on one hand and a number of sailors on the other, the latter considerably outnumbering the former. A huge colored sailor had the Captain, who was a small man, in his grips and apparently was trying to throw him overboard. The passengers rushed to the rescue, and the officers with their aid rounded up the belligerents and placed them in confinement until the could be brought to trial at the Falkland Islands.

There was now a shortage of sailors as sixteen men, including the coal passers, were under arrest. Although the vessel was a steamer, sails were used when the wind was favorable and later, when the Trade Winds in the South Pacific were encountered, steam was shut off and the vessel made nearly 200 miles a day under sail for about a week.

Fortunately, among the passengers were a number of men who had been sailors and their services were secured in place of those under arrest.

The voyage proceeded uneventually until another bad storm was encountered of the coast of South America, near the estuary of the La Platte River. Mountainous waves which towered above the vessel tossed the ship about for twenty0four hours, and to add to the discomfort some empty iron tanks in the hold broke loose from their moorings. A quantity of railway irons formed part of the cargo with the tanks on top of them, and as the ship rolled the tanks clattered over them, striking the sides of the boat with a terrible thud.

This continued all night, and the noise made the rolling tanks, punctuated periodically by the bang against the ship’s side, increased the anxiety already felt for the safety of the vessel. The fact that she was strongly built boat, coupled with good seamanship, was the only thing that brought her safely through that awful night.

In the morning weather began to abate, and a few days later Stanley Harbor was entered, where a stay of thirteen days was made. Whenever the weather permitted boats were available for passengers to go ashore and needless to say, after six weeks at sea, every advantage was taken of this opportunity.

Eighty-four years ago, Port Stanley was a very small, dreary looking place with not a tree in all the surrounding islands – nother taller than bushes three or four feet high, no regular mail, and a small population. Passengers carried their guns when on shore but the only game to be had were sea birds and wild fowl. These, however, made a welcome change in the diet, after six weeks without fresh meat. The only animals seen were the horses and cattle of the settlers.

A little trouble with the sailors while in Port Stanley was quickly settled when the Captain requested assistance from a British warship in the harbor, on its way to join the Pacific Squadron. The Captain of the warship offered to pilot the Tynemouth through the Straits of Magellan, but this offer could not be accepted as the ship was insured for the voyage around Cape Horn.

When the sixteen men under arrest were brought into court for trial the Captain said he thought the confinement they had undergone was sufficient punishment for their insubordination and that he was willing to take them aboard again if they promised to work for the remained of the voyage without any further trouble. To this the majority agreed, but a few who refused were sentenced to a term of imprisonment with hard labor on the roads.

An amusing incident occurred in the South Pacific when , after a very hot day the sound of a heavy tropical rain was heard in the middle of the night. Someone shouted “shower bath”. The effect was electrical. Immediately, all the third class quarters were alive with men, who discarding their clothing, rushed up on deck to enjoy a bath in the torrential downpour. As there had been no bath except for salt water from the ship’s hose, the men thoroughly enjoyed and revelled in that glorious downpour in the tropics.

The Tynemouth reached San Francisco about September 9, 1862. Shortly befrore its arrival there was some excitement on board as the coal supply was exhausted, and the sailors were set to work cutting up all spar spars and any other available wood to keep the engines working until anchorage in the harbor was reached.

San Francisco then was a large and very busy city although prebious to the discovrey of gold in 1849 it was just a Catholic Mission.

Leaving California on September 12th, a pleasant uneventful passage brought the passengers to Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, on the evening of September 17, 1862, ending a long, interesting voyage from England.

When the Tynemouth left Victoria she coursed the Pacific to China and Japan, and subsequently was lost in a typhoon in those waters.