The loss of the Steam ship Amazon

[Ann E]

The loss of the Steam ship Amazon

I have found several lengthy newspaper reports of “Destruction of The Amazon” on her maiden voyage, not long after she left Southampton there was a devastating fire on board followed by an explosion. There were list of names of missing and survivors printed in the newspapers giving the hometowns of the men also there age, rank, and trade, I have only transcribed those from Hampshire see bottom of page.


 
Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian (Southampton), Saturday, January 03, 1852.
The Royal West India Mail Company's Steam ship Amazon of 2851 tons. Captain Symons, went from the docks into the river on Saturday morning last to coal, where she finished taking in cargo, as she would draw when full 291/2 feet. She left yesterday (Friday) afternoon for the Weal Indies and Chagrea, with the West India and Gulf of Mexico mails, being her first Voyage. She had 1150 tons of coal and fifty passengers. The Amazon may be said when she sailed, in round numbers, to be worth 100,000!

Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian (Southampton), Saturday, January 10, 1852

The directors of the Royal West India Mail Company have granted a donation of one mouth's pay to the survivors of the crew of the ill-fated steam-ship Amazon, besides an allowance to each man of £2 10s as compensation for the loss of his kit. The subscription started in London in behalf of the widows and children of the unfortunate sufferers, progress with much spirit, and on Wednesday amounted to nearly £1000. This is In addition to the sum raised at the Southampton meeting on Monday.

In St. Michael’s Church, St Michael's St, Southampton there is a wall tablet in memory of those lost on the Royal Mail Steam Packet “AMAZON. Only the officers are named.

See more about the Amazon: < http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/RMS_Amazon>   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Amazon_(1851)


Ann E

[BradyCMH]

My family lost a member, Lt. William Hollinshed Brady, in this tragedy, having volunteered to join the ship on the day of departure, to fill the vacany of the officer who should have been there but was ill. It is strange that I have never been able to find his name on any list of crew or even passengers. 

[Ann E]

Hello
I have looked in my notes & newspaper cuttings, and sorry to say I haven't found anything on  Lt. William Hollinshed Brady, Could he be on record of people who died abroad?

Ann

[BradyCMH]

One public source that we can rely on is a report in the London Times of 7th January 1852: "Lieutenant Brady, R.N., the Admiralty agent of the Amazon, was sent on board to take charge of the mails at the last moment, in the place of Lieutenant Wilkinson, R.N., who was prevented from embarking by a sudden indisposition...".  We have an Attestation of Death and a handwritten account in the family, though the latter will have been drawn up from other accounts no doubt.

The absence of his name from other records might be because he was appointed as a government (R.M.) agent rather than part of the ship's working crew, but it is strange he is not listed among the passengers.

[ShaunJ]

There are numerous mentions of Lieut Brady's death in other newspapers of the time, including an award of £200 to his dependent sister, and a mention by Thackeray of him as a friend and the Lieutenant  "Bundy"  in his "Notes of a journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo" (1844).

[BradyCMH]

Thank you ShaunJ.  Can you please point me to the reference to the £200 award? I haven't found it on National Archives yet. The sister must have been spinster Ann Brady, who died at Fingringhoe about 40 years later.

[BradyCMH]

Thanks Ann E.  I'll check the local papers.

[ShaunJ]

Re the £200 award -if you have a sub to BNA or FindMyPast, or access to the Gale newspaper database, references are easy to find. If not, you can find a mention in the Illustrated London News in Google Books (bottom right of page).

[ShaunJ]

Found this obit in the Gentleman's Magazine:

Jan. 4. In the Royal Mail Steam Packet Amazon (destroyed by fire), Wm. Hollinshed Brady, Lieut. R.N. Ho entered the navy in 1807, on board the Leonidas 38; in the Cumberland 74 witnessed the destruction of the Robuste and Lion line-of-battle ships near Frontignan, in Oct. 1809; and a few days after was slightly wounded in the capture of the Lamproie 16 in the bay of Rosas. He was made Lieut. 1815; from 1824 to 1827 served as supernumerary of the Ramillies 74; and from June 1842 had been employed as an Admiralty agent on the West India and Peninsular lines of mail. Owing to the illness of Lieut. Wilkinson, who was to have gone out in the Amazon, the Lords of the Admiralty sent an order for Mr, Brady to take charge of the mails only the day previous to her sailing.