The Loss of the Victory, 1882

 

The Victory was a 76 ton schooner which left Cardiff on October 16, 1882 with a cargo of coal, for Waterford. The Board of Trade returns for 1882-83 reveal the tragic loss, reporting that the Victory had not been heard of since leaving Cardiff but that pieces of wreckage had been washed up at Ballyteigue Bay, Co. Wexford. The Marine Register of Deaths duly records the death by drowning of the captain, Samson Strike, a 26 year old Cornishman. The record reports that his vessel was lost ‘about October 18, 1882’. In the absence of any definitive records it seems likely that, if the bodies of Samson Strike and his four crew were recovered, they will have been interred anonymously in unmarked graves somewhere in the locality. One possible site may be the cemetery of Tomhaggard which contains an area known as ‘The Sailors’ Home’ where sailors wrecked off the coast of Wexford and washed ashore but never identified, are buried.

Porthleven in Cornwall was the home port of Samson Strike whose father, Captain William Strike, was a well known master mariner who traded across the world in the mid 19th century. Samson was one of nine children of William Carter and Mary Anne Strike and it seems that he was destined for a life at sea from quite an early age. At the age of 15, Samson was a member of the crew of the 127 ton schooner ‘Ready Rhino’ as it completed a voyage from London to the Rio Grande, calling at Lisbon outbound, and Santos and New York homebound. Samson’s father was master and such was his success that eventually, he became part owner of the ‘Ready Rhino’. Samson, two years later in 1873, was mate of the Ready Rhino’.

It seems likely that Samson’s father had good connections which may account for the fact that in his 20s, he was described as a master mariner, and had command of the Victory. At the time of her loss, the Victory was 34 years old, having been completed at Salcombe, in Devon. The vessel was owned in Mevagissey in Cornwall and registered at Fowey, also in Cornwall.

The Cornishman newspaper published on November 2, 1882 carried the following item:

Suspense. No news has yet arrived of Captain S. Strike, of this place, who sailed in the schooner Victory…but the following has been published: ‘Wexford, October 21 – there was washed ashore yesterday at Ballyteigue a vessel’s boat named Victory…also a portion of bulwarks’. The sad and general impression here is that the ill-fated schooner and all hands are lost.

Neil Hawke [neilandmaryhawkeATukonlineDOTcoDOTuk] who gratefully acknowledges material supplied by Christopher Hawke.