Jessie - shipwreck

Bristol Mercury - Friday 22 August 1879:

SHIPWRECK AND LOSS OF LIFE. Intelligence has just been received Swansea total lose of the barque Jessie that port, commanded by Capt. Jenkkins of Swansea, and manned by a crew of 16 bands, the principal part of whom also belong to Swansea and its immediate district. The vessel was wrecked on Staten Island, a barren rock near the S.E. of Terra del Fuego, whilst endeavouring to pass through the Straits of Le Maire, rather than rounding Cape Horn. The weather was so foggy that the land could not be descried, and although the sea-lead was constantly kept going the vessel suddenly struck on the rocks, and was forged higher and higher up on them. The weather was intensely cold, and the sea broke over the vessel, filling her with water, and all hopes of getting her off being abandoned the crew took to the boats. The lifeboat was under the command of the captain, into which nine seamen and a plentiful supply of provisions were placed. The pinnace was under the command of the mate, Mr, Harris, and eight seamen entered her. Unfortunately, however, the pinnace soon broke adrift, and nothing more was seen or heard of her, and it is supposed all her occupants perished. Having subsequently ascertained their whereabouts, Captain Jenkins decided to pull for the Falkland Islands, a distance of about three hundred miles. The weather was still intensely cold, and the hands and feet of the men began to swell, and their sufferings in an open boat such circumstances were intense. Captain Jenkins's heroic conduct, however, and his calm perseverance buoyed all with confidence and hope, and after about seven days’ voyage they arrived at the Falkland Islands, where they were most hospitably received. They were eventually taken off the island by the mail steamer Black Hawk, and eventually transferred to the Leibnitz, and arrived safely in Southampton, whence they were forwarded to Swansea. The crew who were saved speak most highly of the conduct Captain Jenkins, to whom they say they owe their lives.

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