The Loss of the Steamship Oldhamia

Master: 1905 Alexander Stuart.

From February 1904 until September 1905 there was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russia & Japan over Manchuria and Korea which became known as the Russo-Japanese War. The major theatres of operations were the area around the Liadong Peninsula & Mukden, the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. It was during these hostilities that the Oldhamia sailed from Cardiff in September of 1904. On arriving at New York most of the crew deserted and a new crew was taken on being told they were bound for Hong Kong. The ship sailed from New York on 13 March 1905 with a crew of 32 under the command of Alexander Stuart. She was carrying a cargo of 149,462 cases of refined petroleum (kerosene) with a value of $123,133 belonging to the Standard Oil Company of New York and addressed to Hong Kong.

On 18 May at about 10.45pm, beyond Hong Kong and seemingly headed for Japan, when about 125 miles WSW of Batan Islands in the Luzon Strait, South China Sea the Russian cruiser Oleg stopped the Oldhamia by firing a blank shot. A whale-boat from the Oleg carried a boarding party to the Oldhamia. On examination of the steamer’s papers the Russians were unhappy with the information therein and when, on interviewing the crew, they were told by a seaman that there were guns stored under the cargo, the vessel was arrested and searched.

The crew of the Oldhamia were transferred to the Oleg where, although they had to sleep on deck, were treated well & there were no restrictions placed upon them.  A few days later the Captain, Alexander Stuart, chief engineer William Stuart, the cook & steward were transferred to the hospital ship Orel where they were given first class accommodation. The Orel & another hospital ship were kept in rear of the battle fleet which was comprised of forty-eight vessels. On 27 May a battle took place between the Japanese & the Russian fleet. The four British men were sent below during which five hours of heavy gun battle took place when they thought they may be killed as the shot & shell came perilously close to the hospital ships.

By 28 May the Russian fleet was defeated and the hospital ships were seized by the Japanese. The four men were nominally released & transferred to the steamer Manshu Maru (ex Manchuria) on which they were taken to Sasebo. While at Sasebo their movements were more fettered as the Japanese were suspicious of them but they were released and arrived at Nagasaki on 5 June. The other 29 members of the crew, including the chief officer, Ison, had been transferred first to the Russian auxiliary cruiser Dnieper (ex Peterburg), which then was separated from the fleet. The Dnieper cruised between the Saddles & along the China coast and towards the Island of Luzon for a few days. On 4 June while off Chelang Point the Dnieper stopped the boat Ichang & asked them to take the crew on board but the Captain refused. The Captain of the Dnieper then hailed the Jardine steamer Waishing, which was nearby, and pleaded with her Captain to take the crew for the sake of humanity. This was done and the crew were landed them at Swatow on 5 June. With no wages and few belongings the crew remained at Swatow for over a month before eventually being taken as deck crew back to Britain. 

Meanwhile, an armed prize crew in the charge of Ensign Andrew Tregouboff had been placed on the Oldhamia with the purpose of conveying her to Vladivostok through the Northern Straits. On 20 May 1905, in thick fog due to poor navigation, she grounded on Urup Island. There being no means of refloating her quickly, being a long way from any Russian port and fearing that the steamer may be captured by the enemy, Tregouboff put the crew and provisions on shore and destroyed her by fire on 22nd May 1905. Soon after Tregouboff was taken prisoner by the Japanese and it was not known what had become of the Oldhamia until he returned from Japan on 12th June 1906.

Claims were demanded for compensation from the owners for the loss of the vessel, from the Standard Oil Company for the loss of the cargo and separate claims from the captain and crew for the loss of personal effects. The initial trial was held at the Libau Prize Court on 12 June 1907 which was to determine whether the Oldhamia had been seized as a war prize legally, and whether there was an entitlement to compensation.

The Russians claimed she had been carrying contraband of war as her cargo. This conclusion was arrived at because when they first saw the steamer the Russians claimed she had no lights showing which was why she was stopped and boarded. They had then inspected the ship’s papers but neither the charter-party, showing the direction of the course of the steamer, nor the bill of lading, from which it could have been determined the character of the whole cargo, were produced, a charter-party for the return voyage from Hong Kong for Batavia being presented instead. When she was stopped the steamer had left Hong Kong a long distance behind and was proceeding in the direction of Japan. Also a seaman of the crew of the Oldhamia, Christie Thater, had told three of the seamen from the Oleg that there were guns stored under the cargo. The search had produced no sign of guns but the cargo of refined petroleum, because naphtha distilled, was considered by the Russians contraband of war.

Under the declaration of the Russian Government of 14 February 1904 contraband of war included ‘All kind of fuel, coal, naphtha, spirits and such-like articles’ although there was no mention of a distinction on whether the naphtha could be distilled or raw. Papers came to light showing that the cargo was destined for Japan but the shippers and owners insisted it was for lighting purposes and not for military or naval use. Keeping the destination quiet was to prevent exactly what had taken place and not for any war related reason. The evidence, from both Alexander Stuart, his chief engineer William Stuart, and the Russians, appeared full of flaws but the conclusion of the trial was that the seizure of the steamer and the whole of her cargo had been liable to confiscation as a legal prize and therefore no compensation would be paid by the Russian Government.

In August 1904 the Standard Oil Company had taken the precaution of obtaining a formal stamped certificate from the Russian consul-general at Shanghai that kerosene or refined petroleum was not contraband of war. On the faith of this certificate the consignors and the shippers of these types of cargo felt it safe to transport to places in the theatres of war and to be immune from capture. It eventually had become evident that this had been an illegal seizure and in a letter from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to the Foreign Office it was pointed out that this was a denial of justice by the Russian courts and could be viewed with alarm as threatening the general security of British shipping. The British Government had also refused to pay any sort of compensation out of public funds but the fight went on with the Foreign Office being accused of making a series of mistakes.

In January 1912 The Times printed the following:
‘A Parliamentary paper was issued last night by the Foreign Office containing correspondence respecting the destruction of the British steamship Oldhamia by an officer of the Russian cruiser Oleg in May 1905. The Libau Prize Court on 12 June 1907, found that the vessel & her cargo were liable to confiscation as prize on the grounds that the Oldhamia was conveying a complete cargo of distilled naphtha to a Japanese port, and that distilled naphtha was contraband of war under the Russian declaration of 27 February 1904; the Court rejected the claim of the Manchester & Salford Steamship Company for compensation for the loss of the ship, and of the Standard Oil Company for recovery of the value of the cargo destroyed.’

This judgment, against which an appeal was entered, was confirmed two years later by the Supreme Prize Court. The correspondence gives translations of both judgments. On 4 January 1910, Sir Edward Grey instructed Sir Arthur Nicolson, then British Ambassador in St. Petersburg, to inform the Russian Foreign Office that the British Government, for reasons given in the dispatch, entirely dissented from the finding of the Supreme Prize Court., A correspondence ensued. Sir Edward Grey suggested that the Russian Government should either compensate the owners of the Oldhamia or submit the case to arbitration; but in a Note dated 19 October 1910, M. Sazonoff definitely refused to do either. Both the ship-owners and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce protested against the failure of the Foreign Office to enforce the claim for compensation, and the latter suggested that, if Russia could not be made to pay, the owners might be given some compensation from British public funds. This suggestion the Foreign Office was unable to entertain, and pointed out that failing the establishment of an international prize court, there are no means of redress in cases in which the decisions of national prize courts are unsatisfactory.

By June 1913 there had still been no success in efforts to claim for compensation.

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