The Loss of The Birkenhead by Sir Francis H Doyle

The Loss of The Birkenhead by Sir Francis H Doyle

RIGHT on our flank the crimson sun went down,
The deep sea rolled around in dark repose,
When, like the wild shriek from some captured town,
A cry of women rose.

The stout ship Birkenhead lay hard and fast,
Caught, without hope, upon a hidden rock;
Her timbers thrilled as nerves, when through them passed
The spirit of that shock.

And ever like base cowards, who leave their ranks
In danger's hour, before the rush of steel,
Drifted away, disorderly, the planks
From underneath her keel.

Confusion spread,for, though the coast seemed near,
Sharks hovered thick along that white sea-brink.
The boats could hold? -- not all; and it was clear
She was about to sink.

"Out with those boats, and let us haste away,"
Cried one, "ere yet yon sea the bark devours."
The man thus clamoring was, I scarce need say,
No officer of ours.

We knew our duty better than to care
For such loose babblers, and made no reply,
Till our good colonel gave the word, and there
Formed us in line to die.

There rose no murmur from the ranks, no thought,
By shameful strength, unhonored life to seek;
Our post to quit we were not trained, nor taught
To trample down the weak.

So we made women with their children go,
The oars ply back again, and yet again;
Whilst, inch by inch, the drawning ship sank low,
Still under steadfast men.

What follows, why recall? The brave who died,
Died without flinching in the bloody surt;
They sleep as well, beneath that purple tide,
As others, under turf; --

They sleep as well, and, roused from thier wild grave,
Wearing their wounds like stars, shall rise again,
Joint-heirs with Christ, because they bled to save
His weak ones, not in vain.

If that day's work no clasp or medal mark,
If each proud heart no cross of bronze may press,
Nor cannon thunder loud from Tower and Park,
This feel we, none the less:

That those whom God's high grace there saved from ill --
Those also, left His martyrs in the bay --
Though not by siege, though not in battle, still
Full well had earned their pay.

Sir Francis H Doyle (1810-1888)

26 February 1852, the Birkenhead, was wrecked off Danger Point, Cape, while on a voyage from Simon's Town to Algoa Bay and East London.

The struck an uncharted rock near Gansbaai, tearing a large hole in her side.

HMT Birkenhead, an iron paddle steamer used as a British troopship and commanded by Captain Robert Salmond, sailed from Cork on 9th January 1852, with drafts of ten regiments on board. She was transporting men, mainly of the 73rd Regiment of Foot, for service in the 8th Frontier War. Also on board were some officers' families. After coaling at Simon’s Bay on 24th February the Birkenhead sailed at 6pm on a calm starlit night. At 2am the following morning the ship struck a rock near Danger Point some two miles off Hermanus.

Troops were mustered on deck and the senior officer ordered the detachment commanders to ensure complete silence was preserved. Working parties were organized to help in manning the pumps, lowering the boats and getting the horses overboard. The women and children were passed into the cutter, and those troops not engaged, some 350 men, were ordered aft.

With engines going hard astern, the Birkenhead slid off the rock but almost immediately struck another under the engine room. The force of the impact tore the bottom out of the ship causing her to break in two. From this moment the Birkenhead was lost. The water rushed in and she began to sink rapidly.

Chaos, confusion and panic could have invaded the scene. Instead the troops, most of them young soldiers, quietly carried out the orders of their officers as the ship went down. In his report of the disaster, the senior officer wrote “Everyone did as he was directed, and there was not a murmur nor a cry amongst them until the ship made her final plunge.”

Of the 467 officers and men on board, 355 were drowned or killed by sharks. Probably many more would have been lost had it not been for the discipline and restraint of the soldiers.

In 1936 a plaque in memory of the loss of the Birkenhead was placed near Danger Point lighthouse. The inscription states:

'Nine Officers, Three Hundred & Forty-Nine of Other Ranks and Eighty-Seven of the Ship's Company Lost Their Lives. Every Woman & Child Was Saved.'