Interview with John Gawne about the sinking of the brig 'Lily' in the winter of 1852, fishing and sailing superstitions, songs and folklore
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Date(s): 20th century
Creator(s): Manx Museum
Scope & Content: Interview with John Gawne about the sinking of the brig 'Lily' in the winter of 1852 and fishing and sailing superstitions, songs and folklore. John talks about how the 'Lily' was bound for Guinea with a cargo including 61 tons of gunpowder, flintlock rifles, cotton goods, rum and sugarcane cutting knives; the captain was Jon Owen and there were 13 men all told; the 'Lily' set out on the morning of 23rd December 1852 in a strong south-west wind and on the 25th December a lot of her sails were blown away; on the 27th December she was in the Sound and the ship struck a reef, was holed and lost its two masts, breaking the 2nd mate’s leg; the cook and the cabin boy were washed away; one of the masts formed a kind of bridge towards the Sound and some of the sailors managed to cross but the captain stumbled and was washed away; a boat was sent from Port St Mary for the survivors; a Lloyds agent was appointed to take charge of the wreck and cargo and he and his men went out on the 28th with Kelly, the only survivor and found a fire on board; they went to get buckets of water and Kelly found himself unconscious and a vision of a man came to him and said ‘you are the only survivor out of 13 men’; the remains of three men were buried at the Sound and the story went that the funeral procession reached nearly from Cregneash to the Howe; Billy Nixon who told him the story died in 1903. John says how he knew the only survivor James Kelly from Port St Mary.
John recites a poem about fishing by Andrew Maddrell of the Howe; he talks about Quayle, the skipper of a famous nicky (fishing boat) called the 'Annie'; remembers being on a nicky called 'Eleanor' in about 1895 when he was eighteen and how one of the old men, Bill, would tell him yarns about how the fairies used to launch a longboat out of the sheep hole at Spanish Head; a tale about birds called Big Oogs which he thinks must have been Great Auks; how Bill told him another tale about a couple of boys from Cronk Chass who were out one night and saw fairies helping themselves from the porridge at the chiollagh (fireplace) and when they had finished the fairies spat in the porridge pot and the boys wouldn't eat their supper that night.
John says that he knew Neddy Faragher who was known as Ned Hom Roy and how his son was called Ned Beg Roy; about how on the night of 11th May when the nets were shot and the hold was empty the boys used to go round the boat with a torch made from a paraffin soaked rag on a stick and look for the witches and how this was done on every boat; how the sailors had a lot of superstitions such as when leaving harbour you should never turn the boat’s head against the sun; never be the third boat to leave the harbour; rats and cats were bad luck to take on board or even talk about; white stone in the ballast was bad luck; how once there was a white rabbit caught in the nets and they said they'd have no luck that season.
He remembers also about the explosion of the brig 'Lily' how the woman who lived in his house before him said that burning debris from the ship over two miles away came down in the garden and how the miners at Ballacorkish Mines, three miles away, felt the vibrations and came up from underground. He ends by reciting a poem about a terrible storm of 23rd April 1894 when a lot of nets and some boats were lost.
Administration / Biographical History: Basil Richardson Stanley Megaw was director of the Manx Museum, 1940-1957 (1913-2002).
Language: English
Extent: 26 min. 21 sec.
Physical description: Magnetic Recording Tape
Item name: magnetic tape
Collection: Sound Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: SA 0056
Access conditions: All reasonable attempt has been made by Manx National Heritage to trace and request permission (where needed) from the copyright holder(s) in this sound recording. If however you think you are a rights holder then please contact Manx National Heritage.
Subject tags : #UOSH
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