Duke of Wellington

What links Walmer Castle and Amsterdam, by way of Waterloo?

This week, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, my guest blogger Abigail Coppins looks at how a lucky find while researching the appearance of Wellington’s bedroom at Walmer Castle led to the discovery of some correspondence between Wellington and potential salvors of the wreck of the Amsterdam at Hastings, lost 80-odd years previously. In his capacity as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, resident at Walmer, Wellington fielded a copious correspondence with these salvors throughout the 1830s, a historic connection adding to the interest of what is today the Designated wreck site of a Dutch East Indiaman.

Colour photograph of Wellington's bedroom, restored to the colour scheme in his day. — The Duke of Wellington’s bedroom at Walmer Castle 20/05/15
Picture by Jim Holden. English Heritage

The Duke of Wellington and the Wreck of the Amsterdam

Abigail Coppins

I was actually looking for the Duke of Wellington’s bedroom, particularly anything that might solve the knotty problem of his carpet. But you never know what you might come across when you’re in the archives. I drew a blank on the carpet but found some other things relevant to the Waterloo 200 project at Walmer Castle. Then this caught my eye. At the time I didn’t know anything about the Amsterdam but I figured that it was worth making a note of the facts just in case it was a known (or unknown) wreck. Someone somewhere might be interested.

The Amsterdam in July 2006. — The *Amsterdam* in July 2006.

It started in 1830 when 42 labourers from the Parish of Bexhill wrote to the Duke of Wellington complaining that they had been prevented from digging out the ‘…Dutch ship Amsterdam which was wrecked on the Coast of Sussex…in the year of 1740’ [sic – the wreck took place in 1749]. The labourers were unemployed and had taken it upon themselves to open up the wreck in search of ‘remuneration for their labours’. All had been going well. They had managed to retrieve some timber and glass, but unfortunately the Customs Officer from Hastings turned up and called a halt to the proceedings.

Having spent £28 on some equipment, including a couple of chain pumps, the labourers decided to petition the Duke of Wellington for his assistance in the matter. The Duke, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, oversaw the administration of wrecks and salvage rights in the area. Wellington ordered enquiries to be made and the labourers were given permission to carry on their work – with certain stipulations. Wellington’s clerk in Dover Castle, Thomas Pain, pointed out that another local wreck had been stripped of ‘Block Tin’ and ‘purloined by the finder’ and he was keen to stop this happening again. The Bexhill labourers were told that they could keep the value of any goods found up to a value of £100. After that the usual rules of salvage would be applied.

Then things went quiet.

Sepia print of a seated Wellington writing at a desk, with a man standing behind him. — APSLEY HOUSE Print of “Wellington Writing His Despatches” by D Wilkie © Historic England Photo Library. Note Wellington’s special reading lamp, one of the features Abigail was hoping to learn more about in her researches when she found the material on the *Amsterdam*.

In May 1833 a Thomas Wood from St Leonards-on-Sea wrote to Wellington asking to be allowed to recover the wreck of the Amsterdam. In June the same year he wrote again, this time about another wreck in the area. Then he sent a letter asking what proportion of salvage he would be entitled to. By August, Wood was trying to arrange a meeting with Wellington.

Then it all went quiet again.

In August of the following year, 1834, Thomas Pain wrote to Wood asking if the salvage project had been abandoned. Wood wrote back asking about Thomas Telford’s work at Dover instead. Was Wood perhaps interested in that as well?

By August of 1835, a James Bungay of St Leonards was also interested in the Amsterdam wreck and by the following February wanted details of any lien Wellington might have over it. He also wanted a meeting. Bungay then wrote that he was going to petition the Treasury to allow him ‘…possession of all or any part of the Amsterdam or cargo.’ Unsurprisingly the Treasury refused Bungay’s request to raise the cargo ‘free of duty’. Undeterred, Bungay then suggested that a customs officer should be on site to record what got taken off the wreck. Pain replied that Wellington had no objection to this proposal.

The various salvage plans seem to have rumbled on. In 1837 Thomas Pain suggested that Bungay should be allowed to sell parts of the Amsterdam’s hull in order to recover his costs. Then all the documents went missing and it all got a bit messy. What happened next is unclear. I kept meaning to go back and find out, but other research projects got in the way: more remains in the archives for us to discover, despite the gaps in the documents.

Oil painting of Wellington in his red uniform against a plain, dark background. — APSLEY HOUSE “Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington” c.1815 by Sir Thomas LAWRENCE (1769-1830). WM 1567-1948 © Historic England Photo Library

With very grateful thanks to Abigail for sharing her research thus far and establishing an important historic connection between Wellington and the Designated site of a wreck which happened before he was even born.

The Marquis of Granby

A recent visit to the Marquis of Granby pub in Westminster inspired this week’s investigation into eponymous wrecks. It’s often said that more pubs are named after him than any other person. Certainly the name was popular enough to feature in the Pickwick Papers (1836-37).

The Marquis (1721-1770) was a commander and soldier’s soldier of the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) who is said to have set up many of his men as publicans after they left military service. The seven wrecks in English waters which bear his name are all clustered in the date range 1764-1784, and thus reveal a fashion in ship names reflecting his contemporary popularity as a national hero.

Judging by the 20 wrecks of ships named after the Duke of Wellington, though, I rather suspect that the Iron Duke eclipsed the Marquis in both ship and pub dedications (and there are three further wrecks named Iron Duke!) Normally, of course, when I run a database search for maritime archaeology, it is not necessary to specify the monument type WRECK . . . however, in the instance of such names it is, otherwise results will bring back numerous pubs as well as shipwrecks! The same is true of names such as Golden Lion, Red Lion, and so on.

On a much more sober note, today’s wreck, named after the Marquis, though brief in detail, can be regarded as a “good thing”, frustrating an intended slaving voyage by being driven ashore on the coast of Cumbria. Her home port of Lancaster was the fourth-largest port engaged in the slave trade after Liverpool, Bristol and London. To be wrecked near Whitehaven, which lies north of Lancaster, while on a southbound voyage from the latter port, suggests that the vessel was driven off course, probably as a result of a winter storm in January 1767 – not a particularly unusual fate for ships leaving Lancastrian ports; though we can’t rule out an initial northbound call at Whitehaven, also involved in the slave trade.

Identification of this vessel as a slaver was made possible through a research project drawing on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (TASTD), which has details of over 35,000 slaving voyages. Conversely, I have been able to identify some shipwrecks as slave ships where either their final voyage was not included on the database or they were not previously identified as such. Research remains ongoing.

Elsewhere, Lancashire Museums have a published an online guide to local involvement in the slave trade. There is a good photograph and article on Kevin Dalton-Johnson’s Captured Africans memorial at Lancaster revealing a ‘deck’ structure, which names many of the ships involved.

Wreck of the Week

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