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JOHN SOUTHGATE, MARINER |
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"..., to see something more of the -wonders of this singular place, and of the creatures that inhabit it. " The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
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JOIN THE NAVY, SEE THE WORLD |
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John Southgate was born about 1800 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. Like most of the population of that bustling Seaport on the East coast of England, he grew up with Sea in his veins. On February 8th, 1821 the 21 years old John joined the crew of HMS Dispatch as an Ordinary Seaman, under the name of John Southcote. John would also be known as Thomas Haggett during his career. The Dispatch was an 18-gun Sloop and she sailed the Mediterranean until November 24, 1824. On 26th March that year Thomas Nelson, an Ordinary Seaman and one of the crew of the Dispatch, died. As was the custom, usable property of a dead seaman was sold off and on 30th March 1824 William Thompson bought his bed, while John Southcote bought 6 yards of Duck and one Shirt. John was paid off on 24th November 1824. |
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The next year is a bit of a mystery, but on the First of January 1826 the whaling ship “Sisters”, fitted out for the southern whale fishery, sailed from London under her Master, Robert Duke. Sometime later in the year a Thomas Haggett was one of the 30 crew to appear on Sisters’ crew list when she departed Hobart, Tasmania. On Boxing Day 1826 Sisters arrived at The Bay of Islands, New Zealand, where Robert Duke had set up residence at Kororareka. Little did he or his crew know of the two incidents which had begun some days before and would shortly converge on Sisters. On 11th December the Brig Wellington, under the command of her Master, Mr John Harwood, departed Sydney, bound for Norfolk Island. She had been chartered to carry 66 male prisoners, a party of soldiers and stores to the settlement there. Around noon on December 21st, while the ship’s officers were shooting the Sun, most of the prisoners overpowered their guards and the officers and took over the ship. The ringleader of the prisoners seems to have been one John Walton. The prisoners stripped the soldiers and dressed themselves in the stolen uniforms. The whole thing seems to have been well organised, to the extent that they had their own set of regulations and a governing council of seven. The incident occurred around 250 miles from Norfolk Island at Latitude 31 degrees South, Longitude 164 degrees East. After discussion the prisoners decided to head for the Bay of Islands, a journey of some 670 miles East South East. At Wangoroa, New Zealand, Shungee, a local chief, was at war with another local tribe and by Christmas 1826, although he had been wounded, he had gained a victory. Unfortunately, fuelled by success, some of his followers attacked the Wesleyan Mission Station there. They plundered the Missionaries’ belongings and destroyed the Station. Although not hurt, the Missionaries and their families fled to Kororareka. On Friday January 5th 1827 the Wellington arrived at the Bay of Islands. The next day an unfavourable wind drove the Wellington close to two whaling ships already at anchor. One was Sisters, the other Harriet. Captain Duke and Captain Clark of the Harriet made several visits to the Wellington to greet the newcomer. John Walton told a tale of how they were on their way to the River Thames, New Zealand to start a settlement, complete with a party of soldiers. During their second visit John Harwood, despite being a prisoner, managed to get one of the natives to take a note to one of the Missionaries, a Mr Fairburn. Mr Fairburn, in turn, was able to pass the note and other papers to Captain Duke. John Walton finally visited Sisters where he must have found out about the note, for on his return to the Wellington he threatened “to knock the brains out” of the man who sent it. Sunday 7th January and at 5 o’clock in the morning Sisters opened fire on Wellington. Her second shot carried away the foretop mast rigging. Harriet followed suit with all of her six guns. Both whaling ships continued to fire on Wellington at irregular intervals. Philip Tapsall, the Mate of Sisters, boarded Wellington to find out what John Walton and the others intended to do. At first John Walton blustered and that the 200 natives who had lined the shore should leave. Philip Tapsall replied that those same 200 natives were armed and were ready to attack and massacre the convicts. A further note was sent to Captain Duke, but although the natives did leave the shore, the game was up. Some of the convicts remained on board under lock and key, while others took their chance on land only to be taken by the natives. The piracy was over, however, despite the fact that the convicts would be double ironed, John Harwood was reluctant to take all of the convicts back to Australia. Over the next few days, during which time the necessary repairs were made to Wellington, it was agreed that both Wellington and Sisters would sail back to Port Jackson, with the convicts shared between them. Sisters would take 32 convicts including some of the ringleaders, namely, “Captain” John Walton, “Second Mate” Thomas Edwards, “Steward” Charles Clay, alias Todhunter, “Serjeant of the Guard” James O’Neal and “Ordinary Seaman” William Brown. In addition to the convicts, Sisters would also take on board the displaced Wesleyan Missionary families, the Reverend Mr Turner, Mrs Turner and their three children, the Reverend Messrs Hobbs and Stack and Mr L Wade and his wife. The final arranges had been made on 27th January and on Sunday 28th Sisters and Wellington set course for Port Jackson. Sisters arrived at Port Jackson on 9th February and Wellington shortly after. The recaptured convicts were tried in the Supreme Court of New South Wales: but that’s another and quite famous story. |
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Robert Duke soon put together a petition to His Excellency Lieutenant General Ralph Darling, the Governor in Chief. The petition was dated 19th February and amounted to a claim for compensation to cover losses from missing a season’s whaling, together with the cost of extra insurance due to the deviation in the voyage of Sisters. On 23rd February the Colonial Secretary wrote to a number of worthies for an estimate of the size of the compensation. The worthies were, The Honourable A McLeay, Esq; Richard Jones, Merchant of Sydney; F A Wetherall, Captain HMS Fly; and last, but not least Henry John Rous, Captain HMS Rainbow. A reply was sent the following day with the opinion “that the sum of one thousand eight hundred pounds will cover the salvage of the hull and cargo of the said brig Wellington, and remunerate the master, owners and crew for their loss of time and the amount of cargo which during the space of three months they would have procured had they remained on the fishery.”. |
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It would be nice to think that John “Thomas Hagget” Southgate got his share of the compensation. His exploits on Sisters together with his service on HMS Dispatch no doubt secured for him a place on the crew of HMS Rainbow under the previously named Captain Henry John Rous. Thomas Hagget joined Rainbow as an Able Seaman on Saturday 3rd March 1827 while she was taking on stores at Port Jackson. The Rainbow, a 28-gun Frigate, had set sail for the Southern Hemisphere and the new territory of Australia sometime earlier. On January 5th, 1827, the Rainbow and HMS Success organised Australia's first Regatta on the River Derwent in Tasmania to mark the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Colony. It was not quite the end of John’s link with Sisters, for both she and Rainbow left Sydney headed for the Bay of Islands. Rainbow had on board the Reverend Samuel Marsden, a prominent member of The Church Missionary Society, en route for the Bay of Islands. Rainbow arrived there on Thursday 5th April 1827, while Sisters arrived on Saturday 1st May. HMS Rainbow then left to finish her voyage of discovery and in July the same year, the Rainbow "found" Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane. Although it had been sighted by Matthew Flinders, as well as Captain Cook, it was not named until the Rainbow's visit and it took its name from the Earl of Stradbroke, the father of the Rainbow's commander, Captain Henry J Rous. The following year, the Rainbow discovered the Richmond River, NSW- named after the Duke of Richmond. During the early part of 1829 Rainbow made her way back to England, beating up the Atlantic and arriving back in Portsmouth in July. John took his discharge on August 15th and 10 days later the Rainbow was put out of commission. John returned to Lynn and whether it was that they had been childhood sweethearts, or she just fell for this tall, for the time, dark sailor with hazel eyes, brown hair and fabulous tales of piracy and the far side of the World, but either way, John married Ann Dixon in St Margaret's Church, Lynn on December 27th, 1829. The witnesses were Louisa Leach and Ebenezer Dixon. Ebenezer was the 20 year old son of John and Susannah Dixon and the brother of the 22 year old Ann. Just under a fortnight later, John, as he now was, joined HMS Ramillies, a 74-gun 3rd rate on harbour service at Chatham. A brief visit for on February 16th February 1831 he joined HMS Talavera as John Southgate AB, aka Thomas Haggett. The 74-gun Talavera was on duty at the Downs, that area of sea between the Thames Estuary and the Straits of Dover and lying between the Goodwin Sands and the Kent coast. John was to stay with the Talavera until April 25th, 1831. During this time John and Ann had their first child, Eleanor Susan. Ann and at least Eleanor were living on the Kent coast, at Birchington, where on October 31st, 1830 Eleanor was Baptised in the Parish Church.The family moved to the Portsmouth area where John and he was to be known as John Southgate for the rest of his time with the Navy, joined HMS Victory on Boxing Day 1831. In September 1832 Ann gave birth to their second child, John William. John William was Baptised at Alverstoke, Gosport on October 7th that year. John Senior remained an AB on the Victory until February 6th, 1833. |
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THE MYSTERY DEEPENS |
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I suppose that the first part of the mystery is "Why did John take on the alias Thomas Haggett?", not that I have an answer. Were aliases normal in those times? Or, had he been a bit naughty between the end of 1824 and when he joined the Sisters in 1826? |
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As a rating in the Royal Navy John did not enjoy the continuous service of later times and not only was there the 1824 to 1826 gap, but after he left Victory in February 1833, there is a gap in his service until September 21st that year when he joined HMS Ocean. However, between February 9 and September 12th, 1833 John served as a Probationary boatman in the Coast Guard at Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight. The same year Alfred, later Lord, Tennyson had his book "Poems " published and 20 years later Tennyson would become the owner of Farringford, a house in Freshwater. |
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Register of Nominations for Appointments |
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Nomination No. : 4042 Name : John Southgate |
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To whom sent for 1st examination : Inspecting Commander, Gosport |
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BACK TO THE SEA |
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HMS Ocean was a 98-gun, Second Rate, Ship of the Line and although she had been Collingwood's Mediterranean flagship in her early life, in the 1830s she served as harbour duty flagship/guardship at Sheerness. John joined her as an AB on September 21st, 1833 and served with her until December 8th, 1834. |
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The Royal Navy had taken over control of the Falmouth Packet Service in 1823 and would go on to operate their own class of vessel, Brigantines, known as His/Her Majesty's Packet Brigs. On December 9th, 1833 John joined the Brigantine, Seagull, a Packet Brig working out of Flushing, Cornwall. The family moved with him. He was with the Seagull for a year and before the year was up Ann gave birth to their third child, Eliza Jane. Although Flushing was a hive of nautical activity, it did not boast its own church until sometime later and so on October 4th, 1835 Eliza Jane and somewhat surprisingly , John William were baptised a few miles away at Mylor. Notes in the Mylor Parish Register against John William's entry say "3 years old Sept 1835" and "supposed to be entered in the Register at Stoke, Gosport”. On August 11th, 1836 John joined the brand new Packet Brig, Express. John stayed with the Express until St George's Day 1837. When the Packet Service was withdrawn in 1850, its last voyage was made by John's old Brig, the Seagull. |
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There followed another mysterious gap until May 17th, 1839 when John joined the 72-gun, HMS Benbow. On August 21st John was discharged to Haslar Hospital and although it seems that the Benbow sailed to the Mediterranean, John was kept in Haslar. He was finally discharged from Benbow's Company on September 14th, 1839. From the 21st of that month to November 13th he was on the 120-gun Britannia, before joining the 74-gun Revenge on November 14th, 1839. Things must have been looking up, for on the 15th John was made up to Captain of the Hold. Such Captains were still ratings and in modern day parlance would be Team Leaders- nice title, no extra pay! - and there would be so many assigned to each Watch and specific area of the ship. This lasted until October 23rd, 1840 and the next day he was back to AB and stayed as such until he left on February 25th, 1842. In the meantime, Ann and the children had returned to Lynn and at the time of the 1841 Census were living in New Conduit Street. All of the children are shown as being born in "Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts", so perhaps Ann had accompanied John on some of his voyages. On December 1st, 1841 Ann gave birth to Thomas at Watsons Yard, New Conduit Street. |
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JOHN BECOMES A GREENWICH PENSIONER On March 12th, 1842 John joined the First Rate 104-gun Camperdown as Captain of the Mast. HMS Camperdown was the flagship at Sheerness under Captain Francis Brace, the Admiral was Vice Admiral Sir Edward Brace. On June 12th, John reverted to an AB. It looks as though John stayed on the Camperdown until March 31st, 1844, although he was granted a Greenwich Pension on March 25th, 1843. From May 27th, 1844 until January 20th, 1 848 John was back on HMS Ocean, at Sheerness. Once more he had his ups and downs, starting as an AB, then Captain of the Fore Top, Captain of the Hold and back to AB. During that time, around June 1845, Ann gave birth to Sarah Ann in Sheerness. |
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Where born and usual place of residence :- Lynn, Norfolk |
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On April 12th, 1848 he joined HMS Illustrious, 74-gun at Portsmouth as an AB. John stayed Illustrious until June 27th, 1849. Unfortunately this seems to have meant that he missed Eleanor Susan's wedding to James Barrows in Minster Church, Isle of Sheppey on March 26th that year. John finally left the Navy at the end of July, beginning of August 1849. AND THEN |
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At the end of 1849, around December and while they were still in the Portsmouth area Ann gave birth to Edmund John who was registered at Alverstoke. The family moved back to King's Lynn, to either Guanock Fields, or South Clough lane. Whether as part of a local outbreak, or if he was still sailing, on board ship, we don't know but probably around the end of February 1851, John was infected with Typhoid Fever and on March 10th ,1851 he died at Guanock Fields, South Lynn. The informant was Louisa McDonald, who was present at the death. Louisa was the 31 year old, unmarried Servant of Ebenezer Dixon, John's brother in law. Some three weeks later at the time of the Census, Louisa was back with Ebenezer, an unmarried 41 year old Cabinet Maker , in Sedgeford Lane, St Margaret, King's Lynn. While a few streets away, in South Clough Street, the newly widowed Ann was living with Eliza, Thomas, Sarah and Edmund. Ann and Eliza were Plain Sewers and Thomas was an Errand Boy. Ann lived on in Lynn until she died on June 2nd, 1878 at Bolts Yard, Purfleet Street , King's Lynn at the age of 71. The Informant was her brother, John, who affected the surname, Dixson. |
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