Odd souvenirs washed up from a night of tragedy

This is always a cheerful affair and it was another splendid afternoon with an eclectic range of stalls and lots of happy people. Apart from eating some delicious cakes, it was also good to meet some readers of this column and I would like to say thank-you to all those who took the time to stop and have a chat.

I was very interested when one lady told me that she had recently found two ivory nuts on the beach at Seaford and believed that they had originated from the hold of the ship the Peruvian which grounded in the bay over 100 years ago.

The 600-ton barque Peruvian was an iron ship equipped with steel yardarms. It had been built by D&W Henderson shipbuilders in Glasgow in 1875, so had already seen considerable service. In 1898 it was owned by a Danish company and was en-route to Hamburg from Port Esmeralda in Cuba from where it had departed nearly five months earlier laden with timber and vegetable ivory.

Vegetable ivory is the nut of the South American palm and its main use at the time was in the button industry.

It was during a storm on February 8, 1898 that the Peruvian came ashore on the beach between Dane Road and the Martello Tower close to where the Esplanade Hotel once stood. Many people were awoken shortly after 3am by the distress rockets sent from the ship. The chief boatman on duty at Blatchington Coastguard Station was a Mr Farrell who, having been alerted, telephoned his counterpart at Newhaven to launch the lifeboat Michael Henry. He then went down to the beach to monitor the progress of the ship which was being pushed into the shore by a strong southerly wind.

The lifeboat was launched within 20 minutes and was soon alongside the vessel and rockets were fired to attach a line. After four attempts the line was secured and within 15 minutes Captain Norholm and his men were winched aboard. On landing back at Newhaven they were met by Mr John Bull, the Lloyds agent for the area.

The stricken ship moved closer to the shore but at 5am people on the shore were surprised to hear cries from the deck. Two men were seen on board and a line was thrown to the ship to save them. One man managed to get ashore and was immediately taken to the warmth of the Wellington Inn where he was cared for by the landlord Mr Hadlow and his wife.

The last man off the ship was the first mate by the name of Neilson but as he neared the shore he lost grip of the rope and a huge wave carried him off. Despite a chain of men, reaching into the sea for him, he was lost in the watery turmoil; it took three weeks for the stormy waters of Seaford Bay to offer up his body.

It seems surprising today that the captain and lifeboat crew left the two men aboard. Captain Norholm later reported that he had told the men to abandon ship but they had decided to pack their belongings first rather than be rescued. The surviving sailor denied this and said he was not aware that the lifeboat had pulled alongside.

Mr Bull led attempts to salvage the cargo and the following day the rails and spars were removed and recovered, but the bad weather continued and the ship began to break up, especially after the hull begun to crunch against the sea wall. Three days later at around midnight there was another storm and the ship broke up taking a part of the Esplanade wall with it.

Thousands of hard ivory nuts tipped into the bay. Although ivory nuts are heavy and sink, the subsequent tides bought many of them ashore and they became odd souvenirs for the visitors to the town. The event made national headlines and brought large crowds into Seaford, although the local newspaper was to complain that many of these people came from the 'undesirable classes'.

The ivory nuts came ashore in their hundreds and were collected by the local children. Some nuts were carved and etched to make crude 'scrimshaw' style souvenirs which were sold to the crowds who turned up to view the wreck. HH Evans, the local one-armed artist, painted the stricken ship and also etched several nuts. Seaford Museum has his drawings of the wreck and also examples of some of the painted nuts which are, these days, valued up to 100. The museum also has a ship's figurehead which is possibly from the Peruvian '“ but I have my doubts. More on this subject next week.

KEVIN GORDON