More from the News of The World Just to let listers know, I have transcribed these reports exactly as they appeared in the newspapers and have no further information on the articles. Best regards Heather Carbis Sunday 19 September 1886 COUNTRY NEWS DURHAM A lamentable accident has occurred off Seaham Harbour, by which two men were drowned. The day was fixed for the usual annual regatta, and one of the boats entered for the sailing race, a pilot coble named the John and Mary, was having a little practice about half a mile off the pier-end shortly before 1 o'clock in the afternoon. There were five men in the coble- Morley SCOTT, pilot; William WILLIS, assistant pilot; Thomas THURLBECK, sailor; Alexander JOHNSON, fisherman; and Thomas SPOORS, fitter; all the men, with the exception of Johnson, who belongs to Sunderland, being from Seaham Harbour. A strong breeze was blowing at the time, and the coble appeared to be carrying too much sail, as she turned over on her side, and, filling with water, sank almost instantly. The men made desperate efforts to keep themselves afloat by clinging to the floating gear, and three cobles from the shore, named The Rose, The Spring and The Elizabeth, making good sail, picked up SCOTT, WILLIS and SPORES, but were unable to save THURLBECK and JOHNSON, who unfortunately, sank and were drowned in sight of a large number of people on shore. JOHNSON was married and leaves a widow and a large family. THURLBECK was only about 18 years of age and was unmarried. The Viceroy of Ireland, the Marquis of Londonderry, with the Marchioness of Londonderry, and their two children were on the North pier at the time of the accident, and did all they could in getting assistance sent to the drowning men. The Regatta was postponed to some future day, and it is singular that a similar thing happened about 13 years ago, when on the day of the regatta the man Morley SCOTT, who had charge of the boat on Saturday, was in charge of a coble which sank, and five men were drowned. Online Parish Clerk for Morvah Cornwall http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~morvah Visit my Family Tree at GOODWIN and GORDON http://heatherac.tribalpages.com