Well, duh. I forgot to paste the article in. Here is it is: From the Bristol Gazette, March 26, 1846-- “Seaman drowned.-- On Monday sen’night a gale of wind, from the south west, blew with great force. At eight o’clock the Swift steamer, a fine sea boat left Cumberland Basin, with a number of passengers. On reaching Kingroad, the jib was hoisted, and all was well, though the waves towered alarmingly, till she came within about three quarters of a mile to the eastward of Goldcliff, the wind then increasing to almost overwhelming violence, and the waves alarming to the passengers, many of whom momentarily expected a doom beneath the waters. Captain Parfitt seeing that the Swift would not bear the jib, ordered it to be hauled in, and when the sail was about half down, a tremendous sea struck the vessel forward, shivering the canvases and filling the fore-deck with water. John Bowtray [Bowhey] and John Phillips went out on the boom to stow the jib, when a second sea broke half jib stay up, and washed one of them overboard. Poor Bowtray [Bowhey] wore an oilskin coat buttoned at the waist and the water forcing its way under the garment lifted him from the boom, as it is supposed, and he being to leeward, was probably struck by the paddle-wheel, as his head was never seen above the waves. Phillips fortunately had his leg hitched in the head rail, and was rescued from his perilous situation. The mate, Charles Wareham, was forced, with the jib-sheet in one hand, holding by the bits with the other , to wade up to his waist in water, to try what could be done in the emergency. The water on the foredeck was level with the rail and the captain was engaged lifting the boards at the paddle-shaft, in order to let the water run aft and out of the paddle shaft, in order to let the water run aft and out of the accommodation gangway. The engine was making from 29 to 30 revolutions a minute; and on hearing the dismal cry-- “A man overboard, “the captain called out, “Stop her;” but every one being actively engaged, the word was not passed to the engineer. The captain ran aft for the boat, and saw the hand of poor Bowtray above water, about twenty yards from the stern, and immediately lost sight of it; it was again seen more distant, and was perceived no more; and even had the boat been got out, it could not have lived in such a sea as was then running; -- indeed it was with the greatest difficulty the Swift was saved from going ashore under Gold cliff, part of her paddle box was carried away in the gale, her windows were smashed, and a considerable portion of the furniture of the vessel was knocked about and much damaged. The alarm of the passengers was extreme. The deceased had sailed with Captain Parfitt nearly four years, and was well respected for his steadiness and general good conduct by all who knew him. The poor fellow has left a wife and seven small children destitute by his death. “ Explanation of some of the terms here: Goldcliff - is a village on the Welsh coast, opposite Bristol. '...broke half jib stay up" - the full phrase is ' a...sea broke half jib stay up'. The jib stay is the rope which runs from the bowsprit to the foremast and can be used to carry the jib sail; for a sea to break half way up this effectively means half way up the foremast. ' ..holding by the bits' - the bits or bitts are strong wooden or metal uprights used for securing ropes, usually anchor cables. (Hence the expression 'to the bitter end' meaning to run out the rope until there is no more to let go) As to the oilskin coat - the ones I have seen were very long (almost to the ankle) and would usually be buttoned down to the waist.

Dear Paula and Veronica, Thanks for your replies. I was very moved to read your story Paula. It was the enormous number of these disasters, 411 ships lost in one year (1873-1874), that got the public angry and, thanks to the efforts of Samuel Plimsoll, who had worked with sailors and knew the hazards of their lives, public opinion was raised against the shipowners, who until then had no duty to protect their crews and sailors refusing to join an overladen and unseaworthy ship were imprisoned. Samuel became an MP, wrote a book and managed to persuade the government to change the law to protect the sailors rather than the well insured owners. The maximum waterline drawn on the side of every ship, known as the Plimsoll Line, and inspections before embarking meant an end to the "coffin ships" and life at sea got a little safer - but not in time for our poor fellows. A song, a Cheer for Plimsoll was sung in 1876 when his law was passed. Best wishes, Jane http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kosmoid&id=I260