Hi all, The below story of the Orion reminded me about another story that I have in the Whithorn New cemetery listings. This is why it is so much nicer to have transcribed copies a few of Jock Birchman's original kirkyard listings. He was a very interesting man who I met in person once on my honeymoon in 1982 and I was fortunate enough to get to know him a wee bit better through the mail. He loved his hobby and it shows in what he did and his side notes that I have. Thanks to him (and my wife's typing) I have had the pleasure of helping some you you with particular MI lookups. The only thing I have done is remove the name of 1 person who might still be living in his story. Cheers Randy 22 Lettering to the South In memory of Captain Donald McNicol and Crew of Steamer "Jasper" of Glasgow who were drowned through Wreck of Steamer on 12th December 1888 Erected by Owners of "Jasper" Note: The story of the Jasper may be of interest. I thought, when recording this stone, that the crew must have been local men, but McNicol was not a local name. This intrigued me, so I asked around the old folks in the district. Strangely enough, nobody could remember anything about the Jasper. I checked the 1888 editions of the Galloway Gazette, nothing, so I thought, I would just record the stone as it was. Now here is the fascinating story of researching old items. Seven months had passed and there was no information about this shipwreck and the reason why the tombstone was erected in Whithorn Kirkyard. Then a cousin of mine died in Ayr, and his remains were brought Whithorn for burial. I went along to the funeral and there was a nephew of his there, he was a Bank Manager in Kilmacolm. He was interested in his forebears, so I showed him around his ancestors tombstones and in passing, showed him the stone on the "Jasper" and remarked that it was the only tombstone I could not get any information about. He must have been interested, for he made enquiries about the Jasper from the shipping people in Glasgow and came up with the following information and phoned me. This would be some 3 weeks after the funeral. 1. Jasper, launched in 1865 - J.R. Swain, builder-Steam, made of iron 80 tons gross -Owners: - William Roberts & Co., Glasgow. 2. Jasper-Barquentine -3 masted schooner-launched in 1867 - Builders J.W. Duncan-Owner: William Roberts & Co. Glasgow - Owner in 1861 McArthur and Turner in 1866. 3. Jasper-Iron steamship -279 tons gross-tonnage 158 tons-launched 1880 - Builders T.B. Seat & Co - Owners: - William Roberts & Co, Glasgow. It could not be 1 and 2, but could be No 3 but did not seem correct. Then another two weeks passed, then he phoned me to say that a customer had come into the Bank and he had casually remarked about the Jasper. She was evidently working in the Watt Museum in Greenock and was collating records, which previously had not been recorded, and she supplied the article in the Greenock Telegraph & Advertiser of 18th December 1888 p.2 - col. 5 which was as follows Loss of Clyde Steamer "Jasper" - Crew of Twelve drowned News has reached Ayr that the steamship "Jasper" from Workington to Glasgow, has foundered off the Wigtown coast. Captain McNicol and eleven men forming the crew were drowned. Mr. Robertson, Glasgow, owner of the steamer has now, no doubt that the vessel, which was seen to founder off the Wigtown coast on Thursday last (13th) was his steamer "Jasper" and he is inclined to believe that the crew have perished with the vessel. According to the information that has been received, the "Jasper" had struck on the rocks during the fog, her rudder and propellor being torn off and still lying on the rocks. The vessel in her helpless condition had drifted out from the shore for nearly a mile and then sunk in about seven fathoms of water. The "Jasper" was an iron screw steamer of 188 tons Nett and 287 gross register and was one of Mr. Robertson's "Gem" line of coasters. She was built eight years ago by Messrs T.B. Seath & Co. Vessel and cargo are valued at about £8000 and the loss will largely fall on Glasgow underwriters. This was indeed a breakthrough. It was now established that the crew must have been from Glasgow, but then the question of the 12 bodies, they could not all have been buried in the small plot where the tombstone is and in 1888, it would not have been possible to take dead bodies to Glasgow, especially having been in the sea. Then three weeks later, Captain XXXXX from Port William, phoned me to say that he had some more information about the "Jasper". Willie McCulloch from the Isle of Whithorn, aged 91 when he died, had recalled his father telling him about the "Jasper". It was wrecked at Dinnans Head on the Dinnans coast, the only body to be washed ashore, was the body of Capt McNicol, minus his head, and he was buried where the stone is. Nothing was ever heard of the eleven members of the crew or of their bodies. The only survivor of the ship was the ship's dog, a wee terrier, which swam ashore and exhausted, found its way to the farm of the Dinnans, and the McGowans, who had been in the farm for generations, took it in and cared for it, it lived for a number of years and was a great favourite with everybody. Evidently the sunken Jasper was bought for salvage by a Mr. McCulloch from Glasgow, who managed to salvage the cargo and fittings, of iron rails cargo. He had divers go down, but the salvage ship was also wrecked and he went bankrupt on the deal. The wreck was first discovered by the local postman on foot, in these days all mail was delivered by postmen walking. He had given the letters to the Dinnans farm and was walking along the cliff top, en route for Portyerrock, when he saw the masts sticking up out of the water and reported the wreck. The rudder and propeller was visible at low tide for a number of years, then I suppose, it just rusted away. The wreck can evidently still be seen in the clear water, it was buoyed recently by amateur skindivers, who fish around it for conger eel and other fish. And so, out of nothing, the story of the "Jasper" emerged, it was really fascinating. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert & Avril Dalby" <bodal@aapt.net.au> To: <SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:33 PM Subject: [WIG LIST] loss of the Orion > Thank you Diane for finding the web page of the Old Mersey Times which > describes the sinking of a ship called 'Orion'. > > Someone else may have put a query out on the 'Orion', but I do have an MI > in the Wigtown Kirkyard of a William McTaggart who was on the ship > 'OBION', - he died at Telchuano, South America, January 20th 1829 aged 29 > years. > > My daughter who is on another list put out a query on 'Obion', and a reply > came back saying there was no exact match for this vessel, but there was a > Schooner 'OBERON' that was in Valperiso in 1828. I still have to follow > this up in Chile. > > The website you gave is an excellent resource. > > Avril > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message