Location
On the South wall of the church at the Eastern end.
The Survivors
From "My Book" by Sarah Robinson.
The photograph was taken 3 days
after their return.
In Memory of
The undermentioned Engineer Officers
who perished in HMS Captain off
the Coast of Spain on the 7th Sept
1870
George Rock Chief Engr
Willm C Moreton Engr
Peter Baldwin Engr
Fredk Pursell Engr
John H Willis Engr
George H Barnes Engr
George P Gardiner Ass Engr 1st Class
Thomas W Curtis Ass Engr 1st Class
Alfred Purkis Ass Engr 2nd Class
Further Information
HMS Captain was an experimental ship which capsized during her initial trials in the Bay of Biscay, on 7th September 1870.
Out of a crew of over 500 only 18 survived. The names of the survivors (see the photo on the left) are listed as James May, James Ellis, Lewis Werry, James Harvey, George Bride, Charles Tregenna, John Heard, Robert Herd, William Lawrence, David Dryburgh, John Walker, James Freeman, Henry Grange, Robert Tomlinson, Thomas Kernan, Francis Merryman, James Saunders and John Gribble.
One of those who perished was Captain Hugh Talbot Burgoyne who was awarded the Victoria Cross for heroism during the Crimean War. Further information can be seen on the VC page for John Robarts who was awarded the VC in the same incident.
There are two larger, more comprehensive memorials to the disaster in St Paul's Cathedral in London, one listing the ship's officers, and the other listing the seamen, Royal Marines and boys who died.
There is a website dedicated solely to HMS Captain, the disaster and the descendants of the crew at www.hmscaptain.co.uk.
See also the memorial to Edward Dudley Ryder who perished in the disaster also in St Ann's Church.
