Earl of Abergavenny Bicentenary - Jottings Issue 2004/1

Since February 2005 is the bicentenary of the wrecking, David and I are planning how we might remember this important anniversary, our current plans are as follows: 

Firstly to mount two bronze information plaques, one on the Stone Pier and another at Portland Bill.  The site survey and response from the Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is encouraging and some sponsors have already been lined up, stone to mount them on has been identified at Albion Stone. We plan to unveil them on 5 February 2005. 

Secondly to have the tombstone of John Dick Lead-beater re-cut, the Diocesan Advisory Committee has approved plans but we still await the work to be under-taken by a monumental mason. Rodney Alcock has already taken a cast of the tombstone as it is today for posterity.

Thirdly to take Cannon Hugo (All Saints, Wyke) to the site on the 5^th February for a blessing and wreath laying, could the lifeboat be persuaded to do this?? 

And finally we have been liasing with the Wordsworth Trust to install a plaque in Wyke church, permissions have been obtained and the date set for the ceremony is 13 April 2005.

Earl of Abergavenny Anniversary February 5^th, 2005- Jottings Issue 2005/2

Plaque

At 10am on 5^th February 2005, the 200^th Anniversary of the sinking, a small crowd of about 40 people who had come from as far away as Nottingham, Newcastle, Chelmsford and London, including a descendant of the Wordsworth family, assembled at the west end of the Stone Pier for the unveiling of a commemorative bronze plaque by Andrew Sargent, Coxswain of the Weymouth Lifeboat. The plaque, that had been covered by a replica of the East India Company flag of 1805, briefly describes the tragedy, the location of the wreck and includes the following extract from William Wordsworth’s poem to his younger brother, the Commander of the ill-fated ‘Earl of Abergavenny’.

Ill-fated Vessel! - ghastly shock!
At length delivered from the rock,
The deep she hath regained;
And through the stormy night they steer;
Labouring for life, in hope and fear,
To reach a safer shore - how near,
Yet not to be attained!

Sponsorship now appears to be in place for a second plaque on Portland Bill overlooking the Shambles.

Commemorative Service

After the plaque unveiling 24 invited guests boarded the Weymouth Lifeboat and Ron Howse’s ‘Snapper’ to sail to where the ‘Earl of Abergavenny’ finally sank, here there was a short ceremony led by Canon Keith Hugo rector of All Saints’ Church, Wyke Regis, 2 minutes silence and a wreath cast upon the sea. At a meal later in the Nothe Tavern a collection for the Weymouth Lifeboat raised £67.

Salt Upon the Shore

To round off an outstanding day a number of those that had participated at the various events attended an evening of narrative and song in All Saints Church by ‘Time and Tide” which included a specially written work on the ‘Abergavenny’ as well as the ‘Royal Adelaide’, Lord Nelson and Trafalgar.

 Tomb Renovation

After obtaining appropriate permissions Weymouth Underwater Archaeological Group has employed a stonemason to clean, restore and re-cut the wording on the tombstone of the 16 year old cadet John Leadbeater, one of those lost in the ‘Abergavenny’, which is located in the churchyard of St Anne’s Radipole. During the work there was a call from the mason asking if we wanted him to correct the spelling mistake. You might have thought we would have said keep it as the original but as it was the surname which had been originally spelt “Leadbeaterer” rather than Leadbeater” we got him to leave out the last “er”! WUAG hopes to do another tomb when funds allow.

DJC

The ‘Abergavenny’ Anniversary Lecture Circuit

Jottings Issue 2005/2

Ed Cumming is being kept busy on a 3 county, 12 day “lecture tour” first as a speaker on the gunflints from the ‘Abergavenny’ with TV Archaeologist Phil Harding at the NAS HQ in Portsmouth, then to Dorchester to the DNHAS Archaeology Meeting in Dorchester to talk on the CD as a way of publishing research using the ‘Abergavenny’ CD that won their Biannual Award as an illustration and then on to Cumbria on 9^th Feb. to address the Wordsworth Trust.

DJC

Abergavenny Project Group - Jottings Issue 2005/2

What’s Next

WUAG feels that there are still a few more diving seasons on the wrecksite particularly on the “Boulder Site” which is assumed to be the “30 by 60 feet with beams and iron knees hanging to it” that was blown off by Braithwaite in 1806 and “hauled well away to the SW”. The 2004 multibeam sonar also revealed a large depression 50 metres to the east of the main site which requires checking out. The survey and documentation of the iron knees and their copper/iron fixings will also be ongoing.  Ed hopes that the story element of the CD will be published as a book and there is now talk of producing a DVD which if attainable would be another ground breaking achievement for the Abergavenny Project Group.

When Smoking was a Sport- Issue 2005/4

A common theme for ornamentation on clay pipes in the later 19^th century were popular sports that included football, tennis, fishing, golf and as seen here cricket. This interesting clay pipe was found on the ‘Earl of Abergavenny’ site and almost certainly must be considered an intrusive find probably discarded by a fisherman rather than from the wreck anything up to 100 years after she sank.