The Loss of the ss Collynie – A Gray Family Tragedy

ss Collynie, an Aberdeen Steam Collier
In the late 19^th Century, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, coal was the fuel of choice for most industries.  It was mined extensively in Scotland and the North of England and there was a substantial export trade from the ports of the Tyne and Wear and, in Scotland, especially from Methil in Fife, which at the height of the trade exported more than 3 million tons per year.  Originally coal was carried in collier sailing brigs but in 1852 the first iron steam collier was developed.  Although more expensive to build and run than its wind-powered predecessor, its independence of wind conditions and ability to take on water ballast led to much higher productivity.  Steam colliers were constructed by the hundred to transport coal both across the North Sea and up and down the coasts of England and Scotland.

One such steam collier was the ss Collynie which was steel-built at Hall Russell’s shipyard at Footdee, Aberdeen in 1892.  The name of the ship appears to have been taken from the name of a farm near Methlick, north of the Granite City.  Miss Edith Moffatt, daughter of the ship’s owner Mr Todd Moffatt, performed the naming ceremony on 7^th June 1892.  After the ceremony the company removed to an adjoining loft where they enjoyed a banquet of cake and wine and toasted the success of the new vessel.  Two weeks later the Collynie was ready for her sea trial and achieved 11 ½ knots in Aberdeen Bay.  The same day she left for Methil on her first commercial trip under the command of Captain Pirie.

This first trip was typical of the unglamourous life of the Collynie and her crew over the next seven years.  She ran up and down the North Sea wherever she could gain a contract.  Usually her cargo was coal but she occasionally carried other materials, such as cement.  By the start of 1897 the Collynie was under the command of Captain Lawie and in the first four months of that year she called at 16 different ports, the most frequent being Sunderland (15), Aberdeen, her home port (9), Dundee (6) and London (4).  Lawie had held a certificate of competency for 7 years but his maritime career had not been without incident.  He had been master of the Aberdeen steam collier Paradox when she was grounded near Sunderland in fog in 1895, becoming a total wreck.

Coal from Methil to Aberdeen

On 1^st May 1897 the Collynie left Dundee in ballast for Methil, Fife, where she loaded 250 tons of coal bound for Aberdeen.  On board was a crew of 9, including Captain Lawie and 3 passengers, Mrs Jemima Lawie, the captain’s wife and his two sons, John and George.  The remaining crew consisted of the Mate, the Boatswain, the Chief Engineer, the Second Engineer, two firemen, the Cook and a seaman.  The cook was William Smart, a 53 year old Aberdonian, husband of Helen Maria Gray, daughter of the late Alexander Gray, the Aboyne village baker.  William Smart himself had been a baker in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, following in the footsteps of his father who had been a master baker.  William jun. subsequently pursued a life as a sailor.  Up to a month prior to joining the Collynie, William had been a steward on the Craigisla of Liverpool but, as that vessel was currently in port discharging her cargo, he was out of work, though he was due to rejoin his old ship.  This was his first voyage on the Collynie and, tragically, his last.  The Second Engineer was another Aberdonian, 25 year old John Davidson, a nephew of William Smart.  John’s father, Peter Davidson, was a gamekeeper with the 11^th Marquis of Huntly in Aboyne and was married to Jane Gray, a sister of William Smart’s wife.  John Davidson had only joined the Collynie as Second Engineer about a month before William Smart, having previously served an engineering apprenticeship with Clyne, Mitchell & Co, a marine engine builder in Aberdeen.  It seems likely that John had alerted his uncle to the crew vacancy on the Collynie.

The Collynie must have started her journey from Methil in the early afternoon of 3^rd May after taking on her cargo of 250 tons of coal.  As a result she would have been low in the water.  She travelled at full speed, about 9 ½ knots in this condition and was approaching Aberdeen at 10pm in calm, clear weather on a course north by west.  The crew were called up on deck as was usual at this time as the Collynie rounded Girdleness, with its prominent lighthouse, just south of the entrance to Aberdeen harbour.  Captain Lawie was in charge on the bridge and the boatswain was at the helm.  No one was separately on lookout, which was normal practice.  At 10.10pm the captain called for half speed.  He noticed another vessel at this time about 3 points on his starboard bow with all lights clearly visible.  This other vessel later proved to be the ss Girnigoe, whose master was Captain William Taylor.  The Girnigoe was also a steam collier owned by the John O’Groats Steam Shipping Company.  Her normal area of operations, like the Collynie, was up and down the east coast, though she did also travel to the Baltic in the summer months.  On this occasion she was outward bound from Wick, in ballast, travelling at 10 – 12 knots and steering south and west on a course for Sunderland, where she was to take on coal.  Because she was in ballast the Girnigoe was riding much higher in the water than the Collynie.

Collynie collides with another collier, the Girnigoe

At 10.30pm the Collynie was heading straight for Aberdeen and the Girnigoe was maintaining her course and speed.  The vessels were closing on each other rapidly and about 2 minutes before the ensuing collision Captain Lawie on the Collynie heard one long whistle blast from the Girnigoe, a signal he did not understand but replied in kind.  Immediately afterwards he gave two short blasts to signal that he was starboarding his helm (turning to the left) and then ordered full speed ahead to get clear of the Girnigoe but that vessel ported her helm (turned to the right) and continued to do so, keeping her on course for a collision. The Collynie was struck amidships by the bow of the Girnigoe with both ships probably still travelling at full speed.

The Collynie must have been badly holed below the waterline (she was low in the water) and immediately began to sink.  Captain Lawie, recognising the dire situation, immediately ordered three hands forward to put the dingy overboard, ordered the engines to be stopped and all hands up from the engine room.  Lawie raced below to get life belts for his wife and two children and managed to get them on deck and the boys into life belts. The crew, who had reacted calmly were ordered into the port lifeboat but there was no time to complete the action and the Collynie sank not more than two minutes after the collision.  Captain Lawie tried to hold on to his wife (who had no flotation aid) and children as the boat went down by the head (bow first) but he was struck by some of the funnel gear and lost contact with his family.  When he returned to the surface he managed to grab hold of a floating hatch cover and was picked up by a boat from the Girnigoe in an unconscious condition.  He was the only survivor, all the other crew, his wife and two sons perishing.

The Girnigoe was holed and her bow crushed but she was not in danger.  She stood by at the scene of the collision for some time but found neither survivors nor significant floating wreckage.  Captain Lawie was landed on the Girnigoe and later claimed that Captain Taylor had said to him “I was wrong and I suppose I shall get into trouble.”  Taylor later denied he made this statement, though the judge at the subsequent hearing in the Admiralty Court doubted his veracity.  The accident was witnessed by three other ships. Of these, the Faerder, a Norwegian steamer was approaching Aberdeen harbour at the time and saw two green lights rapidly converging.  One of the lights went out suddenly and he heard shouts from that direction but mistook the significance of the events, believing the shouts to be communication with a pilot.  The St Clair was about half a mile from the collision, saw what had happened and launched a boat.  On the way to the scene the boat’s crew heard the cries of those thrown into the water but when it arrived at the location of the collision no one was found.  When the St Clair’s boat returned, Captain Masson took his ship into port and hove to opposite the Captain Pilot’s office to give the news. Immediately the tug William Finlay was despatched to the scene and Captain Lawie was brought ashore on the tug and comforted by fellow mariners, having suffered the loss not only of his ship and crew but also his immediate family.  The newspaper reports of the accident gave prominence to the tragedy that had befallen Captain Lawie but the remainder of crew, who drowned, left at least seven widows and thirty one orphaned children behind.   Several wives of the crew had gathered at the quayside to await the expected return of the Collynie and the news of the loss of the vessel so close to her home port caused great shock and distress.  The news of the collision spread rapidly in the town and others hurried down to the harbour hoping to hear that there had been survivors.  Their hopes were to be disappointed.

The William Finlay was sent out again the following morning to look for bodies but found none.  Indeed, of the eleven who perished, only one body that of William Smart, was recovered.  He was found floating about 2 ½ miles offshore by the crew of a Portlethen fishing boat the day after the collision, 4^th May, having drifted about 5 miles from the position of the collision.  William Smart was identified later that day by two of his sons, who travelled down to Portlethen and his bodywas taken back to Aberdeen.  William’s sleeves were rolled up and it appears that he was preparing to swim (he was known to be a strong swimmer).  William was buried the following Saturday at Trinity Cemetery, Aberdeen.

Fatal Accident Inquiry

An Inquiry under the Fatal Accidents Act was held at Stonehaven on 12^th May 1897 before a jury.  Each captain blamed the other for causing the accident.  Captain Lawie gave the opinion that the Girnigoe had been at fault for porting her helm (turning right) and continuing to do so, which maintained her on a collision course with the Collynie.  Captain Taylor claimed that the accident was the fault of the Collynie for failing to port her helm when Girnigoe whistled her to do so (Captain Lawie said he did not understand that signal – it should have been one short blast but he interpreted it as one long blast).  Had Girnigoe done so, the collision would have been avoided.  Captain Taylor admitted he could have kept clear of the Collynie but did not know the other vessel’s instructions.  The following day the jury at the Inquiry found that the accident was due to the combined actions of the two captains, though it was not required to apportion blame.  However, a knowledgeable witness had given a different opinion, that the collision was entirely the fault of the Girnigoe for turning to the right when not requested by the Collynie.  Had she maintained her course the accident would have been avoided.  A separate hearing into the cause of the accident was heard in the Admiralty Court in London on 30^th June 1897.  In this much more knowledgeable court, the Captain of the Girnigoe was found entirely to blame and the accuracy of the ship’s log and the truthfulness of Captain Taylor’s testimony called into question.

On 8^th May 1897 the owners, Master and crew of the Collynie instituted an action in the Admiralty Court against the owners of the Girnigoe for the recovery of damages.  The Girnigoe owners made a counter-claim for the cost of damage to their vessel.  However, the finding that the Girnigoe was entirely to blame for the accident caused the John O’Groats Steam Shipping Company to change tack.  They subsequently admitted responsibility but sought to limit their total liability for damages, under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, to £15/ton of the Girnigoe’s registered tonnage.  The Admiralty Court granted the plea of the plaintiffs and ordered them to pay into court £2268 14s 6d in respect of the loss of the ship (equivalent to £8/ton) and give bail for £1985 2s 8d in respect of life claimants (equivalent to £7/ton).  It is not clear when this money eventually reached the families of the deceased or how it was broken down between the different claimants.  It would have been equivalent to about £250,000 in 2013 money.

Impact on the families of the dead men

How did the two families cope with the loss of their husbands? 

Helen Maria Gray was the 11^th child and 4^th daughter of Alexander Gray and was thus born into a rather crowded household next to the bakery in Aboyne, in August 1849.  Her brother Andrew, the intellectual in the family, was appointed as headmaster of the Aboyne Public School in 1855.  As part of the remuneration for the job he had the use of the schoolmaster’s house on Charleston Road.  Andrew never married and the house was far bigger than necessary for his personal needs.  Various sisters and other relatives lived with him from time to time and in 1861 his sisters Helen Maria and Ann were lodging there.  By 1871 Helen Maria had moved back to the house of her parents.  In 1873 she married William Smart at Aboyne.  It is not known how she met William but the fact that both her father and William’s father were bakers may have been responsible in some way for the growth of the friendship.

At the time of his marriage, William Smart jun. was described as both a steward on a merchantman and a baker.  He spent the rest of his life alternating between these two careers.  William and Helen Maria’s first child, Susan Maria Gray, was born in September 1875 in Aberdeen and, at the registration of the birth, William was described as a ship’s steward.  The subsequent children arrived in 1878 (William Harley), 1879 (Andrew Gray), 1880 (Albert Alexander) and 1881 (Helen Jane).  The latter four children were all born in Old Deer.  This appears to have been a phase when William Smart was baking for a living and his status as a master baker was confirmed at the 1881 Census.  No further children were born after these five, who had arrived in quick succession.  In 1891 William Smart was absent from home, 93 Park Street but, his wife Helen Maria was at home, along with the four youngest children, all described as scholars.  These circumstances suggest that husband William gave up baking to return to the sea in or soon after 1881.  Perhaps economic circumstances compelled him to change course.  William Smart’s return to the sea left Helen Maria at home to raise a family five, then aged 6, 3, 2, 1 and a few months.  Helen Maria thus had a very hard task.  At least when the tragic accident to the Collynie occurred in 1897 the family had essentially grown up, with the youngest then 16.

Curiously, Susan Maria Gray Smart, the first child of William and Helen, has not been found in either the 1881 Census (when she would have been 5 or 6) or in the 1891 Census (when she would have been 10 or 11).  In 1901 Susan Maria Gray Smart reappeared in the Census working as a domestic tablemaid at the Deeside Hydropathic Institution at Murtle, near Peterculter in the Dee valley.  On 23^rd October 1901 she married her first cousin, William Gray Davidson, a journeyman baker from the village of Aboyne, about 20 miles west of Murtle.  His father, John, had married another daughter of Alexander Gray, Martha Mary and had himself become the village baker of Aboyne in succession to her late father.  Presumably John Davidson’s son William was working in the family business.  This marriage suggests that Susan Maria Gray Smart had kept in touch with her Aboyne-based relatives.  Susan and William settled down in Aboyne and eventually Susan’s mother Helen Maria moved in with them at Annaville, Aboyne, dying there in the village of her birth in 1918.

John Davidson (not related to John Davidson the baker), the other Gray family victim of the Collynie disaster, had married Ruth Findlay in September 1894, less than three years before his tragic early death.  They were 20 and 19 respectively.  At the time of marriage the usual address for each of them was given as 93 Park Street, Aberdeen, Ruth’s parental home.  Her father, George Findlay, was a seaman and it seems likely that John Davidson was a lodger in the Findlays’ house, which was close to the harbour, where John was pursuing his engineering apprenticeship with Clyne, Mitchell & Co.  In April 1896, Ruth’s widowed mother, Helen, died.  Ruth was pregnant at the time and she gave birth to a son, John Andrew Gray Davidson in September of that year.  When the sinking of the Collynie occurred the following May, baby John was less than a year old.  Ruth Davidson thus found herself in a very difficult situation.  Both her parents and her husband of three years were now dead.  Not only did she have to cope with the loss of an income, but she probably had no home and no one close by in her immediate family to help with raising the baby.

At the 1901 Census John AG Davidson, then four years old, was a visitor at the house of Mansfield Ross, a plumber who lived at 10 Union Grove, Aberdeen.  Mansfield Ross had married Annie Davidson, sister of John Davidson.  Jane and Peter Davidson, the parents of Annie and John, were visiting their daughter because she has given birth three days previously to her first child, a girl and they had taken two of their own children, plus grandson John, with them.  It is likely that John AG Davidson was living with his Davidson grandparents on an extended basis to allow his mother Ruth to seek work.  In 1901 she was far from Aberdeen working as a domestic nurse for James Paterson and his family in Dumfriesshire.  James Paterson was, in fact, a well-known artist.  His parents were from a wealthy Glasgow textile family and, though he started in the family business, his interests lay in art.  He attended Glasgow School of Art in the evenings and became a founding member of “The Glasgow Boys” school of painters.  After marrying, he set up home in a cottage in the village of Moniaive, where he lived between 1879 and 1903.  He became famous for portraying the surrounding countryside.  Ruth Davidson worked for the Patersons in Moniaive around the turn of the century and eventually married a local man, John McCheyne.  In 1911 the McCheynes were living in High Street, Moniaive, where John McCheyne had a cycle dealership.  Happily, by this time, John AG Davidson was again living with his mother and step-father.

It was a characteristic of the wider Gray family that they looked after their own and, on other occasions when circumstances overwhelmed a family member, they rallied round to share the burden, often by taking in one or more children.  This happened in the case John AG Davidson, son of the late John Davidson and may also have happened in the case of Susan Maria Gray Smart, who “disappeared” from the census records of 1881 and 1891. Although there is no direct evidence that she was informally adopted by part of the extended Gray family, the circumstances make this a plausible hypothesis.

Don Fox

20141111

donaldpfox@gmail.com