MARITIME:

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MARITIME: H.M.S. Birkenhead silver hallmarked vanity/toiletry box London 1849 owned by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Seton, 74^th Highlanders, 5^th Baron of Mounie and recovered from the wreck of the Birkenhead. The collection includes a letter from Seton’s brother dated Jan 1855 thanking the recipient for the return of his dressing table set from the wreck of the Birkenhead.

The Birkenhead, an iron paddle ship, had sailed from the Cove of Cork in Ireland with 634 people on board, most of them soldiers, some with their wives and children, bound for action in the Frontier War against Kaffir and Hottentot tribesmen in the Cape of Good Hope. Lt-Col Seton was the senior officer on board, in charge of detachments from ten British regiments. The vessel was in the command of experienced Royal Naval Captain Robert Salmond. In spite of the sudden nature of the catastrophe, Seton issued his orders with perfect calmness. The scene is said by an eyewitness to have resembled an embarkation, with the difference that there was less confusion. The boats could only contain the women and children, and out of 634 persons 445 were lost, Seton himself being killed by the fall of part of the wreck.

Sergeant David Andrews " S ", later Staff Sgt Major of the 60^th KRRC (now the Royal Greenjackets), wrote a letter to Mr. David Seton, brother of Colonel Alexander Seton, the senior Army Officer on board the vessel, describing the gallantry displayed by Colonel Seton:

"Lt Colonel Alexander Seton of Mounie, Aberdeenshire. Senior Army Officer aboard ship. Was on his way to command the 74^th of Foot in the 8^th Frontier War 1846-1858. This disaster started the protocol of "women and children first!", which became a standard evacuation procedure in maritime disasters, although the phrase was not coined until 1860. Similarly, "Birkenhead Drill" carried out by soldiers became the epitome of courageous behaviour in hopeless circumstances. The phrase appears in Rudyard Kipling's tribute to the Royal Marines, "Soldier an' Sailor Too":

Captain Salmond rushed on deck, he ordered the anchor to be dropped, the quarter-boats to be lowered, and a turn astern to be given by the engines. However, as the ship backed off the rock, the sea rushed into the large hole made by the collision and the ship struck again, buckling the plates of the forward bilge and ripping open the bulkheads. Shortly, the forward compartments and the engine rooms were flooded, and over 100 soldiers were drowned in their berths. The surviving soldiers mustered and awaited their officers' orders. Salmond ordered Colonel Seton to send men to the chain pumps, and sixty were directed to this task, sixty more were assigned to the tackles of the lifeboats, while the rest were assembled on the poop deck in order to raise the forward part of the ship. Seton issued the command declaring, "Gentlemen would you please be kind enough to preserve order and silence amongst the men and ensure that any orders given by Capt Salmond are instantly obeyed?", "the women and children first", and then the 6ft 3in, 38-year old stood by the gangway as the seven women and 13 children were put aboard the ships cutter, which lay alongside. Two other boats were manned, but one was immediately swamped and the other could not be launched due to poor maintenance and paint on the winches, leaving only three boats available. The two large boats, with capacities of 150 men each, were not among them. The surviving officers and men assembled on deck, where Lieutenant-Colonel Seton of the 74^th Regiment of Foot took charge of all military personnel and stressed the necessity of maintaining order and discipline to his officers. Almost everybody kept silent, indeed nothing was heard, but the kicking of the horses and the orders of Salmond, all given in a clear firm voice. Colonel Seton however, recognizing that rushing the lifeboats would risk swamping them and endangering the women and children, issued the counter-order and, his sword drawn, ordered the men to stand fast: "You will swamp the cutter containing the women and children. I implore you not to do this thing and I ask you all to stand fast". Seconds later the Birkenhead broke her back, not a man disobeyed Lt-Col Seton's orders and they shook hands and said goodbye as the water closed in over their heads. Only three men defied and made the attempt. The cavalry horses were freed and driven into the sea in the hope that they might be able to swim ashore. The soldiers did not move, even as the ship broke up barely 20 minutes after striking the rock. Some of the soldiers managed to swim the 2 miles (3.2 km) to shore over the next 12 hours, often hanging on to pieces of the wreck to stay afloat, but most drowned, died of exposure or were taken by sharks.

A number of sailors were court-martialled as a result of the accident. The court was held on 8 May 1852 on board H.M.S. Victory in Portsmouth, and attracted a great deal of interest. However as none of the senior naval officers of the Birkenhead survived, no-one was found to be to blame. Captain Edward WC Wright of the 91^st Argyllshire Regiment told the court martial:

'The order and regularity that prevailed on board, from the moment the ship struck till she totally disappeared, far exceeded anything that I had thought could be affected by the best discipline; and it is the more to be wondered at seeing that most of the soldiers were but a short time in the service. Everyone did as he was directed and there was not a murmur or cry amongst them until the ship made her final plunge – all received their orders and carried them out as if they were embarking instead of going to the bottom – I never saw any embarkation conducted with so little noise or confusion.

In memory of Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Seton, Ensign Alex. C. Russell, and forty-eight N.C.O.s and men of the 74^th Highlanders who were drowned at the wreck of H.M.S. 'Birkenhead' on the 26^th February 1852, off Point Danger, Cape of Good Hope, after all the women and children on board had been safely landed in the ship's boats.' 28cm x 11cm in leather case with a handwritten label explaining its history.

Auction of Titanic, White Star, Transport and Icons of the 20th Century.

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Apr 26, 2025 12:00 PM BST

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