The wreck of the Palermo: related sources
Transcript of the Durham County Advertiser newspaper article, 17 April 1857
A SHIP'S CREW STARVED TO DEATH. - The following is an extract of a letter received at Lloyd's relative to the wreck of an English ship on the coast of Norway. It is dated, "Stavanger, March 14. - A pilot on the 2nd inst., boarded a vessel about eight miles from the land off Kinn, near Stavanger, dismasted and waterlogged. Found in the forecastle the bodies of six men, which he bought with him on shore, and another body was found between the cargo in the hold, which he could not succeed in landing. On one of the bodies was found an English Prayer-book, in which was written 'Joseph Bell, Slot-street, Hull, 1840,' and on another a double-cased silver pocket watch, on which the name of 'J. Buxton' was engraved. A certificate found on board proved the vessel to be the Holingen, from Narva, for Gainsborough, with a cargo of deals, &c. The vessel was found to be without provisions; the crew are therefore supposed to have died from starvation, especially as one of the bodies appeared to bear marks of having been attacked by the others to satisfy their hunger. Some of the bodies had evidently been dead some time, others only a few days.
[Durham University Library, Ref: M/film L072 DUR]
Transcript of the Durham Chronicle newspaper article, 24 April 1857
A SHIP'S CREW STARVED TO DEATH. - The insurance clubs of the north-east ports and the owner of the bark Parlarmo, of South Shields, have received all the information that is likely to transpire of the wreck of that unfortunate crew and passengers, a portion of them by cold and hunger. The vessel belonged to Mr. John Clough. She left Memel in the middle of January, and besides her ordinary crew before she sailed there were shipped on board of her George Gibson, Joseph Bell, George Storey, and John Wislop, shipwrecked seamen, belonging to the Halcyon, of Hull, who were returning to England, passengers; so that when she left Memel for England she would have from 15 to 20 hands aboard. She passed Elsinore on the 31st January, and no more was heard of her until last week. On the 14th of March a vessel, dismasted and waterlogged, was boarded off Norway by a pilot. Her decks were swept, and she was a perfect wreck, but on searching the forecastle, and among the deals with which she was laden, he discovered the corpses of six seamen who, to all appearances, had perished of cold and hunger. The vessel was subsequently got to Battlen, 15 miles from Burgen, and an attempt was made to discover her name. The master and officers appear to have lived in a round-house upon the deck, but the seas that had swept over the unfortunate bark had washed away every vestige of the house, and carried away all the ship's papers and boats. It was therefore impossible to make out the name of the vessel or her port. On one of the bodies, however, an English prayer-book was found, which had evidently been used by the poor mariner in his hour of extremity. Upon it was inscribed "James Bell, Slot-street, Hull, 1840." A certificate signed by the British Consul at Memel was also discovered upon another of the bodies, which, from a correspondence that has taken place with that functionary, it is put beyond all doubt is the same certificate granted to the shipwrecked men put on board the Palarmo before she sailed from Memel, and that the waterlogged vessel is the unfortunate bark. It is supposed that the principal portion of her crew was swept off her deck in the fearful gale that raged shortly after the passed Elsinore, and that, the provisions and other stores having been washed out of her along with the round-house, the poor fellows found dead on board had perished of cold and hunger. Captain W. Cleugh was the last of 11 fine stout men whose death his poor father has to lament. Several of them perished at sea. The captain also lost a fine young man, a son, before the vessel left Memel.
[Durham University Library, Ref: M/film L072 DUR]