The Wreck of the Mars

‘…Exposed on the Gun Wharf, buffeted by a fierce blow, the man and boy stood side by side and took in Portsmouth Harbour. The expanse of sea and sky, a wider horizon than Francis had ever dreamed possible, stretched out in every direction, crowded with ships and crafts and men and buildings…At every angle lay ships at anchor in various stages of fitting, repair or readiness. Further off lay vessels preparing to put out to sea, sails like giant bed sheets billowing in the blow, their hulls rising and falling in the turbid waters, straining against their holding ropes and anchors. Men scurried about dockside hauling bales, dragging carts, hefting sacks, heaving loads. Rowing boats of different sizes and shapes plied back and forth from ship to shore. Everyone had a purpose. It was a complex world of men who knew exactly what they were doing, engaged in feverish activity like ants on a hill, labouring through the rain, oblivious to the elements…’

Dragon: Chapter 3. ‘A Wider Horizon’ p. 52

**View from the Gun Wharf ( Dominic Serres c.1770)**

In 1754, at the tender age of fourteen, young Francis Light joined the Royal Navy. Possibly on account of his dubious birth, he was unable to secure a commission as a midshipman – the usual junior entry level for gentlemen – instead embarking upon his naval career as a surgeon’s mate, a lowly position in the onboard hierarchy. His first posting was on HMS Mars, a 64-gun 3rd rate ship of the line under the command of an up-and-coming captain, John Amherst, who was himself of relatively humble birth, the son of a lawyer from Kent.

**Captain John Amherst (Richard Wilson 1749)**

The Mars has an interesting backstory. Originally a French vessel launched in 1740, Le Mars, it had been captured by the British ship HMS Nottingham back in 1746 whilst part of the Duc D’Anville expeditionary fleet.

The Duc d’Anville Expedition 1746

Jean-Baptiste Louis Frédéric de la Rochefoucalde, Duc d’Anville, was the admiral of the largest fleet ever assembled thus far, a vast armada of 11,000 men on 64 ships. Its mission was to recapture Acadia, known to the British as Nova Scotia. A French colony since 1689, it had been seized by the British in 1710 and from that time on the territory became a hotly contested theatre of war until 1758 (during the Seven Years’ War) when it was finally secured by Britain. The Duke’s mission in 1746 was to retake Acadia, set fire to Boston, and ravage both New England and the British West Indies – in other words cause maximum nuisance to the British, as well as reclaim the territory that the French believed was rightfully theirs.

The expedition ended in abject failure. Beset by dreadful weather conditions, many of its ships were severely damaged, while at the same time disease ravished the crews. Even the Duke died. Le Mars itself sustained heavy damage off the coast of Nova Scotia; it was decided it should return to France. On the way home, Le Mars ran into more destructive gales and sustained further damage. Off the south west coast of Ireland, some 20 leagues from Cape Clear Island, Le Mars came across two British warships, HMS Nottingham and HMS Exeter.

*Le Mars* captured by HMS *Nottingham* (Samuel Scott 1746)

**The Capture of Le Mars 11th October 1746**

HMS Nottingham (Captain Philip Saumarez) and HMS Exeter (Captain Thomas Lake) attacked the crippled vessel off Cape Clear Island near County Cork, and seized it as a prize. They found the ship was carrying many sick sailors and had already lost half its crew to typhus and scurvy. More than 60 more men were to die after the ship was taken. The series of disaster that had befallen Le Mars brought it the reputation of being an unlucky vessel.

In 1747, Le Mars was recommissioned and refitted as a British warship, the HMS Mars, with a complement of 470 men; its 3rd captain, John Amherst, was appointed in 1753. The Mars was initially a guard ship at Plymouth, its function being to patrol the port and protect shipping. In 1755, however, with Francis Light on board, it was ordered to join the North American Fleet under the Honourable Edward Boscawen, an admiral of some renown. This fleet had been dispatched to protect Louisbourg and British Nova Scotia from French encroachment.

**Admiral Boscawen ( Joshua Reynolds 1755)**

**The Loss of HMS Mars June 24th 1755**

On June 8th 1755, Boscawen, with several of his escort ships, encountered three French ships in the waters off Nova Scotia and fired on them; it was to become the first engagement of the Seven Years’ War. Only a few of the vessels accompanying Boscawen took part in this battle, which was a narrow British victory. Apart from a reference that some ships had been sent to Halifax because of scurvy amongst their crews, information is scarce. In Dragon, I speculated on what may have been behind this, suggesting another reason for Boscawen’s decision to split his fleet.

Whatever the reason, the ill-fated HMS Mars would never reach Halifax. On the entrance to Halifax Bay in poor weather and in the dark of night, the Mars ran onto a dangerous shoal just off the coast, not far from Herring Cove. Little is known of the details of the wreck other than that John Amherst was later court martialled in London and remained confined to shore for a year. Ultimately, he was acquitted of all charges of negligence, and reinstated. The inquiry reports that the cause of the foundering was ‘pilot error’. Perhaps the fact that there seems to have been no fatalities and that the guns and much of the cargo were salvaged before the ship went down had something to do with the favourable decision. The notorious shoal where the Mars sank has been known as Mars Rock ever since.

**Halifax Bay, showing the site of Mars Rock**

The Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia is treacherous and has been a veritable graveyard for shipping for centuries. Those that have come to grief have rarely been so successfully evacuated to lose neither men nor equipment, even when a vessel has sunk close to shore such are the high seas and wicked rocks that hinder rescue attempts. How the crew of the Mars managed to escape the fate that has taken the lives of so many other souls in this location intrigued me. One more famous – and tragic – disaster that happened over a hundred years later in somewhat similar conditions gave me some food for thought – and suggested a possible role for young Francis Light on the Mars in which he might show his mettle!

The SS Atlantic Disaster 1873

The SS Atlantic was a steam-powered ocean liner from a later age than the Mars that advertised itself as the quickest and most luxurious passenger transport from Europe to America. Launched by the White Star Line in 1870, it was a popular transatlantic vessel of choice. On its 19th voyage, under Captain James Agnew Williams, the Atlantic set out from Liverpool to New York when it ran into fierce weather. The ship was blown off course, delaying its arrival to New York.

As was often the case with such passenger ships, the owners were always keen to trim expenditure to the bone for the sake of profit. A typical practice was only to carry the minimum of coal to lighten the ship for faster travel, enable more space for cargo, and lower fuel costs. Captains relied on their knowledge of the sea lanes to make the journey as efficiently as possible, despite the unpredictable nature of the North Atlantic seas. It was always a dangerous game to play.

When the SS Atlantic ran into brutal storms which slowed down its progress, it became obvious that the dwindling coal supplies would be insufficient to last until New York. Captain Williams thus decided to detour to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to take on more coal. Halifax Bay was not a harbour with which he nor other members of the crew were familiar. It also appears that, unbeknownst to the crew, the Atlantic had been blown at least 20 km off course; they were not where they thought they were. Furthermore, late at night in poor weather and visibility, Captain Williams made the unwise decision to leave the deck for a sleep, informing his officers to wake him if there were any issues. What happened next was remarkably complacent and wholly negligent.

**The Wreck of the SS *Atlantic* 1st April 1873**

The storm was strong, and the seas were high. The coastline was unfamiliar. The officers did not take soundings nor post a look out. As a result, they had no idea that they had not entered Halifax Bay but were instead sailing straight towards the coastline to the south west. Even when they began to wonder why they had not passed the well-known Halifax Bay lighthouse landmark, they did not wake the captain. By the time they realised that rocks were looming before them, it was too late to take diversionary action.

At 3.15 am on April 1st, 1873, the SS Atlantic struck the outlying Golden Rule Rock, a shoal that lay in relatively shallow water off the coast of Marr’s Head, Marr’s Island, near Lower Prospect. The similarity in name to ‘Mars Rock’ is uncanny, although this place name was originally spelt as Meagher (the Gaelic spelling). The ship ran aground on the rock and then keeled backwards, pounded fiercely by the rocks and waves. Ten lifeboats were immediately launched; land was in sight only about 50 metres from their position. But the lifeboats were destroyed, smashed by the force of the waves into the jagged rocks, along with their passengers. It was a terrible sight for those who were witnesses; one reported seeing the water thick with the bobbing heads of those who were being swept away.

Locations of the wrecks of HMS *Mars* and SS *Atlantic*

There would have been even more casualties without the bravery of three members of the crew: Third Officer, Cornelius Brady, and two quartermasters Speakman and Owen. Brady fired warning flares and then swam to the nearby rocks with the other two carrying ropes; they rigged five lines, successfully rescuing about 140 men. Captain Williams encouraged passengers to climb up the rigging to keep out of the freezing water whilst they waited for rescue. A local family, the O’Reillys, who had a farmhouse on the island, assisted in evacuated people from the rock. But by morning it was clear that the death toll was high. Bodies were already being washed ashore in large numbers. Of those on board, not one woman or married man – and all but one child – were lost. It is estimated that over 500 people perished, the greatest maritime disaster on record up until then. It was, of course, sadly superseded in 1912 by the loss of another White Star Line vessel, the RMS Titanic, that sank in deeper water in the same area of the North Atlantic in 1912.

Although Captain Williams was blamed for his poor decisions and the White Star Line for its practice of under-fuelling such vessels, no subsequent actions were taken against either. The captain was even praised for his help in the rescue mission and for being the last to leave the ship.

The Mars and the Atlantic

These ships foundered on shoals close to shore in poor weather in the middle of the night. The results of both enquiries attributed pilot error to the incidents, although the Atlantic came to grief more as a result of negligence than mistake. Yet the results in terms of loss of life and goods were remarkably different. That may mostly be due to chance – the Mars did not break up on running aground, remaining intact until the following day, allowing more time to plan an evacuation and offload the guns – although better leadership may also have played a part. Certainly, Amherst and his crew were much more familiar with these waters.

The rescues on the Atlantic became the inspiration for the evacuation of the Mars in the novel Dragon – how else might all the crew and guns have been offloaded, other than by rope pulleys? As the Mars hit rocks close to the shore, such a method was technically feasible. Did Francis Light indeed become the hero of the hour on the Mars as Dragon suggests? That episode is a figment of the author’s imagination, of course, for we have no record of actual events on the fateful night. It is interesting to note, however, that Captain Amherst was to be Light’s commanding officer on almost all of his subsequent ships (except for the year after the wreck when Amherst was confined to land). Light joined Amherst’s ship, HMS Captain, in 1757, where he was promoted to midshipman and subsequently became a lieutenant. Amherst appears to have been fond of him. How had Francis Light proved himself worthy to be an officer? Perhaps the events of the wreck of the Mars played some part. It’s an intriguing notion.