The Lost Story of the William and Mary: The Cowardice of Captain Stinson

by Gill Hoffs

The emigrant ship William and Mary departed from Liverpool with 208 British, Irish, and Dutch emigrants in early 1853. Captained by young American Timothy Stinson, the vessel was sailing for New Orleans when the ship wrecked in the Bahamas in mysterious circumstances.
Instead of grounding the ship on a nearby shore or building rafts for the passengers, Stinson and the majority of his crew sneaked away in lifeboats - murdering at least two of the emigrants with a hatchet as they did so - and reported the ship sunk with all on board lost. But the passengers kept the ship afloat and two days later were rescued by heroic wreckers as the ship went down.

Now, over 160 years on, the tale of the two murdered in Bahamian waters and the hundreds who escaped thanks to kindly wreckers can finally be told. Stinson is no longer getting away with murder.

Genres: History

176 pages, Hardcover

Published November 22, 2016

Reviews

[Cindy Vallar · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the years leading up to 1853, successive bad harvests and epidemics struck Europe. Particularly hard hit was Ireland, where a potato blight led to mass starvation and death. Working conditions were deplorable and the amount earned for doing those jobs was abysmal. One of the few avenues to offer some hope for escape was emigration. As an essay in the 23 October 1852 edition of the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette explained:

America is to modern Europe . . . the land of aspirations and dreams, the country of daring enterprise and the asylum of misfortune, which receives alike the exile and the adventurer, the discontented and the aspiring and promises to all a freer life and a fresher nature. (1)

Why the United States? It was too far, and hence more costly, to go to Australia. Canadian winters were too severe and there were too many hoops to jump through to get past customs. On the other hand, the United States seemed more welcoming to newcomers, wasn’t so far away, and didn’t require as much money. Within the pages of this book, Gill Hoffs shares the story of one particular voyage and what happened to those moving to America to start life anew.

On 23 March 1853, the William and Mary left Liverpool, England bound for America with over 200 Europeans, who had managed to accumulate sufficient funds to pay for their passage. Recently constructed in Maine and just having completed her first transoceanic voyage, the three-masted barque was a merchant ship that could carry up to 512 tons. But once her cargo was unloaded, she was refitted to carry passengers on the return trip. Her captain, Timothy Reirdan Stinson, was thirty-two and married to the daughter of one of the ship’s owners. Serving under him was a crew of fourteen. After weighing anchor, the ship headed for New Orleans where the passengers would disembark and secure other means of getting to their final destinations.

Many passengers came from Ireland, but the barque also carried 91 settlers from Friesland in the Netherlands. Bound for Iowa to establish a new town, these men, women, and children were led by Oepke Bonnema, a grain merchant who paid their way on condition that they work for him. They were supposed to travel to America on a different ship, but by the time they reached Liverpool, that steamship already carried a full complement of emigrants. Among their group were two people who would prove invaluable to all the passengers – a midwife and Johannes van der Veer, a fifty-six-year-old doctor.

Although the journey began on a beautiful day and they welcomed a new baby into their midst on the next, the promising start failed to carry through the entire voyage. In addition to the crockery stowed in her hull, the William and Mary carried iron freight that made her roll so badly it wasn’t safe to be on deck in foul weather. Kept mostly below deck the passengers endured air and conditions that were far from healthy; fourteen died, and their deaths and burials left vivid impressions on those left behind. Insufficient provisions meant severe rationing and a meager diet of hard biscuit, dry rice, and boiled peas. Rats provided the only meat available to passengers and crew alike. By later April and early May, conditions were such that violence simmered just below the surface, waiting for just the right spark.

Another complication was the barque’s location; she sailed in shark-infested waters around the low-lying Bahamas where hidden dangers lurked. During a storm on 3 May, the William and Mary became impaled on a rock and water began to flow into her hold. With only five boats on board, none of which had been used during the voyage, not everyone would escape. What the passengers did not expect was to see the captain and most of the crew escape with only a handful of travelers. The only reason any of the remaining emigrants survived was because a heroic wrecker placed a higher value on their lives than on salvaging the wreckage. But perhaps even more astounding is that no investigation was conducted and no one faced any charges or paid any price for what happened.

Each chapter opens with a quoted passage, from various sources, that pertain to some relevant aspect of the journey. The passage of time is also clearly identified, making it easier to keep track of what happened when. The first chapter sets the stage, providing readers with necessary background to fully grasp the situation. Footnotes are included where the material is most pertinent, rather than requiring the reader to look up the marked passage in end notes at the back of the book. There is a center section of black and white cartoons, newspaper illustrations, advertisements, and a map. One image is the only surviving one of the William and Mary, and several pages of photographs allow readers to put names to faces. The appendix includes a list of the passengers, although not all details about these people are complete. Hoffs does provide an e-mail address so that anyone who can provide missing information may contact her. A bibliography and index are also included.

In the accounts shared, Hoffs keenly shows the difference in value placed on human life versus that of livestock. She crafts a heart-wrenching and vivid tale composed primarily from firsthand accounts that allows readers to envision the terrifying journey these people endured. She also shares what happened to those survivors whom she could track through a variety of sources including contemporary newspapers, survivors’ stories, later articles on the disaster, and family histories. Instead of simply names on the page, these people come alive.

But this book is far more than just the story of this ship and those aboard her. Hoffs enriches the story with accounts from other passages and descriptions to provide readers with a fuller understanding of conditions that led to emigration, what such journeys were really like, and what occurred in the aftermath of the accident and the shameful behavior of those who escaped unscathed. In doing so readers gain a better appreciation for the dangers their own ancestors may have faced to make a new life in a new land.

[Wayne Abrahamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While conducting research for another project, Gill Hoffs, encountered accounts concerning the American sailing vessel William and Mary, and the tale surrounding the loss of the ship and her passengers: some two hundred European immigrants. The William and Mary was one of many ships cashing in on the lucrative immigration trade, but after departing England in 1853, and making its ways across the Atlantic, the captain and crew of the ship encountered severe weather and found itself in dire straits once reaching the Bahamas. Fearing the worst, the captain and crew murdered at least two of the passengers and abandoned the others to save their own lives. Intrigued by the sources, the author set out create a work that not only documented the events of the voyage but gave voice and justice to those left abandoned on the high seas, and the kind souls of the Bahamian wreckers who risked their own lives, and profit, to save them. At the same time, she sought to bring to light the crimes of Captain Timothy Stinson and his crew. Hoffs was successful in her endeavor, which was to tell a story for those who were not able to tell it themselves: those poor Dutch, German, and Irish immigrants who found themselves fighting against deadly seas and a ship’s captain and crew. This publication should be useful to anybody interested in general maritime history, the Bahamian wrecking industry, and European immigration in the 1850s to North America.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2016, 'The Lost Story of the William and Mary' tells the tragic story of a small commercial vessel delivering over 200 emigrants from Europe to the United States in the year 1853. The harrowing account of the treatment of the emigrants makes for a fascinating story, and is incredibly informative about the whole system applied to the lucrative market of European emigrants. The was some digression from the main topic in looking at the Irish potato famine, but once the main focus became established you learnt a lot. That said, the book is quite short so perhaps the digression was there to pad it out a bit. Otherwise, a worthwhile read.

[Holly Ites · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you ever wondered about the hazards our ancestors faced in order to immigrate to the US, this book gives you one of the harshest, most dangerous of such journeys. Between being poor, having never been outside their counties or districts in their homeland, traveling to an unknown country, not knowing the language, being at the mercy of the sea and possibly a unscrupulous sailing crew, it was a harrowing venture. From letters and transcripts, this book tells the story of a remarkable voyage, with surprising villains and unlikely heroes.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting because some of the survivors settled in our township.

[Suzie Grogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having really enjoyed Gill Hoff's previous book about the RMS Tayleur, it was with happy anticipation that I opened this, her next tale of seafaring horror and heartache.

With eerie resonance and relevance to the events of the 21st century and the exploitation of migrant populations desperate for a better life, Hoffs describes the disasters that befell those fleeing to the US in the mid 19th century. Many survived the William & Mary only because of the compassion shown by the wreckers populating the coast of the Bahamas, as the reckless and dishonest captain abandoned ship and left many to their fate.

Gruesome detail blended with diligent research into the circumstances surrounding the wreck and the fates of the survivors makes this is a great read for historians and those who enjoy what is a compelling story very well told.