Explained: Trelawney tragedy and how a Stevenston street was named

Six lives were saved by Irvine fishermen when the vessel "Trelawney" was wrecked off Stevenston, but unfortunately, 19 others were lost: including four Saltcoats sailors who attempted a rescue.

On January 22, 1819, the wooden sailing ship the “Trelawney” tragically ran aground on the sands between Stevenston and Irvine.

Launched in 1809, the ship was in the final stages of a voyage between Jamaica and Greenock.

A number of legends have grown around the wreck of the "Trelawney" — occasionally still heard in the persistent tradition that she carried emigrants as passengers; but in fact, she had a cargo of herrings, mostly in barrels.

The "Trelawney," of 450 tons, sailed from Greenock bound for Jamaica, in January 1819. In a south­east gale, Captain Reid and his crew of 25 thought that they were off the Heads of Ayr, but in attempting to put the ship about she grounded on the sands off Stevenston.

That Friday morning there was heavy fog, they ran aground on the sands, the increasing southeast wind prevented them from getting off, but four of the crew managed to get ashore and raise the alarm.

A line from the ship was floated ashore and four Saltcoats sailors – Robert Wood, Samuel Farrow, John Hogarth, and Robert Hughan – heroically attempted to rescue the ship’s crew by pulling themselves along the line.

They managed to get on board the ship and rescue the Captain and 11 of the crew but unfortunately, the line broke on the way back and all 4 sailors, the Captain, and the crew were thrown into the sea where they drowned.

The Saltcoats men were all married and most had children.

Robert Hughan’s wife was expecting at the time of the tragedy and their daughter Robina was born a couple of months after he died.

The weather had got progressively worse and by evening a large crowd had gathered.

A fire was lit and the onlookers watched helplessly as the mountainous waves smashed into the ship. The remaining crew had climbed the ship's rigging and were clinging on for dear life.

During the night, the ship rolled and three of the men were tossed into the sea and drowned.

By morning, seven exhausted crew were left and one of them, a young boy, also fell to his death in the sea, too weak to hold on.

A horseman was sent to Ayr to summon the lifeboat, but about midday when it had not appeared, and the tide having receded, five Irvine seamen, who were among the huge crowd on the shore, put out in a small boat and managed to reach the "Trelawney" which was now on her beam-ends.

Around midday, the five sailors from Irvine set out in a boat and rescued the six remaining men, bringing them ashore, weak, exhausted, and close to death.

Those five Irvine men were William Orr, John McDougall, John Murray, William Wilson, and James Malone.

The waves continued to smash the ship and the Trelawney became a total wreck.

For many years later the remains of the wreck of the "Trelawney" could be seen in clear water off the old slag pier at Stevenston; and although this is an old story it has probably lingered in local legend due to the tragic losses of both the temporarily rescued and their rescuers.

An article from the Caledonia Mercury newspaper, February 6, 1819, stated: “We observe, with pleasure that a subscription has begun in the Glasgow coffee-room in behalf of the widows and families of those men who gallantly lost their lives in attempting to save the crew of the Trelawney, lately wrecked near Saltcoats.”

In Alex McLatchie’s book “Last Orders” it states that during a renovation of The Champion Shell Inn in Stevenston, a beam was exposed that bore the name “Trelawney”, suggesting that it came from the wreck.

The ship’s name, however, lives on in the houses of Trelawney Terrace that look over to the often-tumultuous sea, where the Trelawney sailed her last voyage.

Adapted from work by North Ayrshire Council's Heritage and Cultural Services and the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald archives.