Kingston (near Corfe Castle)

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DORSET OPC

Houns-Tout and Egmont Point

Houns-Tout, at 140 metres above sea-level, forms the western side of Chapman’s Pool and past landslips are clearly visible. Below Houns-Tout lies Egmont Point, the seaward edge of the Tout itself.   
 

Lord Eldon’s private carriage drive used to extend from Encombe House, on the west side of Houns-Tout, round the face of the cliff and on to Hill Bottom, where it joined the track leading down to Chapman's Pool. The carriageway round the face of Houns-Tout has now been claimed by landslides and so is no longer passable.

Houns-Tout and Chapman’s Pool  

Postcard courtesy of David Sansom

Lesley Pond lived next door to Pete & John in The Lane, Brian & Mary Palmers' parents farmed Blashenwell Farm, Brian & Derek Collins lived in South Street, Michael Streeters' parents ran the Post Office [until Angela & Pete took it over].
 

Houns-Tout viewed from the south-west  

Photo courtesy of Alan Holiday  

© Alan Holiday 2003

Lesley Pond lived next door to Pete & John in The Lane, Brian & Mary Palmers' parents farmed Blashenwell Farm, Brian & Derek Collins lived in South Street, Michael Streeters' parents ran the Post Office [until Angela & Pete took it over].
 

Houns-Tout  from Emmets Hill

with Chapmans Pool in the foreground

Photograph courtesy of Pete T.

Lesley Pond lived next door to Pete & John in The Lane, Brian & Mary Palmers' parents farmed Blashenwell Farm, Brian & Derek Collins lived in South Street, Michael Streeters' parents ran the Post Office [until Angela & Pete took it over].
 

Houns-Tout and Egmont Point viewed from above

Image courtesy of Google Earth

Lesley Pond lived next door to Pete & John in The Lane, Brian & Mary Palmers' parents farmed Blashenwell Farm, Brian & Derek Collins lived in South Street, Michael Streeters' parents ran the Post Office [until Angela & Pete took it over].
 

Extracts from Hansard

3 March 1920 - S.S. "TREVEAL" (WRECK).

Viscount CURZON

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the s.s. "Treveal" was wrecked at St. Alban's Head at 9 p.m. on the 9th January, resulting in the loss of thirty-six lives; whether the naval authorities at Portland were informed of the wreck and need for assistance at 9.15 p.m. by wireless from the wreck; whether this information was not conveyed to the lifeboat authorities at Swanage and Weymouth till 9.40 a.m. on the 10th January and not at all to the lifeboat authorities at Poole, with the result that the lifeboat was unable to get to the wreck till 11.30 a.m.; what was the reason for this very grave delay; and whether, in spite of a signal from the ship that she was being abandoned, no action was taken by the coastguard to assist the attempt of the survivors to get ashore?

Dr. MACNAMARA

The Board of Trade is holding a formal inquiry into this matter, at which all evidence at the disposal of the Admiralty will be given. My Noble Friend will doubtless agree as to the undesirability of making any statement as to the facts until the inquiry has been completed.

15 March 1920 - LOSS OF S.S. "TREVEAL."

Commander Viscount CURZON

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the inquiry into the loss of the ss. "Treveal" has yet been concluded; and, if so, whether the findings will be promulgated?

Mr. BRIDGEMAN

The Inquiry referred to has not yet been held. The Report of the Court will, as usual, be published.

Viscount CURZON

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that I was informed an inquiry was being held?

Mr. BRIDGEMAN

I was not aware of that. I know there has been some delay, and there has been some difficulty in connection with the matter.

Old postcard views

Houns-Tout  from the beach at Chapman’s Pool

Photograph courtesy of walks4softies.co.uk
 

Another view of Houns-Tout  from Emmets Hill

with Chapmans Pool in the foreground

Photograph courtesy of  Dr. Ian West
© Ian West

Map showing position of Houns-Tout and Egmont Point

The loss of SS Treveal off Egmont Point - January 1920

SS TREVEAL

The St. Ives steamer Treveal, 5200 tons, of the Hain Steamship Company, which had only been built in the previous year, was totally wrecked on the Dorset coast during a gale. Thirty six crew of the total forty three perished. Seven of the crew were from St. Ives, including the Captain Charles Paynter.
Source: The St. Ives Times, January 30th 1920

Built by Harland & Wolff, Govan, Yard 549

Propulsion: steam, triple expansion
Launched: Wednesday, 11 June 1919
Ship Type: Cargo Vessel
Tonnage: 5242 grt
Length: 401 feet
Breadth: 52.3 feet
Owner History: Hain Steamship Company
Status: Wrecked - 09/01/1920
 

SS Treveal was wrecked on the Kimmeridge Ledges 9/10 January 1920. She was laden with jute and ore from Calcutta and bound for Dundee. She tried to pick up a pilot at Portland and as none was available she was ordered to

proceed without one. Apparently the jute was washed ashore and salvaged and then draped over the hedgerows in an attempt to dry it out.

9.1.1920: Wrecked on Kimmeridge Ledge, 2 miles West of St. Alban's Head, whilst on a voyage from Calcutta to Dundee with a cargo of jute and manganese ore. Earlier in the day the ship had called at Portland for a pilot but none was available and the master was instructed to continue the voyage.
 

Extract from South West Sea Kayaking: by Mark Rainsley

The following account appears on the Hampshire and Dorset Shipwrecks website:

STORY 3: For God's Sake Send Us Assistance

In 1906 Sir Frederick Treves in his admirable Highways and Byways in Dorset described Chapman's Pool, which lies to the west of St Aldhelm's Head, as 'a small round cove where a dip in the downs opens to the sea...[it] is merely a haven for fisherman, although none live by the harbour side. On the beach are tarred boathouses and huts, lobster pots and miscellaneous gear. At anchor in the haven are two or three piratical-looking fishing smacks. The place is sombre by reason of the hue of its cliffs. They are smoke-coloured, varying in tint from cinder black to a funereal blue...' It sounds a most delightful and tranquil place, despite the rather grim and forbidding nature of the cliffs, and it would have hardly changed some 14 years later when it was dubbed the 'Deadman's Pool' by one national daily newspaper after it became the scene of a shipping disaster which resulted in the loss of 36 lives. Ironically there had been a lifeboat station at that very place from 1866 until 1880, but this was discontinued because it had been launched only once in the whole 14 years.

The Treveal was a newly-built steamship of 5,200 tons owned by the Hain Steamship Company from St Ives in Cornwall. Its master was Captain C. Paynter, who also hailed from St Ives, and it carried a crew of 43. The vessel was on the last leg of its maiden voyage, which had taken it to the Far East, and it had left Calcutta bound for Dundee with a large cargo of jute and manganese ore. The weather in the English Channel was not particularly favourable and because there were no signs of any great improvement, the captain decided to put into Portland harbour to seek the services of a North Sea pilot. The Treveal arrived in the port shortly before six o'clock in the evening of 9th January 1920. Unfortunately no pilot was available and despite the captain's misgivings he was ordered by the ship's agents to proceed without one. The Treveal left Portland at eight o'clock after having been there barely two hours, which must have been a bitter blow to the crew as they had spent a long time away from England and a night in port would have come as a blessed relief, especially considering the weather conditions out in the Channel.

Once out of the shelter of Portland Roads the vessel encountered very severe weather and Captain Paynter radioed back to Portland asking for the assistance of a tug. For some unaccountable reason the Admiralty tug from the Naval dockyard was not then available, and the Weymouth tug was undergoing repair. Just an hour after leaving Portland the Treveal was fast being driven towards St Aldhelm's Head and within several minutes it struck the south-eastern edge of the Kimmeridge Ledges close to Chapman's Pool. Then followed an exchange of messages with the Coastguard at St Aldhelm's Head. The captain reported that his vessel was 'ashore hard and fast' and he asked the local Coastguard officer whether there was 'a good landing place' nearby. The reply was 'Yes, straight inshore but you had better wait till daylight'. Obviously the Coastguard man was referring to Chapman's Pool, which did indeed offer some safety providing one was aware of the local currents. The captain then asked whether the Senior Naval Officer at Portland could be contacted as the tug had still not arrived.

It was not until just before midnight that the Portland tug Pilot finally left port but in the darkness and such heavy seas its crew failed to locate the stranded vessel and the tug was forced to return to Portland. At about 5.30am the following morning the tug set out once again and this time was successful in its search, but because of the worsening weather and very heavy seas it was unable to come in close to the Treveal. But help was coming from another quarter. A Weymouth tug Petrel had managed to tow out the Weymouth lifeboat Friern Watch, which was a Watson 12-oared boat then considered to be the last word in lifeboat design. When the lifeboat finally arrived off Chapman's Pool the tide was on the flood and this, allied with the heavy seas, swept the lifeboat away from the Treveal and it was humanly impossible for the lifeboat crew to battle against such ferocious seas. In the end it was forced to leave the area and return, not to its home port, but to more settled waters further to the east of Poole.

Just after nine o'clock in the morning the Captain sent his last message to the Coastguard. It was an urgent and plaintive cry - 'For God's sake send us assistance!' He then signalled to the Portland tug, still standing by in the area, to try to pick up his crew as he had decided to abandon ship. Only two of the ship's lifeboats were serviceable, the other two had been destroyed by the heavy seas. There was still a strong possibility that the crew could have been saved if they had taken the passage between the rocks in Chapman's Pool rather than tackling the vicious currents that flowed off the beach, especially in stormy weather, though only the local fisherman and presumably the Coastguard would have been aware of these facts. But to the captain and crew, after having spent 12 hours on their stranded vessel in such atrocious conditions, it must have seemed only common sense to try to avoid such rocks at all costs.

Within minutes of being launched the two boats were forced broadside to the waves and almost immediately they were swamped with water, then they capsized, flinging the crew members into the raging waters. Despite their lifebelts most of the unfortunate seamen were pounded unconscious by the force of the sea and by striking the rocks. Just two local men were on the beach at Chapman's Pool to offer assistance - the Revd Horace Piercey, the young curate of the nearby church of Worth Matravers and a young fisherman, Frank Lander. They had responded to the dreaded boom of the Treveal's distress rockets. With utter disregard for their own safety they waded out in the angry sea in a valiant attempt to help the few wretched and exhausted survivors back to the beach. Reportedly the young curate was 'up to this neck in water and shingle for over an hour'. Subsequently they were awarded bronze medals by the Royal Humane Society. A short time later they were joined by some other local people, including two women, who were a great help in attempting to save some of the crew by artificial respiration. All told just seven seamen were rescued, one of whom was a 15 year old cabin boy. Many of the bodies recovered from the sea were in a quite pitiful state - heavily bruised, severely cut and some were even naked because their clothes had been torn off by the violence of the sea and rocks.

Only 20 bodies were finally recovered and they were placed in a Coastguard cottage at Worth Matravers to await burial in the local churchyard; but a day or so later the steamship company agreed to pay for the bodies to be returned to their families. In the end just two unidentified seamen were burried in the local churchyard and they provide the only memorial to this tragic shipwreck which resulted in the death of 36 officers and men, including Captain Paynter.

The wrecking of the Treveal did pose some serious questions about the inadequacies of the rescue attempts. The tardiness of the Admiralty tug to set out and its inability to find the vessel at its first attempt were strongly condemned. Perhaps the most serious criticism was levelled at the Coastguard Service, for it seemed strange that they had made no attempts to rescue the crew by using their rocket apparatus, especially considering that the vessel had been stranded for over 12 hours. It was also thought that the captain had been rather precipitate in abandoning his vessel in such terrible seas, for the two parts of the broken vessel were still on the rocks long after most of the bodies of the crew had been recovered. Indeed it was said that the gallery fire was still burning when the stricken vessel was boarded. The chief officer of the Coastguard at St Aldhelm's Head was court-martialled but he stoutly maintained that if only the captain had followed his instructions the boats would have safely made the shore. The court thought otherwise and he was found guilty of negligence and dismissed the Service.  

If you have any information about Houns-Tout you would like to share, be it stories or old photographs etc., please email us at info@kingstonopc.org.uk