The Iron Cross at an unknown port - a photo on Flickriver

The photograph is from the Brodie Collection – part of the La Trobe Picture Collection of the State Library of Victoria, Australia and is reproduced with the Library's consent.

For very much more detail and many illustrations, including a painting of the ship as she was in circa 1860, please visit sites.google.com/site/therobertlowe/

The map to the right (which no longer shows, as a result of an action other than mine) gives the approximate position of the Storgrundsbädan rock near the Söderarm Light 90 km northeast of Stockholm where the ship met her end in 1891. Click on the map and zoom out to see the location of the Storgrundsbädan rock with respect to Stockholm.

The vessel that was known between 1870 and 1891 as the Iron Cross was an unpowered sailing ship. But she had not started life in that form – nor had she always had that name. She was launched in early September 1854 as the Robert Lowe a screw-assisted sailing ship, or Steam Clipper. She had been built at the shipyard of Scott & Co at Cartsdyke, Greenock* and was fitted with a two-cylinder engine of eighty NHP supplied by Tulloch & Denny of Dumbarton. As at 1856, her tonnages were 1,220.24 gross and 1,044.52 net, and her dimensions were 247.0 feet by 35.2 feet by 18.7 feet. In 1859 her tonnages were increased to 1474.72 gross and 1277.67 net, but dimensions remained the same.

The Robert Lowe had been ordered by William Schaw Lindsay (1815-1877), the Scottish proprietor of the London-based firm of W. S. Lindsay & Co – one of the largest shipping lines of the time†. And she was Lindsay's favourite ship. As he wrote in his unpublished memoirs that she was "more than two years under construction by Messrs Scott and Co at Greenock, and I had expended all my ingenuity and skill upon her". At the time, Lindsay had just been elected MP for Tynemouth and was a colleague of Robert Lowe, the man after whom the ship was named. Lowe, like Lindsay, was a Liberal Member of Parliament. After spending 20 years in Australia as a lawyer and politician, he had returned to England and been elected for Kidderminster in 1852. Lindsay's ships had been carrying emigrants to Australia for some time and it was probably the Australian connection that brought he and Lowe together.

An engraving of a vessel that is almost certainly the Robert Lowe as she was in her prime is given in the first comment below.

The Robert Lowe's first commission was as a troopship to assist in the Crimean campaign. But, before she left British waters for Balaclava, she spent about a month picking up armaments in Dartford and Tynemouth. Furthermore, just as she was due to set off, there was a change of captain and first mate. The new master was a Captain Pentreath. The change resulted in trouble when the ship reached Scutari as Pentreath had not been informed of whereabouts on the ship the various items had been stowed. She eventually set sail from Portsmouth on Wednesday, 1 November, 1854, carrying 12 officers, 673 men, armaments, hospital stores and bedding. Her destination was Balaclava. On route she probably called at Malta and certainly spent time in Scutari, the port of Constantinople.

Also on board the Robert Lowe on her maiden voyage were four divers led by John Deane and including William Edwards†, James Rigden and George Allen. Several ships had been scuttled by the Russians to block the entrance to the harbour at Sebastopol (now Sevastopol), the main port of the Crimean peninsula. Accordingly, the armaments that Robert Lowe carried included 13 cylinders, each filled with 1000 lbs of powder, from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. It was to be their task to use the cylinders to blow up the scuttled ships and hence clear the way for British and French warships to enter the harbour. The story of The exploits of John Deane and his colleagues is eloquently told in The infernal diver: the lives of John and Charles Deane by John Bevan.

The Robert Lowe spent most of the winter months in the Black Sea, but the attempt to clear the entrance to the harbour was (possibly) unsuccessful (research into this aspect continues). On account of his lack of knowledge of where cargo was stowed, and other counts, the performance of the ship's master (probably Captain Pentreath) was found by the Admiralty to be negligent during the voyage. To quote John Bevan:

"The outward voyage of the Robert Lowe was fraught with incidents, mainly relating to the incompetence of the vessel's captain and officers of the crew. Rear Admiral Stewart at Malta reported that there was disorder and insubordination on board the ship and that this was due to the 'intemperate habits' of the officers. The Admiral concluded his report with a request for the ship's commander to be replaced. Further problems were identified when it was discovered that John Deane's large, heavy cylinders had been incorrectly stored in the ship's hold on top of vital medical supplies. The matter was so serious that back in London, all the officers who had been responsible for the stowing of the cylinders were ordered to appear at a Committee of Enquiry at the Ordnance Office in Pall Mall on 2nd February [1855]".

The intemperate captain was replaced by William Congalton (1827-1890) who was to be her master for the subsequent 10 or 15 years. Congalton was born in Aberlady in East Lothian and was a nephew of Samuel Congalton (1796–1850). Also a ship's captain, Sam had done much to combat piracy in the waters of the Malacca Straits in the 1840s.

By early May 1855, with Congalton at the helm and after probably after having returned to England to pick up more troops, the Robert Lowe was in Scutari, the port of Istanbul. On 1 May she was boarded by Florence Nightingale. The distance across the Black Sea from Scutari to Balaclava was about 300 miles and the ship took nine days to get there. Although this was quite normal for ships af the 1850s it seemed a long time for Miss Nightingale who was anxious to help the injured soldiers. She dubbed the ship “The Robert Slow”. When they arrived at Balaclava Harbour Dr Hall, the surgeon in charge of the hospital, at first would not allow Miss Nightingale to go ashore. Congalton accordingly invited her to make her headquarters on board. It was not until Dr Hall had relented and allowed Miss Nightingale to go ashore, that, in the late summer of 1855 the ship set sail on her return journey to England.

In late September 1856 – now commissioned as a Royal Mail Steam-Ship – the Robert Lowe was berthed in London's Victoria Docks. William Congalton was still her master and he was preparing her for a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.

In August 1856, for an annual subsidy of £28,000 Lindsay contracted to run a monthly mail service out to Cape Town in thirty-eight days. It was started in August 1856, and the Robert Lowe, was the second ship to provide the service. She arrived at the Cape in November after a thirty-nine voyage. The service, which was later extended to Mauritius, Ceylon and India, quickly got into difficulties and collapsed in September 1857.

On 28 November 1860 the Robert Lowe, whilst on charter to Shaw Savill, arrived at Auckland, New Zealand, having carried troops from Britain to fight in the Maori Wars. In his 1924 book, White Wings, Sir Henry Brett, wrote:

"The Robert Lowe, which brought over 700 souls, including 500 soldiers under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. E. Alexander, was an auxiliary screw steam vessel of 1049 tons, clipper rig, and built of iron by naval architects. She sailed from Cork on September 7 in charge of Captain Congalton, and crossed the Equator after 21 days at sea. The meridian of the Cape was passed on November 2, and the vessel arrived as above after a voyage devoid of incident. She thus made the passage out in 82 days, 15 of which the ship was under steam. This was four days better than the previously unequalled record of the Spray of the Ocean, established the previous year, when she arrived at Auckland after a dashing passage of 86 days from Deal."

On 15 September, 1862, the Robert Lowe set sail from London's Shadwell Basin carrying amongst its 350 odd passengers 36 young unmarried women from Lancashire who were earmarked to provide wives for the overwhelming male population of British Columbia. Also on board was my great grandfather, Henry Taylor, who was sailing to the colony in the hope of making his fortune in the gold mines of the Caribou. You can read of his exploits in Henry Taylor's Journal.

During the late spring and summer of 1864 Robert Lowe was used as a tea clipper. In early May she left Shanghai for Hankow, taking ten days for the voyage of 608 miles. On 23 June she sailed from Hankow for Shanghai and London with a full cargo of tea, cotton, etc., arriving at Shanghai on 27 June and sailing for London on 8 July 1864. Of this voyage, on pp 467-468 of Volume 4 of History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce, his magnus opus, Lindsay himself wrote:

"On the 8th May of that year, another of my auxiliary steamships ¶, the Robert Lowe, of 1250 tons, commanded by William Congalton, left Shanghai for Hankow for the purpose of loading a cargo of teas direct for London: two other English vessels had, however, preceded her.

"The navigation of this river was then very little known, and there were many difficulties to encounter which have since been removed; under these circumstances, and as the engines of the Robert Lowe were only 80 nominal horse-power, her passage between Shanghai and Hankow, a distance of 608 miles, occupied ten days: one day, however, was lost in changing her propeller, while she had to anchor every night. The current against her averaged three knots an hour, but in some parts ran fully five knots. The least depth of water (the river being then at its ordinary height) found by soundings was 4¾ fathoms on the bar of the Longshan crossing: the average depth being from 8 to 9 fathoms, but, in many places, Captain Congalton did not obtain soundings at a depth of 14 fathoms, and, in long reaches, where the waters were contracted, the depths were from 20 to 30 fathoms.

"At Hankow, where the Robert Lowe anchored to receive her cargo (about 300 yards from the bank), the depth of water was 14 fathoms, with a current running at the rate of 3½ knots an hour. The new teas generally arrive in boats (chops) about the 10th of June, and, on the 23rd of that month, she sailed with a full cargo for Shanghai and London. She was fifty-seven hours under weigh on her passage from Hankow to Shanghai; the current, the river being then fuller, running at from four to, in some places, seven knots an hour."

In 1870 the Robert Lowe went through the Suez Canal which had been opened the previous November. By that time she had already outlived many of her contemporaries but she was doomed as a steamer. Soon after she was sold, renamed the Iron Cross and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of her engines. The purchaser was Henry Fernie of Liverpool. He used her as a cargo ship until the end of her life in 1891.

On Sunday, 8 December, 1872, a hurricane struck southern England. It was said at the time to be one of the worst that had been experienced, but it would not have been severe as the tempest of the night of 26 November, 1703. During that Sunday afternoon, whilst sailing westward in the English Channel with a cargo of coal bound for Bombay, the Iron Cross experienced the full force of the Gale. The vessel being hove to and the foretopmast staysail blew from the ropes. At 6 P.M., a heavy sea struck her, carrying away bulwarks on both aides, breaking 14 stanchions, filling middle compartment with water, and injuring two men; cargo was also badly shifted. However, by the following day, the weather moderated. The ship was able to set canvas and sail up the Channel to Portland Roads where they put in for repairs. But a day or two after arrival, the crews, who had just joined and obtained their month's advance, refused to proceed to sea. Two men were committed to Dorchester Gaol for 12 weeks imprisonment on account of their refusal to board ship.

Little is known about the subsequent career of the ship until she met her end at mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. On 5 September, 1891, she left Gefle (now Gävle) in Sweden bound for Melbourne, Australia, with 1850 tons of cargo including 360 tons of pig-iron. Soon after midnight, she was 85 km northeast of Stockholm, near the Söderarm Light when she struck the Storgrundsbädan Rock (see note § for location of the rock). She became jammed was extensively damaged. The sails and much of the contents of the hold were recovered and there was no loss of life. Although her 37-year life was over, she had outlived her original owner by 14 years. William Schaw Lindsay had died on 28 August 1877.

The report of the Court of Inquiry can be downloaded from
href="https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/SOTON_Documents/Plimsoll/16048.pdf"
Search for “iron cross”. It will be amongst a small number of items found.

Robert Cutts, posted in 2012, revised in 2023

——————————————————————————————————
* Scott's, the company that built the Robert Lowe, was founded in 1711 by John Scott and the firm commenced building at Cartsdyke Dockyard in 1850 as Scott & Company. Over the subsequent century or so the company expanded, mainly by the acquisition of adjacent yards. Then, in 1967, the company merged with their near-neighbours, Lithgows Ltd., to form Scott-Lithgow Ltd. Ten years later in 1977 the then Labour Government nationalised the UK's shipbuilding industry and Scott-Lithgow became part of the British Shipbuilders Corporation. Two years later the Cartsdyke yard closed. But, in 1983 the new Conservative government commenced a programme of resale of the nationalised yards back into the private sector and the Greenock yards became part of Trafalgar House. Between 1988 and 1997 the shipyards were gradually demolished and redeveloped as insurance offices, computer warehouses and fast food restaurants. There's more about Scott's in a pdf document that can be accessed here.

† John Bevan, on page 235 of The infernal diver: the lives of John and Charles Deane, states that the Robert Lowe was initially owned by Captain John Neilson Gladstone RN (1807-1863) (Captain Gladstone was a Tory MP and an elder brother of Liberal MP, William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), who was later four times Prime Minister of Great Britain). But he was never the owner of the Robert Lowe. Indeed he never had anything to do with the ship. During her service as a troop ship another, possibly related, John Gladstone, who was a partner in the Castle Eden Coal Company (the firm for which Lindsay acted as an agent in the early 1840s), was the nominal owner of Robert Lowe. This was to avoid the appearance of Lindsay – an MP – acting as a government contractor. A legal document resident in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich supports this contention as do Lindsays' statement to Parliament regarding Robert Lowe's movements in October 1854 (Hansard, 22/06/1855). There is no doubt that Lindsay ordered the ship in the first place and intended that it would ultimately become part of his fleet even if Gladstone was nominally the owner during the three months subsequent to the ship's launch.

¶ Lindsay had just previously written that the Yangtze River had, in February 1860, for the first time been opened up to non-Chinese ships and that his ship, the Scotland, was the first foreign merchant vessel to take advantage of the concession.

§ On 30/12/2016 the location of the rock in question was determined. It's at 99.71 N 19.48 E and is marked on this map. The map is derived from a chart of Stockholms Skärgård published in 1906.
Expand the 1906 map to full scale. Locate the compass on the right of the map. Soderarm is about 7.5 km WSW of the centre of the compass (there's a scale near the top left of the map). The rock is 7 km SE of Soderarm.
The wreck report gave the rock's name as Storgrundsbädn. That's probably wrong but it's difficult to tell how it is spelt. My best guess is that it's Storgrundsbädan (the report's spelling with an extra a near the end).

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Taken in: Sverige (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1875

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