Sailors Lost and Found | Morwyr Ar Goll ac eraill a ddaeth i'r Fei
Some came home, others never did | Daeth rhai gartref, ond ni welwyd eraill fyth mwy
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In the tiny churchyard of Granston, set back from the bay of Abermawr and its smaller neighbour Aberbach, two gravestones bear witness to anonymous victims of the waves. One marks the deaths of Captain Charles Bowlby and his crew of 28 on board the fully-rigged American ship the Charles Holmes, which was driven ashore during the Royal Charter Storm of October 25th 1859. It capsized in Aberbach Bay. All the crew were drowned and nine of their bodies were washed up along the coast nearby. The captain’s body and the rest of the crew were never found but of those that were, some were buried at Granston and some in Llanwnda churchyard nearby. The scattered cargo (iron tools, blankets, crockery and frying pans) was auctioned off locally.
Elsewhere in the same churchyard a gravestone marks the resting place of a nameless man who was washed up drowned at Abermawr on January 19th 1916. The legend on the marker: AND HE SHORTENED MY DAYS IN THE SEA, along with an anchor device bear witness to the man’s fate but nothing is known of his identity. He could have been the casualty of the Great War at sea - who can tell?
Of the sailors who never came home the fate of a few was known: their names and places of death are recorded on family graves and memorials: victims of death by drowning, accident or disease in some distant port or at rest in a watery grave far away. But occasionally there were happier outcomes. The next two stories emerged as a result of research in old local newspapers.
Sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, a teenage lad called Gwilym Rowe from a farm near Fishguard went to sea as a cabin boy. His ship came to grief in the Mozambique Channel, deadly waters for sailing vessels. His family, hearing nothing, assumed him lost and mourned his passing. Years later, a grandson of Fishguard antiquary Richard Fenton emigrated to South Africa – a land of opportunity at the time. As a diamond prospector, farmer and big game hunter Reginald Fenton made frequent trips into the interior. One day, while he was trading with the tribal people of what was then Matabeleland (now Zimbabwe), one of them, a grizzled old man, addressed him in English 'Did you say your name was Fenton? I used to know a Lady Fenton in Fishguard, she gave me pennies when I read to her'. Reginald couldn’t believe his ears – the lady in question could only have been his grandmother. The aged man explained he had been shipwrecked and rescued by local inhabitants with whom he had remained. He had risen to become a tribal elder. His name was Gwilym Rowe. He never returned home but his elderly sister, when told of his survival, wept for joy.
Charles Gronow of Fishguard was a sailor who, in 1883, joined the crew of the British merchant ship Nisero bound for the East Indies. On the return voyage, heading for Marseilles with a cargo of sugar, a storm blew up and the vessel, with Charles at the wheel, was driven on to the coast of Sumatra. The crew survived but the ship was wrecked. Worse was to come: they were taken prisoner by islanders who marched them into the interior and held them captive in desperate conditions for many months, frequently moving them from place to place in intense heat. Several members of the crew died from starvation, exhaustion or disease. The ordeal finally came to an end after many months when a rescue party was dispatched and a substantial ransom paid to the Rajah who had evidently been using the captives as bargaining pawns.
Gronow returned to Fishguard in November 1884, spent the rest of his life catching lobsters and died at a ripe old age.
Ym mynwent eglwys fechan Granston, a leolir ychydig yn ôl o fae Abermawr a'i gymydog llai o faint, Aber-bach, mae dwy garreg fedd yn coffáu dioddefwyr dienw y tonnau. Mae un yn coffáu marwolaethau Capten Charles Bowlby a'i griw o 28 ar fwrdd y llong Americanaidd â rigin llawn, Charles Holmes, a wthiwyd i'r lan yn ystod Storm Siarter Frenhinol 25 Hydref 1859. Dymchwelodd ym Mae Aber-bach. Boddwyd y criw i gyd a golchodd naw o'u cyrff ar yr arfordir gerllaw. Ni ddarganfuwyd corff y capten na gweddill y criw, ond o blith y cyrff a olchodd i'r lan, claddwyd rhai ym mynwent Granston a rhai ym mynwent Llanwnda gerllaw. Cynhaliwyd arwerthiant lleol o'r cargo gwasgaredig (offer haearn, blancedi, crochenwaith a phadelli ffrïo).
Mewn man arall yn yr un fynwent, mae carreg fedd yn coffáu gorffwysle dyn dienw a foddodd ac a olchodd ar y lan yn Abermawr ar 19 Ionawr 1916. Mae'r arysgrif ar y garreg sy'n nodi: AND HE SHORTENED MY DAYS IN THE SEA, ynghyd ag angor, yn cofnodi ffawd y dyn, ond ni ŵyr pwy ydoedd. Gallai fod wedi bod yn bod yn un o feirwon y Rhyfel Mawr ar y môr – pwy a ŵyr?
O blith y morwyr na ddychwelodd gartref, mae hanes rhai ohonynt yn hysbys: cofnodir eu henwau a'r lleoliadau lle y buont farw ar feddau a chofebau teuluol: y rhai a foddodd, a fu mewn damwain neu a fu farw o afiechyd mewn rhyw borthladd pellennig neu sy'n gorffwys mewn bedd dan y don ymhell i ffwrdd. Ond o bryd i'w gilydd, gwelwyd ambell ganlyniad hapusach. Daeth y ddwy stori nesaf i'r amlwg ar ôl ymchwilio mewn hen bapurau newydd lleol.
Rhywbryd yng nghanol y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, aeth bachgen yn ei arddegau o'r enw Gwilym Rowe o fferm ger Abergwaun i weithio ar y môr fel gwas caban. Aeth ei long i drafferthion yn Sianel Mozambique, a oedd yn fan peryglus i longau hwylio. Ar ôl clywed dim, tybiodd ei deulu ei fod wedi marw a buont yn galaru amdano. Flynyddoedd yn ddiweddarach, roedd ŵyr yr hynafiaethydd o Abergwaun, Richard Fenton, wedi allfudo i Dde Affrica – gwlad llawn cyfleoedd ar y pryd. Fel chwilotwr diemwntau, ffermwr a heliwr anifeiliaid mawr, arferai Reginald Fenton deithio i'r mewndir yn aml. Un diwrnod, pan oedd yn masnachu gyda phobl llwythol Matabeleland (Simbabwe bellach), fe'i cyfarchwyd gan hen ŵr yr oedd ei wallt wedi britho, a ddywedodd 'Did you say your name was Fenton? I used to know a Lady Fenton in Fishguard, she gave me pennies when I read to her'. Ni allai Reginald gredu'r peth – mae'n rhaid mai'r fenyw dan sylw oedd ei fam-gu. Esboniodd y gŵr oedrannus ei fod wedi bod mewn llongddrylliad a'i fod wedi cael ei achub gan drigolion leol, a'i fod wedi aros gyda nhw. Erbyn hynny, roedd yn hynafgwr llwythol. Ei enw oedd Gwilym Rowe. Ni ddychwelodd gartref, ond pan glywodd ei chwaer oedrannus ei fod wedi goroesi, wylodd gan lawenydd.
Roedd Charles Gronow o Abergwaun yn forwr a ymunodd â chriw masnachlong Brydeinig Nisero ym 1883, a fyddai'n teithio i India'r Dwyrain. Wrth iddi ddychwelyd a phan oedd yn hwylio am Marseilles gyda llwyth o siwgr, daeth storm a hyrddiwyd y llong ar arfordir Swmatra pan oedd Charles wrth y llyw. Goroesodd y criw ond dinistriwyd y llong. Ac aeth pethau o ddrwg i waeth: fe'u carcharwyd gan ynyswyr a benderfynodd eu gorymdeithio i'r mewndir ac yna, eu caethiwo am sawl mis, gan eu symud o le i le yn aml mewn gwres llethol. Bu farw sawl aelod o'r criw o newyn, lludded neu afiechyd. Daeth diwedd ar y dioddefaint o'r diwedd ar ôl sawl mis, pan anfonwyd criw achub a thalwyd pridwerth sylweddol i'r Rajah, a oedd wedi bod yn eu defnyddio fel gwystlon bargeinio.
Dychwelodd Gronow i Abergwaun ym mis Tachwedd 1884, lle y treuliodd gweddill ei fywyd yn dal cimychiaid, a bu farw ar ôl cyrraedd oedran teg.