Rat who left a sinking ship

Captain William Webster was castigated for jumping into the last available lifeboat leaving many of his crew stranded on the sinking deck.

But, his contemptible actions did not save him – he drowned when the lifeboat capsized, whereas another steamship, Upupa, hoved into view and rescued the remains of his crew.

Because of Capt Webster's actions, the sinking of the Clan Macduff was notorious in its day. Nineteen crew and 12 passengers – including one from Barnard Castle – drowned, although due to the Upupa, 23 crew, seven passengers and one stowaway were saved.

They'd all set sail from Liverpool bound for Bombay a day or so earlier, but off Holyhead had been caught in a terrible gale, which had ripped a steampipe off the fiddley house. This led to water rushing in through the fiddley gratings because Capt Webster didn't order the fiddley covers to be applied. Perhaps it was too fiddly a job, but Clan Macduff started filling up.

It had six lifeboats, but two were irreparably damaged before they could be launched, and lifeboat No 2 was unlaunchable because of the crazy list.

With lifeboats Nos 5 and 6, successfully put to sea, there must have been frantic scenes as No 3 – the last available source of salvation – was lowered. One child slipped through its lifebelt and drowned, but all of the other passengers were safely transferred.

Then Capt Webster jumped off the Clan Macduff, into the water and was hauled aboard the lifeboat. His crew watching from above must have despaired.

However, after eight hours, the lifeboat was capsized by a large wave, and although the boat righted itself, Capt Webster was not one of those who managed to survive the sea and clamber aboard.

Also lost was John Robert Scarre. He was born in Barney in about 1861, but when his father died in 1864, he and his two older brothers grew up in the care of their uncle in Lartington.

The two older brothers, Thomas and William, moved to neighbouring houses in Derby Street, Darlington, and worked for the North Eastern Railway.

When John Robert perished at the sea, brother William named his newborn baby after him. It was that second John Robert Scarre whom we encountered in Memories 182. He was sailing in Ropners' little navy on SS Thirlby before settling down and going to work in the North Road Shops.

We are grateful to his great-nephew, Anthony Scarre of Darlington, for telling us the story of the captain who abandoned his ship.

rmm YOUNG SHIPOWNER: Robert Middleton, aged 17

ROPNERS, originally of West Hartlepool, was a fascinating company if only because it named many of its ships after local villages with Saxon names that ended with "by" – Thirlby, for instance, is a village on the North York Moors.

Wendy Morton in Darlington writes to say that a decade before Ropners developed its naming convention, her great-great-uncle was doing something similar.

He was Robert Morton Middleton, born in Sowerby near Thirsk, and grew up in Northallerton where his father was the Backhouse's Bank manager. Robert, too, went into banking and moved to West Hartlepool as a clerk.

In 1875, he began commissioning ships from Gray's shipyard. "They were all small ships – brigantines and schooners – of just over 1,000 tons; steamships, but retaining sails," she says. "Among them were Alverton, Sowerby and Romanby – Alverton was wrecked off the Dutch coast in November 1879, so a second ship of the same name was commissioned. After ages trying to find out why they were called Alverton, I found that it was an old name for Northallerton."

Indeed, in Saxon times, Northallerton took its name from Aelfere, who farmed there. Aelfere, or Aelfred, was a common name 1,000 years ago.

Over the centuries, Aelfere-ton became Alverton which became Allerton which, in the 14th Century, became Northallerton to distinguish it from all the other Allertons in the area.

After shipowning, Mr Middleton went to Chile in South America as a missionary for a couple of years. He then returned to this country and, as a keen botanist, settled near Kew Gardens in London, where he died of appendicitis in 1909.

nthgte STRANGE CAR: The one in front has a bell on the bumper and a light on the roof

THE pictures of 1960s Darlington in Memories 181 piqued the interest of Mark Cooper, one of our resident car spotters. He was particularly interested in the traffic jam in Northgate in 19164.

"The lorry is a Scammell Contractor operated by Siddle C Cook, a well known heavy haulier from Consett," says Mark. "He was probably getting a police escort through the centre of the town as there was no ring road until 1967.

"But I am baffled by the first vehicle in the picture, an Austin Cambridge estate. It has got a bell mounted on the front bumper and a blue light on its roof – is it police or fire service?"

Can anyone explain?

nthrd NEW SIGN: In Darlington's North Road in the 1960s

ALAN ADAMS was interested in the picture of the three men erecting a signpost. "The metal fence behind them marked the boundary between the old North Road Methodist chapel and manse, which is just visible on the left, and St. Paul's vicarage," he says.

St Paul's Church was consecrated in 1872 and burned down in 1973, so now its site its occupied by housing. "It's vicarage is still in use in the St Paul's Place complex," says Alan.

"In the picture, the large gable end facing the photographer used to be a bakery belonging to the Britton family. It had on its side in large letters: "BRITTONS BUILDS BETTER BRITONS."

A FREE guided walk is being held in Darlington's West Cemetery tomorrow (SUN JUNE 29). It will look at the history of the neighbouring Woodburn nursery which the council is considering selling for 36 houses. The nursery was once attached the Peases' lost Woodburn mansion, and was designed by Darlington's greatest architect , GG Hoskins, who is buried in the cemetery. Several of Woodburn's gardeners also lie there.

The walk is being led by Irene Ord, who lives in one of the nearby Hoskins-designed gardeners' cottages. The walks start at 10.30am and 2pm from the main cemetery gate.