The crew of the Margaret died in broad daylight; the
fate of the crew of the Johnkeer
Meester Van Der Wallmet their fate in the
pitch darkness unseen.
The Dutch East
Indian Johnkeer Meester was
bound for Amsterdam with passengers, coffee,
arrowroot, and tin. She was last seen by Mousehole
pilots taking between Lizard and Gunwalloe. She
appeared then in no trouble. A strong gale began to
build up after 4PM and the Johnkeer Meester
slid into the darkness. Nothing more was seen until
2AM when distress rockets were sighted off the
Mullion cliffs. An hour later, the coast guard found
wreckage around Poldhu Cove and called out the rocket
brigade and a lifeboat.
At dawn, debris
began to come in to shore, including the entire poop
of the barque, the bodies of two women, a three day
old baby, and several sailors. Then a bedraggled
sailor was found dazed, but alive, in the rocks.
Reverend Harvey interviewed the man, but he spoke no
English. He was Greek and had boarded the ship in
Batavia, not knowing the ship's or captain's name. He
could give no reason why he was carrying a lady's
watch and chain.
An inquest was held
the following week at an old inn at Mullion. The
sailor identified himself through an interpreter. He
pointed out the Dutch Indiaman Kosmopoliet from a list presented him.
Shortly after a verdict of death by drowning of the Kosmopoliet
was returned, two Dutch captains arrived in Falmouth
and suggested the ship had been the Johnkeer
Meester. This was proved when the Johnkeer
Meester's captain's identification washed
ashore. A will also came ashore identifying one of
the women as a retired governess from India. Coffee
and sugar came to shore, as well as a box of gold
coins and banknotes. Two fishermen salvaged several
blocks of tin from the sea bottom using a waterglass
and long tongs.
(Larn and
Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks,
pages 152-153.)
