The ‘Royal Charter’ was one of the Sandycroft, Flint ships. In 1854 it (she) was one of the first iron ships. She was a sail ship but she had an engine and propeller. This Just Starting script is an exact translation of the Mynediad/Entry Level version, so when ready, please move up to see how much you can understand.
In 1856 it was ready to go to Australia. On 17 January, she went from Liverpool with 400 people and 106 crew. There was a problem because there was too much ballast (rocks to steady the ship) and the ship was low in the water. They stopped in Plymouth to throw the ballast out.
The ‘Royal Charter’ had a good journey to Australia but one night the Irish were having a party and they killed an albatross. The crew were worried that this was unlucky and they were very nervous. But they went to Melbourne without a problem.
Many of the people travelling on the ‘Royal Charter’ had made a fortune in the gold mines there. The ship got a new nickname ‘The Gold Ship’.
In 1859, the ‘Royal Charter’ was on the way from Australia for the last time. The ship was full of gold. There were about 500 people on the ship. The weather was fine on 24 October. They stopped in Queenstown, Ireland. But the majority wanted to go to Liverpool.
At 5.00 a.m. there was a bit of a storm but at 9.00 a.m. the ‘Royal Charter’ was in trouble. There wasn’t enough ‘sea room’ to sail through the storm and the ship was too far from Holyhead to go into the bay.
The ‘Royal Charter’ went against the rocks in Moelfre. Some wanted to swim to shore but they were wearing too many clothes and carrying too much gold. The people of Moelfre went down to the beach to help.
450 people died – every woman and child.
They carried the bodies to Eglwys Llanallgo Church and it was the work of the Rev. Roose Hughes to look after the bodies. This was a bit of a task. He made a detailed description of each one.
Soon, the families of the dead had come to the village of Moelfre. Revd. Roose Hughes and his wife were a great help to the families. This was a terrible strain on Roose Hughes and he died aged 47.
