Oyster Industry:
The Great Storm of January 1881
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The Great Storm of January 1881
by Carol Powell
by Carol Powell
Mumbles, when the tide reached the Methodist Church, before 1890.
The Horsepool at high tide, Southend, Mumbles.
Skiffs on the foreshore at Oystermouth in the 1880s.
Up until 1871, when oyster-dredging reached its peak, the dredging for oysters had been one of the mainstays of Mumbles Life. Some sixteen million oysters were harvested by five hundred locals employed on one hundred-and-fifty skiffs. But a combination of overfishing (said by some to be due to outsiders) pollution from the nearby River Tawe and a poor sewage scheme led to a sharp decline in oyster numbers over the following two years, resulting in relative prosperity transforming into such a degree of poverty that would require soup kitchens.
In 1871, regulations were brought in to license craft, protect and conserve stocks, prevent the taking of small or unfit fish and the temporary closure of sections of the sea bed. However, the peak of the industry had passed and a slow steady decline was in progress. Large numbers of skiffs were either sold at a loss or laid up as the employers could not afford to operate them.
The great storm of 19 January 1881 only served to compound the misery. The whole of the UK was battered by a snowstorm and gale, which lasted for a full day and night and in Mumbles, freezing temperatures and flying snow, falling slates and masonary kept people indoors. Skiffs moored in the bay became detached and despite the efforts of two boatloads of men, who tried unsuccessfully to effect rescues, six or seven were completely wrecked and many others severely damaged. The Cambrian reported that the following morning, 'The shore around the lighthouse was strewn with various kinds of wreckage.' Forty foot of the seawall had been washed away and the waves had reached the Wesleyan Chapel [Mumbles Methodist Church].
All Saints' Church and The Methodist Church, Oystermouth.
Stephen Powell, Thomas Gammon, John Lloyd, David Michael and Martha Davies suffered the complete loss of their skiffs and the boats, 'Dauntless,' 'Sarah Jane', 'Ann Polly', 'Martha and Ann', 'J.W.S'., 'Fear Not' 'Agness,' 'Robert and John' 'Wild Wave' and 'Twin Brothers' were severely damaged. Two large pleasure boats were also completely wrecked and the total cost was estimated to be £2,000, but thankfully there were no fatalities.
Mumbles Oyster sellers
The following week, the Cambrian printed two letters, pleading for financial help for those affected.
One from 'Beinfaisant' emphasised one family where the father had a family of ten children. The other from D. White Evans pointed out that 'Now the skiff was gone and with it the means of a livelihood, the oysterman was left destitute. . . even those whose skiffs were damaged would need help with the cost of repairs.'
Within a week, a hardship fund had been set up and donors' names published in the newspaper on 28 February and 4 March 1881, together with subscription lists.
The Men and Women who worked in the oyster trade
By 18 February, an 'Entertainment' had been held at Reynoldstone [sic] schoolroom in aid of the Mumbles fishermen. Artistes included Captain Miers, Mrs. Capel Miers, Miss Macdonald and Miss Wilton.
Wages, which could sometimes have been as much as £6 back in 1870, gradually diminished, so that by the 1890s, a man would be lucky to earn £1! The steady decline of the industry continued and by 1883, there were only forty-seven skiffs, twenty-four by 1888, eighteen in 1908 and fourteen by the outbreak of the Great War.
A virus in the early 1920s finished off what was left of the industry forever-- or did it? Now nearly a century later in 2013, plans are afoot to reseed the oyster beds and hopefully bring back an oyster industry to Mumbles.
The wrecked remains of a boat off Oystermouth.
The wrecked remains of a boat on the seashore today
The wrecked remains of boats on the seashore today
Acknowledgments
Cambrian 21 January 1881, 28 January 1881, 4 February 1881, 18 February 1881, 4 March 1881
Norman Thomas, The Mumbles: Past and Present, 1978
The foreshore at Oystermouth today.