Don Afonso (DOM AFONSO)

[john sefton]

GIBBONS USES DON(English spelling), the article uses DOM(Spanish spelling)

In March 1984 Brazil issued a stamp depicting the steam corvette DOM AFONSO which was named after the Brazilian Crown Prince who was born in 1845. The stamp also shows the vessel's figurehead.
The ship was built in England (seemingly at Liverpool or Birkenhead) and was launched on December 23rd 1847. She was a composite-built schooner-rigged paddle steamer of 900 tons displacement and 300 horse power. 190 feet long, 31 feet beam, 20 feet depth of hold, and with a mean draught of 12 feet. For armament she carried two 68-pounders and four 32-pounders (these guns were of the latest types then available).
Her first commander was Captain Joaquim Marquis Lisboa (later Admiral Marques de Tamandare - Brazil's best known Admiral).
Captain Lisboa had helped in supervising the building of the vessel.
On the morning of August 24th 1848, the DOM AFONSO steamed out of the river Mersey to undergo her sea trials. On board her were several notable guests who included the Brazilian Princess Dona Francisca, her spouse Admiral Prince de Joinville (the same who brought to France the remains of Napoleon from St. Helena in the BELLE POULE), and Commodore Grenfell (of the Brazilian Navy) who was then the Brazilian Consul in Liverpool.
When the DOM AFONSO reached the vicinity of North Wales a large sailing ship on fire was sighted some six miles off Great Orme's head and Captain Lisboa immediately altered course and steered at full speed towards the blazing inferno.
The ship on fire was the American emigrant ship OCEAN MONARCH of Enoch Train's Liverpool Line (she was built by the famous shipbuilder Donald McKay in 1843). The OCEAN MONARCH had left Liverpool earlier that morning with a crew of 42 and 354 passengers which were mainly poor emigrants. It seems that one of the passengers,
ignorant of the danger, had started a fire in one of the aftermost ventilators and before anything could be done to combat the fire it had spread out of control. The Captain put the ship into the wind in order to lessen the draught but his action was of little avail as the wind only fanned the flames more so. Seeing this the ship was brought to and the anchors were let go.
By the time she was sighted by the DOM AFONSO the fire had reached as far as the forecastle head where all those still on board were crowded in terror (apparently two of the ship's boats got away from the ship but, even so, there would have been about 300, if not more, left on board).
As more and more people crowded on to the forecastle head men (and perhaps women) crawled out onto the bowsprit and jibboom until those spars were smothered with people, some even clung to the Dolphin striker. As the flames licked the after part of the forecastle head the panic intensified. Such was the situation when the DOM AFONSO dropped anchor close to the stricken ship.
Two whale boats were immediately lowered and took with them one end of a long heavy rope which was to be a lifeline between the two ships. There was a fresh north west breeze and the sea was fairly agitated. While the boats were being lowered the mainmast of the OCEAN MONARCH came crashing down, with its main and topsails ablaze, its supporting shrouds having been burnt through. Shortly afterwards the foremast also came down and as it went it caused the jibboom to snap and as it suddenly broke it brought about the horrible death of one man who was clinging to it at the point of break; the rest of those on that boom were thrown into the sea and all perished. Because of the entanglement of masts and rigging the whale boats could not get close to the Ocean Monarch's bow so a Brazilian seaman named Jeronimo (disgracefully his surname has not been recorded) tied the heavy rope about him, swam with difficulty to the ship, and succeeded in making the rope fast to the ship's anchor cable. Thus by means of this rope at least 156 people got to safety (another account states the number as 160). Others jumped into the sea and 3 of these were picked up by one of the whalers. About 60 more were picked up also, apparently by other boats as by this time the American packet ship NEW WORLD and the yacht QUEEN OF THE OCEAN had appeared at the scene. Altogether 218 were saved and 178 were lost. The ship sank at her anchors at 1.30p.m, that day.
After this the DOM AFONSO returned to Liverpool and a few days later Captain Lisboa received £100 sent by the Brazilian minister in London to be divided among the crew in the name of the Emperor of Brazil. The poorly paid Brazilian seamen unanimously agreed that this windfall should be donated to the well-being of the emigrants that survived the holocaust and who had lost all they possessed. The British Government presented Captain Lisboa with a gold chronometer 'in testimony of the gallantry and humanity he displayed'. I think that it is only right to mention that the Princess and the Duchess de Aumale did their utmost to help the injured and to comfort the women and children.
I do not know exactly when the DOM AFONSO left Liverpool for Brazil but it was probably in November or December, 1848. In the Bay of Biscay she encountered a bad storm and was forced to seek refuge at Coruna. Afterwards she went to Lisbon where she took on board 50 carpenters that had been contracted to work in the Naval dockyard at Rio de Janeiro. She put into the Cape Verde Islands to refuel and arrived at Recife on February 1st. 1849. When she got to this Brazilian port it was more or less under siege by rebels and an attack on the city by them was imminent. Captain Lisboa landed with a strong contingent from his ship and joined up with the Government forces and together they defeated the rebels. Of the prisoners taken 238 were 'recruited' for the Brazilian Navy and these were embarked aboard the DOM AFONSO which took them down the coast to Bahia. The ship eventually arrived at Rio de Janeiro on February 28th.
In August 1850, when still under the command of Captain Lisboa, the DOM AFONSO steamed out of Rio de Janeiro into stormy seas to the assistance of the Portuguese ship-of-the-line VASCO DA GAMA (the flagship of the Portuguese South American Squadron) which had been totally dismasted when the storm blew up in the bay. The Portuguese ship was straining at her anchors and despite the adverse conditions Captain Lisboa had a boat lowered, but as it made contact with the sea it was overturned and those in it were lost. The DOM AFONSO lay to until the following afternoon when the sea had abated sufficiently to risk sending a boat. This was done and a line connection was made by which a towing hawser connected the two ships and the ship was towed into harbour. There are three or four paintings of this event. One shows two towing ropes and another incorrectly depicts the DOM AFONSO as barque rigged. For this service Captain Lisboa was presented with a golden sword by the Portuguese.
In 1851 the DOM AFONSO commanded by Captain Lamego, became the flagship of admiral Grenfell for his operations in the Parana river during the conflict of that period with Argentina. This was in April and during that month the DOM AFONSO exchanged gunfire with shore batteries on several occasions. Her main incident of the conflict was on December 15th of that year when she headed the Squadron that forced the passage of a place on the Parana River called Tonelero. At the time she was towing the sailing corvette DONA FRANCISCA.
The Squadron steamed past the Argentine shore batteries at slow speed and engaged them for an hour. The ships received only minor damage but leat 6 killed and 4 wounded. The damage to the DOM AFONSO consisted of only some rigging etc., being shot through. In January 1852 she spent some time assisting with the blockade of Buenos Aires. Peace came later that year and the DOM AFONSO returned to Rio de Janeiro and afterwards she was sent out on patrols to suppress slave traffic. On one of these patrols, on January 8th 1853, when she was cruising between Cape Frio and Espirito Santo the weather quickly deteriorated and unfortunately she had by then used up all of her fuel. Her sails were not able to save her (they may have become rotten) and either on the night of January 9th, or on the early hours of the 10th, she was cast up on a beach, some 7 miles to the north westwards of Cape Frio, and totally wrecked. Three men lost their lives, a court-martial of the officers took place and some were given prison sentences (which implies some incompetence on their part).
P. S. Of the 218 persons saved from the OCEAN MONARCH 160 were saved by the DOM AFONSO. Commodore, or Vice Admiral, John Pascoe Grenfell commanded one of the whaleboats that went off to the ship. The DOM AFONSO, at the time, had a full magazine of gunpowder on board. The Liverpool shipwreck and humane society presented nine medals to certain officers and men of the DOM AFONSO. The DOM AFONSO was berthed in Coburg Dock, Liverpool on October 10th 1848

P.P.S. Details from the 'Liverpool Mercury' (of December 1847) which reported the launching of the DOM AFONSO (called simply the AFONSO in the paper): built by Thomas Royden at Liverpool, and under the personal superintendence of Admiral Grenfell. The ship was launched at noon by Miss Grenfell (the Admiral's daughter) and she went nice and steady down the slip while the band played, inappropriately, 'Britannia rules the Waves'. After being launched she was towed to Coburg Dock (probably for fitting out, E.J.H.). The ship was reported as being a splendid specimen of workmanship. Her framing was of English oak, her planking below the water line was of American elm, and above of teak (Including the main deck). She had three decks of which the two lower were made from 'Dantzic' timber (pine ??) Her bottom was solid and she was copper bolted throughout. Her sides were strengthened by interior iron and wooden trusses. 'She is provided with Dalton's air-pumps, and will carry two large boats on her paddle boxes'. 'Cherub figurehead and her stern ornamented with rich carvings'. She had three watertight bulkheads and her principal cabins were of (probably lined with) french-polished mahogany. Her form and lines are fine but she is only 300 H.P. she is 330 tons burden builder's measure. 200 feet long on deck (i.e. main deck, E.J.H.) 178 feet on keel, 31 feet 10 inches beam, and depth of hold 19 feet. When launched she drew 6 feet but when completed her draught will not exceed 12 feet.

This superb article was by E.J.HOGAN and published in Log Book, October 1984.

Brasil SG2062. 2792