The Brig EVELYN
	The Evelyn was one one the many brigs built in Porthmadog and Borth y Gest. She is well remembered as she had a long life and was one of the strongest built.. She was built in 1877 by Daniel Evans and Hugh Williams. Her dimensions were: 216 GT 202 NT 350 TDW 104.9' LOA 25.6' Beam 13/9' Depth She was owned jointly by the Greaves brothers and Capt Hugh Roberts (snr). His son, also Hugh Roberts, was master of her for most of the 37 years she traded. His brother William Roberts was the mate. His other brother Tom Roberts was master of the "Dorothy" and later the little steamer "Rebecca" which ran regularly from Porthmadog to Liverpool. Her story and that of the men who sailed on her (many of these became well known Master Mariners) is well told in Henry Hughes's book "Immortal Sails" and Aled Eames and Emrys Hughes's "Porthmadog Ships". She had a reputation as a happy, comfortable vessel. The brigs, being square rigged, had a different trading pattern to the schooners and barquentines. This rig not as good for sailing directly across the Western Ocean to Newfoundland, on the salt cod trade as this was against the prevailing winds. Being bigger than the schooners and deeper draft they could only load at Porthmadog at spring tides. They would sail across Biscay and pick up the NE Trade Winds and sail to South America and the Caribbean. One of the cargoes loaded was phosphates from the island of Aruba.. Sugar was also carried and sometimes they would sail up from the West Indies to Newfoundland and load cod there though she was not as handy as the schooners for dodging around the remote fishing stations. Her last voyage was more a typical salt cod run. She sailed, with a load of slates from Porthmadog in March 1913 for Hamburg. The weather was very dirty and sadly the orninary seamen Thomas Jones, fell from the mast and was lost. This was the first loss of life on the "Evelyn" in 37 years. Eventually the brig arrived at Hamburg and after discharging there she sailed to Boston in Lincolnshire.. Some of the crew paid off here and in Grimsby where the next voyage commenced in July. She sailed from here to Gibraltar (cargo?) and thence to Cadiz where she loaded salt for Newfoundland. She arrived St John's on the 3rd September and after discharging the salt at various stations around the coast she started picking up her return cargo. This consisted of: 260 barrels of seal oil, 2,655 sacks of guano and 255 packages of gillbones (AE, EH). Her port of departure was Beaverton and her destination was Glasgow. She sailed on 1st November 1913. Her final pasage was terrible and illustrates the hardship endured by the men on these little ships. The weather was atrocious from the start. After a week a huge sea swept the decks, filling the after cabin and tearing the galley off the deck and washing it over the side. The galley struck the lifeboat from the hatch taking that with it.. All the sails were blown out and the ship was unmaneagable. Later the focsle cabin was flooded so all the (short handed) crew of six had to huddle in the after cabin.. For the next three weeks conditions were unbearable. The cargo broke loose and stove in the bulhead so the cabin was flooded with oil and the drinking water contaminated by guano. The ship started leaking so the pumps were manned continiously and there was no respite to the howling wind and mountaious seas.
	Finally, on the 28th of November a British ship, the "Invergyle" hove in sight and offered assistance. Three of the crew leapt overboard and were picked up by the lifeboat from the "Invergyle" but it was not possible to recue Captain Roberts, Tom (not George as in this clipping) Jones the Mate and Schaefer the German (NOT "A.Gorman!!) sailor. For three days the tree men battled against the rising water with no food or drink. On the 30th the CP liner "Monmouth" appeared and with great difficulty recued them. The poor "Evelyn" was by now awash and was soon to sink beneathe the "Western Ocean". The three men rescued by the "Invergyle" were landed at Halifax and the others at Bristol. As was the custom their wages ceased when they abandoned ship.
	From the New York Times Dec 6th 1913
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