Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 24 November 1893
Sensational Tale of the Sea
A Mexborough Man and His Family Nearly Drowned
During the terrible gale on Saturday last a well-known Mexborough man and his family had a narrow escape from drowning. Mr. Edward Bisby, son of Mr. Bisby, boat owner, of Mexborough, and his family were on board the ketch “Five Sisters,” owned by him. Together with several other boats, in all two “packet” loads, they were being towed down the Humber from Hull, and at ten o’clock in the morning, when off the Old Warp to the northward, the tug towed them on to a bank.
All the ketches were heavily laden and immediately settled on to the bank. The tug endeavoured to tow them off, but was unsuccessful with the exception of one boat, the “Robert Longthorne,” of Thorne. She was not provided with a cock-boat, and in consequence of this the tug immediately took her back to Hull. She was even then half-full of water.
In the meantime the ketches left on the bank began to break up, the high seas breaking clean over them. Two of them went down about two o’clock, and about five o’clock the “Five Sisters,” which had been badly broken up, filled and sunk. Mr. Bisby, his wife, and five children were on board, and the greatest difficulty was experienced in rescuing them.
The cockboat had been smashed, and was useless, and some of the family would have been drowned but for the timely assistance of the mate of a Denaby boat, which was commanded by a man named Hatchett, and which, being a new and strong boat, sustained very little damage from the wind and waves, although fast on the bank.
Hatchett’s mate jumped over board and rescued one of Mr. Bisby’s children, and his dog, a retriever, saved the life of another. Mr. Bisby and his eldest son also assisted in saving the lives of Mrs. Bisby and the other children.
Shortly after the rescue the tug came back and succeeded in getting Hatchett’s boat off the bank, but it was found impossible to move the others. In all seven of the ketches filled and sank, one of them being the “Samuel and Annie,” a boat built at Mexborough, but owned by Mr. Samuel Cooper, of Doncaster.
Since the catastrophe one of the boats, the “Victoria,” of Thorne, has been raised and towed ashore. The “Five Sisters,” however, is a hopeless wreck. Mr. Bisby and his son are now staying on the Old Warp Island, watching her break up. She was built by Mr. J. Waddington and was proceeding from Hull to Gainsborough with a cargo of general goods.
So completely has she been broken up that the feather bed floated out of the forecastle an hour or two after she went down. Mrs. Bisby and the four younger children, who have returned to Thorne, are happily little the worse for their sensational adventure. None of the persons on board the other boats lost their lives, the cockboats of each of the vessels being serviceable.
The “Five Sisters” only left Mexborough on Monday week for Hull. The boat, commanded by Mr. Hatchett, whose mate rendered such signal service in the work of rescue, belongs to the Denaby Main Colliery Company.