"Barque run aground 5 miles SW of Dover. The ill fated vessel is the American Barque JOHN TILLOTSON from Hamburg to Philadelphia. The vessel which ran into her being the screw steamer IDLEWILD bound from Huelva for Ipswich with oil. Five 5 hands are missing from the Barque. The vessel is in 13 fathoms of water which is not deep enough to cover her masts, a portion of which with the sails still set can be distinguished from the Admiralty pier. Signals of distress were noticed by the boatmen at the pier for some time from the spot were the vessel sank, but no effort appears to have been made to offer assistance from any quarter. The crew who arrived at the sailors home from Folkstone in the afternoon, state that the collision occurred at 5'o clock, there was a fresh breeze blowing from the eastward at the time and the vessel was proceeding down channel. It was a bright clear night and the IDLEWILD could be seen approaching a quarter of an hour before the collision occured. Every possible means to prevent this disaster was adopted on board the sunken vessel but not withstanding all that was done the steamer still bore down on them and eventually struck them in the main chains of the starboard side. Seeing the serious nature of the breach in the vessels side and that there was no possibility of saving her, the crew at once proceeded to lower one of her boats and scarcely gone away from the vessel before she sank. In their hurry to get off there had not been time to save anything, some of the men had very little on apart form their under clothing on and it was now discovered that out of a crew of 15 there was only 11 on board. The missing seamen included steward, ships mate, able seamen and the ships boy, the Dutch pilot was also last. The other vessel offered no assistance and steamed off as soon as the collision had occurred - she ran into the "offing" at Folkstone where she brought up. However, she continued to fire distress signals for some time after she had left the scene of the disaster. The shipwrecked crew succeeded in reaching Folkstone at 8' o clock and were in a very distressed condition. They were conducted to the Custom House where they were placed in a warm room and made as comfortable as possible until they were forwarded to the sailors home at Dover at 3.30pm. Here they were provided with clothing and in every way looked after. The IDLEWILD arrived off Dover early in the afternoon in charge of the GRANVILLE and PALMERSTON tugs and was brought into the harbour later on. She sustained heavy damage to her bows which are severly stoved." Date of Loss: A

<1> Kent Coast Times 1866-1896, 13-JAN-1881 p3, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6365.