I WONDER what the weather was like on January 23, 1861, when Henry Pease and co stood on the clifftop at Saltburn and performed their rather underwhelming ceremony with the first stone (see previous post).

I don't think it was one of those January days when you almost begin to hope - always falsely as winter has another freeze in its tail - that spring is just around the corner.

This is from the same issue of the Darlington and Stockton Times, January 26, 1861, as the report of the stone-laying ceremony. It is from the local news section and under the heading Redcar:

SHIPWRECK. During the severe gale which visited this coast last week, a French brig named Theodore, Captain Lebland, laden with bricks and coal from Newcastle, sprung a leak, and was driven on shore, at Skinningrove, near Redcar. Shortly before the vessel struck, the crew having secured some of their clothes, took to the boat in hopes of reaching the shore in safety, but had not proceeded far from the shop before the whole were washed out of the boat by a tremendous wave and rowned, with the exception of the cpatain, who, after drifting about in the water a considerable time, supported by two boat oars held under his arm, was rescued by or two of the coastguard and others joining hands and wading into the sea. When brought to land, he was in a very exhausted state, but by unremitting attention he was ultimately brought round. The rest of the crew have since washed ashore. The vessel is a total wreck, and has been sold for the benefit of the underwriters.

Dramatic stuff, indeed. And wasn't life cheap in those days: I wonder how many crew members were drowned in this paragraph?