The August Gale
The Faith: Lost and Found
Transcribed from 'The Island Magazine'. Fall/Winter 1992:32
By: DR Allan J. MacRae
The Faith
On 28 May 1992, the sea disclosed one of her secrets. Wendell and Gordon Rayner of Alberton were hauling lobster traps in the familiar waters just outside the entrance to Northport Harbour when they snarled one of their trawls on an unknown object. The Rayners asked a local diver, Craig Gaudette, to go down and take a look. Much to everyone's surprise Gaudette discovered the wreck of a large wooden sailing ship.
The tradition of wrecks dies hard for the seamen who ply the waters along the Cascumpec Sand hills near Alberton. Local fisherman, people like Herb Fraser, Sy Matthews, and Frank McNeill (all now deceased), had kept alive in local lore the tradition of an iron-laden vessel named the Faith, that went down off Alberton in a summer storm sometime in the 1870's. While the shifting sands had occasionally turned up rusty iron rails, the vessel herself had seemingly disappeared. Now the lost wreck itself had been uncovered for the first time in a century, and as divers explored the site, their discoveries created a flurry interest. What vessel was this? Why was she carrying a cargo of iron into Alberton? What were the details behind her origin, her destination, and her destruction? This is the story of the Faith...
According to Lloyd's of London records from 1873, the Faith was a 261-ton, two-masted brig, launched in 1865. She was owned on Prince Edward Island, but registered at Swansea, South Wales. From an examination of the sunken wreck's remains, we learn that she was about 118 feet long and 25 feet wide at her midsection, with a draught of 10 - 12 feet. She was planked with oak, and fastened with metal pins 8 -12 inches long. Her hull below the waterline was covered with sheets of copper, and she was fitted throughout with brass. She was a "good" vessel according to Lloyd's. That she landed the contract to carry railway supplies from whales to the Island may have been due to the influence of her owner Captain William Richards.
Richards was born 15 may, 1819 in Swansea, South Wales, the son of Captain William Richards, Sr., and his wife Margaret Thomas. Educated at Swansea and Waterford, Ireland, he went to sea at 18 with his father. By the age of 25, he has risen to be master mariner and subsequently became a vessel owner. In 1849, he married Susannah Yeo, daughter of Prince Edward Islands leading ship owner, James Yeo of Port Hill, and in 1854 Richards acquired a large shipyard at nearby Bideford. During 1871-72, he was a member of the Conservative government. Like his friend and colleague, George Howlan, He supported the Railway Bill. Now in 1873, he was carrying its rails.
The Faith was one of at least two vessels commissioned to import materials from south Wales for the railway. The second vessel was the Kewadin (in some accounts, Keewaydin), which was built at Summerside in 1866 for a rising merchant named R.T Holman. We do not know the number of voyages each vessel was contracted to make, but we do know that the Kewadin, with captain Gould as master and a crew from Wales, arrived in Prince Edward Island (most likely in Charlottetown) on August 14 1873. It is possible that the Faith, commanded by Captain Coulston, arrived near the same date. By 24 August, the two brigs were tracking their way to toward Northport Harbour with their difficult cargo on board. Their reception would become a nightmare, for somewhere beyond the balmy summer weather a vicious tropical storm was brewing.