Captains of the Loch Sloy

1877 - 1899 Captains of the 1877 - Loch Sloy 1899 Captain James ‘Jack’ Horne (b.1835 – d.1912) James Horne was born 1835 in the port city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. He was the son of Anne and James Horn, who was the Aberdeen Town Sergeant who was the Sergeant-at-Arms for borough council. The role of the Town Sergeants was to provide a support service to the Lord Provost and elected members of the Council. At all times representing the civic dignity and image of the city, the Town Sergeants played an important ceremonial role, including acting as Master of Ceremonies at civic events and accompanying the Lord Provost on his busy schedule of engagements and full meetings of the Council. The Town Sergeant acted as custodians of the Council's Badges of Office and the Ceremonial Mace which were used regularly for a range of events including Council Meetings, civic engagements and functions, national and international visits, and Royal visits to the city. His duties also included being the town’s bailiff, and gaoler. James Horne snr’s formal uniform was a distinctive long tailed doe jacket, pillar box red in colour. Royal Albert, Sebastopol blockade, 1855. www.antiquaprintgallery.com/sevastopol-hms-royal-albert-snow-storm-blockading-1855-96412- p.asp James Horne jnr was the second of at least five children; Robert, James, Helen, John, Elizabeth and the family lived in a council house in St Nicholas Street, Aberdeen. James Horne jnr began his apprenticeship at the age of 15 and in that time travelled to Calcutta, Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. It was at the time of the Crimean war when his apprenticeship ended and he immediately volunteered for active service with her majesties navy. He gained a berth as an AB on the HMS Royal Albert, a massive 121 gun three-decker ship of the Royal Navy, named after Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert. The Royal Albert had a crew of 1000 sailors and carried 1500 marines to the battle field near Sebastopol. While on the voyage James was promoted to second captain of the maintop. During the war the vessel was involved in only one major engagement when she joined a squadron of warships to bombard Russian Kinburn Forts on the north shore of the Black Sea. Once the war was over he returned to Britain aboard the warship Princess Royal and afterwards for a brief time was a topman aboard Nelson’s flagship, Victory. Finally James Horne was discharged from the navy and rejoined the merchant service. For his efforts he received the Crimean Campaign Medal and later the Turkish Medal, both of which he proudly wore to his dying day. HMS Royal Albert, (Only known photograph). http://www.naviearmatori.net/albums/userpics/12060/hms_royal_albert.jpg He travelled to China as second officer aboard a tea-clipper in 1857 and stayed in Chinese waters for some time. It was because of his previous naval experience that in 1859 he was appointed to Lord Elgin’s Embassy to China during the Second Opium War and was in charge of a house boat used by Lord Elgin when he was in Shanghai. The ‘Lorcha’ was towed behind a gunboat to Tienstin where it remained until the treaty was signed ending the Second Opium War. James Horne had served upon Lord Elgins staff and took part in the battle to take the Taku Forts at the mouth of the Peiho River. The British and French captured the Taku Forts, at the mouth of the Peiho River, on 21 August 1860. The Chinese defenders put up a strong fight, but their lances, crossbows and outdated muskets and cannon were no match for the firepower of the Allies and they soon surrendered. Taku Fort, China, 1860. Photograph by Felice Beato (1825-1907), 2nd China War (1857-1860), 1860. Situated in an area of marshland and mudflats around the mouth of the Peiho River, the Taku Forts guarded the river approach to Peking (Bejing). The Chinese had developed an elaborate series of defences, including deep ditches and massed sharpened bamboo stakes, presenting formidable difficulties to any attacker. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Upper_North_Taku_Fort.jpg Later James Horne returned to London and in 1864 was appointed as master of the 734 ton ship, ‘JOHN ALLAN’ that traded between the Britain, New Zealand, the East Indies, Mauritius, South Africa, the West Indies and New York. The ship was owned by John Allan and Sons of London and he was master of this vessel for 13½ years. Back in England by 1877 the now famous Captain Horne joined the Loch Line and was appointed master of the brand new 1200 clipper Loch Sloy. Not a particularly fast ship she never-the-less was a step up from the rotting hulk that James Horne had been forced to command about the far eastern ports and the Indian Ocean. Captain Horne stayed with the clipper until 1885 when he was given command of the blue ribbon clipper, the Loch Garry. He maintained this command until he retired in 1911 when the Loch Garry was sold for scrap. Her captain of 26 years, Captain James Horne (senior) came ashore at the same time after 62 years at sea (47 years in command). He felt his work was completed and died a few months later. It was while he was in London that he married his long-time sweetheart Margaret Cumming Troup. She followed him for much of his early career aboard ship and at least one of their children was born at sea. Their children were; James (b.1866, 39 Hornsey Street, Islington, London), Margaret (b.1869), Daisy (b.1873), Lillian (b.1875), and George (b.1881). Early on the family maintained a small terrace in inner London at Islington, but as the family grew so did their need for more room. Staying in Islington the family lived at 25 Archibald Rd, a three story terrace in a more well to do part of London. With command of the Loch Garry came a great advance in fortune. A captains pay was as little as £50 - £70 a month so investment in the ship’s cargo and in the ship itself was a better way to make money. Captain Horne made a huge profit with almost every trip, often bringing in more than £5000 per trip to and from Britain. This made the ship’s owners fabulously rich and the Horne’s shared in some of this bounty. During his entire career he never had a fire or lost a vessel under his command. At the end of his life James and Margaret Horne lived at 32 Cholmeley Park, Highgate, London, a stately two story home in north London. Living with them were Daisy, a school, teacher, George, the Secretary to Establishment and General Purposes Committee, Margaret’s sister Eliza Troup and their servant and cook Francis Lockyer. Later after James died Margaret moved to smaller accommodation to live with her son Francis and his family at Corner House, 203 Camden Road, St Pancras. She died here on the 15th July 1934 leaving her son just £290 5s 3d as the value of her estate. 1500 Ton Iron Clipper, ‘Loch Garry’. State Library of Victoria. Captain John McLean (b.1857 – d. 1913) John McLean was born on the 16th of March 1857 in the port town of Cromarty, in the county of Cromarty & Ross. Cromarty is a seaport the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth. The towns mainstay was fishing and the MacLean’s were fisher folk from way back and it was into this environment that John learnt his craft and gained his love for the sea. He went to sea early in life serving on a variety of vessels firstly as a brassbound apprentice, and later as third and second mate aboard several vessels before coming to prominence as first officer aboard the ship “Labrador”. It was while the ship was anchored in Pensacola Bay, Florida on the 16th of October 1881 that John Mclean showed his mettle. A young stowaway, named McDonald, from the British ship “Forest Rights” was swimming in the bay one Sunday morning when he developed cramps and disappeared in 18 feet of water. Those aboard the “Forest Rights” did nothing to help the drowning lad and it was left to John McLean whose ship was berthed alongside, to leap to the rescue. Even when he had swum out to the drowning sailor and hauled him back to the surface no one aboard the British ship did a thing to help either man. It was because of this that an exhausted John McLean was forced to let the unconscious young man go just to save his own life. John was nominated for and received the Silver Medal from the Royal Humane Society for his act of selfless bravery. The award was given by the Duke of Argyll, to John on the 21st of April 1882. Having been released the boy again sank to the bottom and the body was later partly devoured by sharks. The following day it reappeared much abused floating by the Jefferson Street Pier, the body was hauled in and tied to the barque Yarra-Yarra. The badly eaten body was left in the harbour for several hours before the British Consul had it collected and buried. John Mclean was lauded for his heroism and nominated for a Humane Society Medal. This was not to be the only time that John McLean would put his life on the line for the sake of another.

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