Birkenhead survivors
Colonel R A Nesbitt
COLONEL RICHARD ATHOL NESBITT C.B. joined the Birkenhead with his father, mother and brother when she sailed from Simon`s Bay on the eve of the wreck. His father was Quartermaster of the 12th Suffolk on his way to join that regiment fighting the Kaffir Wars. Richard Athol joined the South African Imperial Government`s service in 1855, afterwards transferring to the Colonial service as a Sub Inspector of the Colonial force in South Africa.. After a distinguished career he retired in 1879 through wounds and ill health but returned to active service in 1899 raising and commanding Nesbitt`s Horse against the Boers. He was awarded the Companionship of the Bath by King Edward V11 for `his long and loyal devotion` and retired to Port Elizabeth South Africa where he died on September 5th 1905 aged 69.
He wrote as follows to Mr John R Crocker, the lighthouse keeper at Danger Point ,seven months before he died.
"Yes I am one of the Birkenhead survivors. I was between fourteen and fifteen years old when it happened and have a very clear and distinct recollection of all that occurred. I saved myself by making for and fastening on to one of the boats to which I clung for some time after my fingers were crushed and was eventually pulled on board. We were afterwards picked up by the schooner Lioness and never shall I forget the great kindness of Captain and Mrs Ramsden to all the survivors - men, women and children. The different accounts given by some of the survivors are very correct and very interesting to me. I really cannot add in any way to its contents. Everything was carried on by great regularity and without confusion. I don`t think half an hour could have elapsed from her striking until she broke up. I believe that I am the sole survivor in this Colony. (in fact one other - William Butler was still living). I should indeed be glad to see some memorial to the wreck erected in this country; it was the to the assistance of the Colonists that the troops were hastening when the ship was wrecked".
This memorial was erected at Danger Point in 1936.
