For a long time there has been an entry on this site referencing Cumpston's analysis of shipping movements in & out of Sydney that includes the Isabella 93 tons, master George Hingston, which arrived 18 Aug 1812 from London & Madeira via Rio with merchandise, sailed 2 Feb 1813 and was wrecked on the Falkland Islands Oct 1813. It is not clear who George Hingston was, and other descriptions refer to him as Hicton or Higton. 93 tons is small for a vessel rounding the Horn and crossing the southern ocean - other sources say 193 tons which is still a small vessel.
The Isabella was wrecked on Speedwell Island (formerly known as Eagle Island), one of the many small islands that form part of the Falklands, which at the time had no permanent settlement. All aboard survived and made it to land; 6 men, including Higton, set off in the longboat to sail to South America, about 1000 miles away, which took over a month. A British brig, HMS Nancy, was sent to rescue the survivors. In the meantime they had been found by an American sealer Nanina under the command of Charles Barnard, who informed them that America and Britain were at war but he would rescue them anyway. To provide provisions for the much larger number of people he would be carrying, Barnard and some others set off to find seals and wild pigs as food for the journey. While they were away the Nancy arrived and took the Nanina as a war prize and sailed off, leaving Barnard and the foraging crew to their fate on a different island. They were eventually rescued by British whalers who had been sent to find them. A summary of the events is given in a page about Speedwell Island.
There are various publications about the wreck of the Isabella out of which Captain Hingston/Higton does not come well. He is described as "incompetent when sober" and worse when he was drunk.
Holt then describes how they ended up getting shipwrecked:- "On the 7th of February we were in sight of Falkland Islands. The captain thought to have passed to the north side of these islands, having the main-land on our left; but he could not weather the North Cape, and was obliged to tack about; we had a fair wind, going eight knots an hour afterwards. He shortly after got drunk, and came into my cabin, and talked wildly, saying he would not let any man know what harbour he would enter; and further, he asked, if the ship should sink, and all on board perish, who was to be responsible but him? I looked at the captain very earnestly, and said, it did not matter much, if all perished, where the responsbility rested, as no one would be alive to prosecute. He then went to Mrs. Bindel's cabin, and got into bed. About two o'clock in the morning he went on deck, and altered our course about four points, which led us in between New Island and Steeple Jason, straight for Eagle Island.
"About three o'clock I heard a great alarm upon deck; and shortly after the sailors shouted, “Rocks on one side and breakers on the other.” I leaped out of my cot, as did my wife; we dressed ourselves, and I assisted our son to get up. We then all three fell on our knees, to implore God's mercy and assistance. ... While on our knees, the ship struck on a rock with great violence, and, in a moment after, lost her rudder. ... The sailors were cursing and swearing most horribly at the ship, and it was altogether a most frightful scene of confusion and noise.
"Captain Brookes was on deck all the time; and to his exertions, skill, and cool intrepidity, under God, we were indebted for our lives. When the rudder was unshipped, he made the sailors square the yards, and run for the land; and by the gracious goodness of our God, the ship passed in between two rocks, with her bowsprit over the dry land, when she was, a its were, wedged in, and freed in a great measure from the force of the waves. I heard Captain Brookes cry out, “There is now no danger of our lives.” He ordered the carpenter to stand by with his broad axe, and the moment she struck to cut the rigging on the windward side, and two or three blows of the axe brought the mainmast down, the top resting on a rock, and the butt of the mast against the gunwale, which kept her steady.
"It was now daylight. The sailors ran about, desiring, with the greatest insolence, every one of the passengers to hand out their wine and spirits. The want of discipline soon manifested itself in their conduct. A small boat was lowered down, in order to put the females ashore, into which Sir Henry Hayes, his man, with Maddison, and Bellingham, got, and rowed off; but they had a narrow escape of their lives. Captain Brookes now took the sole direction of every thing; he sent down the kedge-anchor and hawser; slung the accommodation chair; put a messenger on each side, and by this means we soon got the women out of the vessel. We first placed poor Mrs. Durie in safety on the dry land; she was within a few days of her confinement; Mrs. Holt followed next; and in a short time we had them all landed in safety. My sick old man and my son followed, and my care was thus lessened. My other two men, instead of assisting me to get my goods landed, went and joined the marines and sailors, and began to drink. My poor old John, however, feeble as he was, stayed by my trunks and goods, as I sent them down.
"I had my cash, both paper and coin, about me. The honest marines and sailors wanted me to pull off my great-coat, and go down in the chair; but I knew what they were about, and did not comply. I asked Philip Harney and Edward Kilbride to assist me in saving my goods and provisions, and getting them ashore."
Later he wrote:- "I spoke to Hicton, as nearly as I can recollect, in these words: - Captain Hicton, by your misconduct you have brought many lives into jeopardy, upon this desolate island, and you do not, even now, when you have an opportunity, seem at all sensible of your duty to your passengers, and crew. You have done nothing as yet, towards obtaining a passage for any of us, but leave us to our own exertions and resources. I now tell you, that Captain Durie, and myself, with our families, have determined to go with our kind-hearted American friends the gentlemen who are present."
Extract of a Letter from Buenos Ayres, dated April 3. - "On the 30th ultimo, a boat of about 17 feet keel arrived in this place, with six persons on board. The following is the account they have given; - They sailed from New South Wales on board the Brig Isabella, George Higton, master, on the 4th December last; they then made the land about Cape Horn on the 2d of February, and Faulkland's Islands on the 7th of the same month; in the morning of the 8th, about 1 a.m. the vessel struck on the rocks, and was wrecked; the crew and passengers fortunately got on shore on the desert island, forming one of the group of the Faulkland isles, and the weather being moderate, they were enabled to save from the vessel the provisions and stores. On the 23d of February, having raised the long-boat and decked her, it was agreed a part of the unhappy sufferers should embark in her, for the purpose of arriving at some inhabited place, where the means might be procured of sending a vessel to bring away the other part of the crew and passengers. The six men who arrived here accordingly put to sea on the said 23d of February, and after a voyage of upwards of four hundred and fifty leagues on the ocean, they arrived at this river, without having seen land for thirty six days. On the first intelligence of the event, Captain Haywood, Commander of His Majesty's ship Nereus, gave instructions to Lieut. W D'Aranda commander of the Nancy Brig of war to prepare for sea, and proceed to the relief of the unhappy sufferers. It appears there were 55 souls on board the Isabella at the time she was wrecked, among whom were the following passengers:—Captain Durie, 73d Regiment, Mrs. D. and Family; Mr. Holt and ditto; Sir H.B. Hayes; three females; Mr. Madison; and three marines and their wives. The following have arrived here; Capt. Brooks, master of a merchant vessel; Lieut. Lundin (army); a marine and three seamen.
There is a Higton One-Name Study web site on which George Higton appears. It shows that he was born 12 Jan 1783 in Portsea (Portsmouth), the eldest of 11 children of George Higton (1756-1833) and his wife Eleanor Crooms (~1763-1842). That website cannot trace the family further back. The Higton family came originally from Derbyshire and Staffordshire; it is possible that the elder George may actually be a Hingston but there are no obvious candidates at present. I have also been sent a list of vessels of which George was master, mainly taken from newspaper reports. The Isabella was the first; the last was the Prosperity in 1837. He was living in Deptford in the 1851 and 1861 censuses and died in the 3rd Quarter of 1868 in Greenwich.
I shall liaise with the owner of the Higton site if we come up with more inforamtion.
Return to Hingston One-Name Study
Added 10th May 2021 Chris Burgoyne