Answer to 150-year gold watch mystery in Romford ?

Violet Saddler - relative of the Teers - in the last known picutre of the watch, which appeared in The Wreck of Tthe General Grant


By Jane Ball - Romford Recorder


But could the answer lie in Romford ? One man thinks so.

Amateur historian Philip Boulton, from Lincolnshire, is a man on a mission to find a gold watch.

His great-great-great uncle Joseph Jewell and wife Mary were two of only 10 survivors of a sea disaster which saw The General Grant dashed off the coast of the Australian coast in May 1866 - with the loss of 73 lives.

The castaways spent 18 months awaiting rescue on the Auckland Islands and afterwards leader James Teer was presented with a gold watch in recognition of his services to the group.

Teer decided to send the memento to his sister Margaret Bishop in Islington, north London, with officer Richard Gould onboard a British vessel, the Tartar.

However, this ship too ran into trouble off the Hong Kong coast, where it was delivering cargo, and the valuables on board - including the gold watch - were snatched by Chinese pirates.


Read more...



New Zealand Australia

  • No ratings yet - be the first to rate this.

Add a comment