+ + +
Ainm Gaeilge
Captaen Seán Mac Gabhann
"A cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground"
- Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
John was 1st born of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
John first went to sea at age 14, as a 'Boy' (an apprentice seaman) aboard the ship Mary. He rose to the prestigious position of Master Mariner (ship's Captain) in 1849 at the age of just 23. His Master's Certificate was No. 71 621. He was involved in the coasting trade, sailing throughout Europe and as far as Canada & the United States. He sailed out of the two main Dublin Ports of the era, Ringsend & Skerries. His crews primarily consisted of other Skerries men. From about 1870 on, at least one of his sons, Michael, was almost always part of his crew.
He used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Mary.
In 1850, now a Master Mariner, Capt. Gowan married Skerries native Mary Morgan. They had 9 known children, all born and raised in Skerries.
The Rescue of James Stephens
The Gowan family, and later it's Mansfield descendants, have a noteworthy heritage of playing a role in the long struggle to free Ireland from foreign occupation and bring an end to the persecution of her people and subjugation of their culture. Capt. Gowan played a unique part in the family's proud heritage. In 1865 he smuggled the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and past leader in the the Young Ireland Rebellion, James Stephens, aboard his ship St. Patrick, bringing him to safety in France, enabling Stephens to avoid arrest, imprisonment and possibly worse.
The "Unrepentant Fenian" Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa writing in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of James Stephen's 1865 escape from prison and rescue, had this to say about John Gowan and his role:
"It was arranged that he [Stephens] was to leave the country in a schooner that was to wait for him in the Harbor of Skerries, but when he and his escort were at Skerries they found that an English gunboat was cruising around the place; they put back to Dublin again, and from Dublin they set sail, and made land at Ardrossan, in Scotland; from Ardrossan they made their way to London, by rail from London to Dover, and from Dover to France.
The escort were Captain Tom Kelly and John —somebody; I will not tell his name as he is still in British waters. I had the honor of a slight acquaintanceship with him, and from the character Captain Kelly gives of him in connection with the rescue of James Stephens, a cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground.
At the French pier in Dover there are flights of stairs descending from the quay to the steamer: as the passengers were going toward the ship and passing the scrutiny of the detectives and police who were on the watch. It was arranged that John would stop and knock against the police in some accidental manner, and while he was apologizing to them Kelly and Stephens were to slip into the ship. The plan succeeded according to that arrangement, and they got to France safely."
The Reaper
The ship that Capt. Gowan will forever be associated with and which was to be the most pivotal in his family's future was the Reaper. She was a brigantine of 350 tons built by the Delong family of shipbuilders in Quaco (now known as St. Martins), New Brunswick, Canada.
An ancient sailor's superstition holds that a ship that has problems at her launch is cursed with bad luck. At her launch on November 25th 1874, Reaper stuck on the ways owing to not having enough oil to pour over the tallow on the ways. They could not get her off, notwithstanding the efforts of a tug to pull her into the water. She was finally launched the next tide without any further trouble.
In 1878, Reaper's owners contracted with Master Mariner John Gowan to deliver a shipment of coal from England to Ireland.
Cavan Weekly News, Week of October 4, 1878 (Published in Co. Cavan, Ireland)
THE LATE GALE, WRECK OF A DUBLIN SHIP AND LOSS OF LIFE.
Liverpool, Tuesday. A gale of unusual violence sprang up at Liverpool on Monday, and continued to blow with great severity until yesterday morning. The brigantine Reaper, coal-laden, left Garston at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, for Dublin, in tow of the steam tug Liverpool. The owners of the latter received a telegram yesterday from Ramsey, Isle of Man, where the tug had put in for refuge, stating that in the night a heavy gale sprang up during which the Reaper foundered, all on board being drowned. The unfortunate vessel was owned in Dublin.
Capt. Gowan had a crew of 6 on the voyage. Only a partial name of 1 crew member, J. Coulber, is known. The names of the other 5 lost crew members are not.
The Apparition
Capt. John's widow Mary told her granddaughter Elizabeth Mansfield the story of the night John was lost at sea. Late at night, on the night of the gale, Mary Gowan was unable to sleep, beside herself with worry over John being at sea in the storm. There was knocking on the door of her Skerries home and when she opened it, John was standing outside in the street, while the storm raged all around. She ran out to him … and he was gone. Mary said she knew right then, that night, because he'd appeared to her, that her husband John was dead.
The widowed Mary raised the remainder of their still young children alone.
✞ The Reaper and her crew lay in the depths off the coast of North Wales to this day.
✞ Mansfield Family Memorial Stone
Holmpatrick Graveyard, Skerries, Ireland
110 years after his death, Master Mariner John Gowan, Reaper and her crew were remembered & honored, along with Mary, on the Mansfield Family Memorial Stone located at Holmpatrick Graveyard in Skerries. The Memorial Stone was erected by his great-grandson William J.B. 'Liam' Mansfield in 1988. It has become a well known Holmpatrick landmark.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain John Gowan, Master of the brigantine Reaper, lost with all her crew 135 years earlier.
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams & his brother
Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Ainm Gaeilge
Captaen Seán Mac Gabhann
"A cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground"
- Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
John was 1st born of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
John first went to sea at age 14, as a 'Boy' (an apprentice seaman) aboard the ship Mary. He rose to the prestigious position of Master Mariner (ship's Captain) in 1849 at the age of just 23. His Master's Certificate was No. 71 621. He was involved in the coasting trade, sailing throughout Europe and as far as Canada & the United States. He sailed out of the two main Dublin Ports of the era, Ringsend & Skerries. His crews primarily consisted of other Skerries men. From about 1870 on, at least one of his sons, Michael, was almost always part of his crew.
He used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Mary.
In 1850, now a Master Mariner, Capt. Gowan married Skerries native Mary Morgan. They had 9 known children, all born and raised in Skerries.
The Rescue of James Stephens
The Gowan family, and later it's Mansfield descendants, have a noteworthy heritage of playing a role in the long struggle to free Ireland from foreign occupation and bring an end to the persecution of her people and subjugation of their culture. Capt. Gowan played a unique part in the family's proud heritage. In 1865 he smuggled the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and past leader in the the Young Ireland Rebellion, James Stephens, aboard his ship St. Patrick, bringing him to safety in France, enabling Stephens to avoid arrest, imprisonment and possibly worse.
The "Unrepentant Fenian" Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa writing in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of James Stephen's 1865 escape from prison and rescue, had this to say about John Gowan and his role:
"It was arranged that he [Stephens] was to leave the country in a schooner that was to wait for him in the Harbor of Skerries, but when he and his escort were at Skerries they found that an English gunboat was cruising around the place; they put back to Dublin again, and from Dublin they set sail, and made land at Ardrossan, in Scotland; from Ardrossan they made their way to London, by rail from London to Dover, and from Dover to France.
The escort were Captain Tom Kelly and John —somebody; I will not tell his name as he is still in British waters. I had the honor of a slight acquaintanceship with him, and from the character Captain Kelly gives of him in connection with the rescue of James Stephens, a cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground.
At the French pier in Dover there are flights of stairs descending from the quay to the steamer: as the passengers were going toward the ship and passing the scrutiny of the detectives and police who were on the watch. It was arranged that John would stop and knock against the police in some accidental manner, and while he was apologizing to them Kelly and Stephens were to slip into the ship. The plan succeeded according to that arrangement, and they got to France safely."
The Reaper
The ship that Capt. Gowan will forever be associated with and which was to be the most pivotal in his family's future was the Reaper. She was a brigantine of 350 tons built by the Delong family of shipbuilders in Quaco (now known as St. Martins), New Brunswick, Canada.
An ancient sailor's superstition holds that a ship that has problems at her launch is cursed with bad luck. At her launch on November 25th 1874, Reaper stuck on the ways owing to not having enough oil to pour over the tallow on the ways. They could not get her off, notwithstanding the efforts of a tug to pull her into the water. She was finally launched the next tide without any further trouble.
In 1878, Reaper's owners contracted with Master Mariner John Gowan to deliver a shipment of coal from England to Ireland.
Cavan Weekly News, Week of October 4, 1878 (Published in Co. Cavan, Ireland)
THE LATE GALE, WRECK OF A DUBLIN SHIP AND LOSS OF LIFE.
Liverpool, Tuesday. A gale of unusual violence sprang up at Liverpool on Monday, and continued to blow with great severity until yesterday morning. The brigantine Reaper, coal-laden, left Garston at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, for Dublin, in tow of the steam tug Liverpool. The owners of the latter received a telegram yesterday from Ramsey, Isle of Man, where the tug had put in for refuge, stating that in the night a heavy gale sprang up during which the Reaper foundered, all on board being drowned. The unfortunate vessel was owned in Dublin.
Capt. Gowan had a crew of 6 on the voyage. Only a partial name of 1 crew member, J. Coulber, is known. The names of the other 5 lost crew members are not.
The Apparition
Capt. John's widow Mary told her granddaughter Elizabeth Mansfield the story of the night John was lost at sea. Late at night, on the night of the gale, Mary Gowan was unable to sleep, beside herself with worry over John being at sea in the storm. There was knocking on the door of her Skerries home and when she opened it, John was standing outside in the street, while the storm raged all around. She ran out to him … and he was gone. Mary said she knew right then, that night, because he'd appeared to her, that her husband John was dead.
The widowed Mary raised the remainder of their still young children alone.
✞ The Reaper and her crew lay in the depths off the coast of North Wales to this day.
✞ Mansfield Family Memorial Stone
Holmpatrick Graveyard, Skerries, Ireland
110 years after his death, Master Mariner John Gowan, Reaper and her crew were remembered & honored, along with Mary, on the Mansfield Family Memorial Stone located at Holmpatrick Graveyard in Skerries. The Memorial Stone was erected by his great-grandson William J.B. 'Liam' Mansfield in 1988. It has become a well known Holmpatrick landmark.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain John Gowan, Master of the brigantine Reaper, lost with all her crew 135 years earlier.
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams & his brother
Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
+ + +
Ainm Gaeilge
Captaen Seán Mac Gabhann
"A cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground"
- Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
John was 1st born of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
John first went to sea at age 14, as a 'Boy' (an apprentice seaman) aboard the ship Mary. He rose to the prestigious position of Master Mariner (ship's Captain) in 1849 at the age of just 23. His Master's Certificate was No. 71 621. He was involved in the coasting trade, sailing throughout Europe and as far as Canada & the United States. He sailed out of the two main Dublin Ports of the era, Ringsend & Skerries. His crews primarily consisted of other Skerries men. From about 1870 on, at least one of his sons, Michael, was almost always part of his crew.
He used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Mary.
In 1850, now a Master Mariner, Capt. Gowan married Skerries native Mary Morgan. They had 9 known children, all born and raised in Skerries.
The Rescue of James Stephens
The Gowan family, and later it's Mansfield descendants, have a noteworthy heritage of playing a role in the long struggle to free Ireland from foreign occupation and bring an end to the persecution of her people and subjugation of their culture. Capt. Gowan played a unique part in the family's proud heritage. In 1865 he smuggled the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and past leader in the the Young Ireland Rebellion, James Stephens, aboard his ship St. Patrick, bringing him to safety in France, enabling Stephens to avoid arrest, imprisonment and possibly worse.
The "Unrepentant Fenian" Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa writing in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of James Stephen's 1865 escape from prison and rescue, had this to say about John Gowan and his role:
"It was arranged that he [Stephens] was to leave the country in a schooner that was to wait for him in the Harbor of Skerries, but when he and his escort were at Skerries they found that an English gunboat was cruising around the place; they put back to Dublin again, and from Dublin they set sail, and made land at Ardrossan, in Scotland; from Ardrossan they made their way to London, by rail from London to Dover, and from Dover to France.
The escort were Captain Tom Kelly and John —somebody; I will not tell his name as he is still in British waters. I had the honor of a slight acquaintanceship with him, and from the character Captain Kelly gives of him in connection with the rescue of James Stephens, a cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground.
At the French pier in Dover there are flights of stairs descending from the quay to the steamer: as the passengers were going toward the ship and passing the scrutiny of the detectives and police who were on the watch. It was arranged that John would stop and knock against the police in some accidental manner, and while he was apologizing to them Kelly and Stephens were to slip into the ship. The plan succeeded according to that arrangement, and they got to France safely."
The Reaper
The ship that Capt. Gowan will forever be associated with and which was to be the most pivotal in his family's future was the Reaper. She was a brigantine of 350 tons built by the Delong family of shipbuilders in Quaco (now known as St. Martins), New Brunswick, Canada.
An ancient sailor's superstition holds that a ship that has problems at her launch is cursed with bad luck. At her launch on November 25th 1874, Reaper stuck on the ways owing to not having enough oil to pour over the tallow on the ways. They could not get her off, notwithstanding the efforts of a tug to pull her into the water. She was finally launched the next tide without any further trouble.
In 1878, Reaper's owners contracted with Master Mariner John Gowan to deliver a shipment of coal from England to Ireland.
Cavan Weekly News, Week of October 4, 1878 (Published in Co. Cavan, Ireland)
THE LATE GALE, WRECK OF A DUBLIN SHIP AND LOSS OF LIFE.
Liverpool, Tuesday. A gale of unusual violence sprang up at Liverpool on Monday, and continued to blow with great severity until yesterday morning. The brigantine Reaper, coal-laden, left Garston at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, for Dublin, in tow of the steam tug Liverpool. The owners of the latter received a telegram yesterday from Ramsey, Isle of Man, where the tug had put in for refuge, stating that in the night a heavy gale sprang up during which the Reaper foundered, all on board being drowned. The unfortunate vessel was owned in Dublin.
Capt. Gowan had a crew of 6 on the voyage. Only a partial name of 1 crew member, J. Coulber, is known. The names of the other 5 lost crew members are not.
The Apparition
Capt. John's widow Mary told her granddaughter Elizabeth Mansfield the story of the night John was lost at sea. Late at night, on the night of the gale, Mary Gowan was unable to sleep, beside herself with worry over John being at sea in the storm. There was knocking on the door of her Skerries home and when she opened it, John was standing outside in the street, while the storm raged all around. She ran out to him … and he was gone. Mary said she knew right then, that night, because he'd appeared to her, that her husband John was dead.
The widowed Mary raised the remainder of their still young children alone.
✞ The Reaper and her crew lay in the depths off the coast of North Wales to this day.
✞ Mansfield Family Memorial Stone
Holmpatrick Graveyard, Skerries, Ireland
110 years after his death, Master Mariner John Gowan, Reaper and her crew were remembered & honored, along with Mary, on the Mansfield Family Memorial Stone located at Holmpatrick Graveyard in Skerries. The Memorial Stone was erected by his great-grandson William J.B. 'Liam' Mansfield in 1988. It has become a well known Holmpatrick landmark.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain John Gowan, Master of the brigantine Reaper, lost with all her crew 135 years earlier.
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams & his brother
Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Ainm Gaeilge
Captaen Seán Mac Gabhann
"A cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground"
- Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
John was 1st born of 8 known children of Capt. Michael & Anne (née Carroll) Gowan of Skerries, Ireland.
John first went to sea at age 14, as a 'Boy' (an apprentice seaman) aboard the ship Mary. He rose to the prestigious position of Master Mariner (ship's Captain) in 1849 at the age of just 23. His Master's Certificate was No. 71 621. He was involved in the coasting trade, sailing throughout Europe and as far as Canada & the United States. He sailed out of the two main Dublin Ports of the era, Ringsend & Skerries. His crews primarily consisted of other Skerries men. From about 1870 on, at least one of his sons, Michael, was almost always part of his crew.
He used the Gowan form of the McGowan/Gowan surname. For the most part, his children used the McGowan form after his passing, as did his widow Mary.
In 1850, now a Master Mariner, Capt. Gowan married Skerries native Mary Morgan. They had 9 known children, all born and raised in Skerries.
The Rescue of James Stephens
The Gowan family, and later it's Mansfield descendants, have a noteworthy heritage of playing a role in the long struggle to free Ireland from foreign occupation and bring an end to the persecution of her people and subjugation of their culture. Capt. Gowan played a unique part in the family's proud heritage. In 1865 he smuggled the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and past leader in the the Young Ireland Rebellion, James Stephens, aboard his ship St. Patrick, bringing him to safety in France, enabling Stephens to avoid arrest, imprisonment and possibly worse.
The "Unrepentant Fenian" Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa writing in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of James Stephen's 1865 escape from prison and rescue, had this to say about John Gowan and his role:
"It was arranged that he [Stephens] was to leave the country in a schooner that was to wait for him in the Harbor of Skerries, but when he and his escort were at Skerries they found that an English gunboat was cruising around the place; they put back to Dublin again, and from Dublin they set sail, and made land at Ardrossan, in Scotland; from Ardrossan they made their way to London, by rail from London to Dover, and from Dover to France.
The escort were Captain Tom Kelly and John —somebody; I will not tell his name as he is still in British waters. I had the honor of a slight acquaintanceship with him, and from the character Captain Kelly gives of him in connection with the rescue of James Stephens, a cooler or a braver Irishman is not on Irish ground.
At the French pier in Dover there are flights of stairs descending from the quay to the steamer: as the passengers were going toward the ship and passing the scrutiny of the detectives and police who were on the watch. It was arranged that John would stop and knock against the police in some accidental manner, and while he was apologizing to them Kelly and Stephens were to slip into the ship. The plan succeeded according to that arrangement, and they got to France safely."
The Reaper
The ship that Capt. Gowan will forever be associated with and which was to be the most pivotal in his family's future was the Reaper. She was a brigantine of 350 tons built by the Delong family of shipbuilders in Quaco (now known as St. Martins), New Brunswick, Canada.
An ancient sailor's superstition holds that a ship that has problems at her launch is cursed with bad luck. At her launch on November 25th 1874, Reaper stuck on the ways owing to not having enough oil to pour over the tallow on the ways. They could not get her off, notwithstanding the efforts of a tug to pull her into the water. She was finally launched the next tide without any further trouble.
In 1878, Reaper's owners contracted with Master Mariner John Gowan to deliver a shipment of coal from England to Ireland.
Cavan Weekly News, Week of October 4, 1878 (Published in Co. Cavan, Ireland)
THE LATE GALE, WRECK OF A DUBLIN SHIP AND LOSS OF LIFE.
Liverpool, Tuesday. A gale of unusual violence sprang up at Liverpool on Monday, and continued to blow with great severity until yesterday morning. The brigantine Reaper, coal-laden, left Garston at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, for Dublin, in tow of the steam tug Liverpool. The owners of the latter received a telegram yesterday from Ramsey, Isle of Man, where the tug had put in for refuge, stating that in the night a heavy gale sprang up during which the Reaper foundered, all on board being drowned. The unfortunate vessel was owned in Dublin.
Capt. Gowan had a crew of 6 on the voyage. Only a partial name of 1 crew member, J. Coulber, is known. The names of the other 5 lost crew members are not.
The Apparition
Capt. John's widow Mary told her granddaughter Elizabeth Mansfield the story of the night John was lost at sea. Late at night, on the night of the gale, Mary Gowan was unable to sleep, beside herself with worry over John being at sea in the storm. There was knocking on the door of her Skerries home and when she opened it, John was standing outside in the street, while the storm raged all around. She ran out to him … and he was gone. Mary said she knew right then, that night, because he'd appeared to her, that her husband John was dead.
The widowed Mary raised the remainder of their still young children alone.
✞ The Reaper and her crew lay in the depths off the coast of North Wales to this day.
✞ Mansfield Family Memorial Stone
Holmpatrick Graveyard, Skerries, Ireland
110 years after his death, Master Mariner John Gowan, Reaper and her crew were remembered & honored, along with Mary, on the Mansfield Family Memorial Stone located at Holmpatrick Graveyard in Skerries. The Memorial Stone was erected by his great-grandson William J.B. 'Liam' Mansfield in 1988. It has become a well known Holmpatrick landmark.
✞ Sea Pole Memorial
Skerries, Ireland
On September 29, 2013, Ireland's largest memorial to her men lost at sea was dedicated in Capt. Gowan's home villiage of Skerries. The Sea Pole Memorial remembers and honors 271 men and ships connected with the Skerries port who have no grave but the sea. The roll call of Skerries men, dedicated by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins, includes Captain John Gowan, Master of the brigantine Reaper, lost with all her crew 135 years earlier.
Also remembered & honored on the Sea Pole Memorial are Captain Gowan's son in-law Master Mariner John Adams & his brother
Master Mariner Joseph Gowan, both of whom were lost to the sea in separate tragedies.
Inscription
the main inscription on the
Sea Pole Memorial reads:
I gCuimhne ar na daoine go léir
a cailleach san Fharraige idir
na Sceirí agus Loch Sionnsigh
the inscription on the individual plate reads:
CAPTAIN JOHN Mc GOWAN & CREW
of Skerries
07th Oct. 1878
On the Reaper
Off Angelsey Captain buried at Holmpatrick
(nota bene: On the Sea Pole Memorial Capt. Gowan's name is inscribed as 'Mc Gowan', it was 'Gowan' and he is incorrectly listed as 'buried at Holmpatrick', he was lost at sea)
Gravesite Details
LOST AT SEA: near the island of Anglesey off the north west coast of Wales.
Family Members
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