Shenanigans at Appledore
Appledore has been famous for many years as a shipbuilding and repair centre. In 1856 William Yeo built a large dry dock which gave the industry a tremendous boost. In 1868, however, a case was heard at the Devon Assizes in Exeter which saw various local shipowners lined up against each other in a vicious battle over rights.
The story began in March 1867 when the brigantine Georgina left Liverpool with a cargo of iron, tin and cocoa for various ports in the Mediterranean. She was owned by James Tatem ‘for many years an inhabitant of Appledore’ – but on leaving Liverpool she hit very bad weather and had to put in at Appledore for some repairs.
Here a Mr.Cock surveyed her and entered an agreement with Tatem to carry out the necessary repairs. Tatem then asked Yeo if the Georgina could enter his dry dock for the work but Yeo had to say no as the dock was already booked up for two months.
Tatem therefore beached the Georgina one Saturday on a spot on the beach known as the ‘Parlour’ near Yeo’s dock. She was tied up against the quay but for some reason Yeo ‘thought it was put there for the purpose of doing him some bodily harm’ and thus the next day Yeo moved one of his ships called the Orient tight up against the Georgina so that the latter was firmly wedged in. Yeo next ordered his men to drive an iron stanchion into the rock on the river bed underneath the Georgina and then got ‘some tremendously heavy chains’ and with three large padlocks chained the Georgina into an immoveable position!
Following these moves Yeo wrote to Cock warning him not to carry out any repairs. At one point Tatem considered cutting the chains but one of the Orient’s crew said ‘If you presume to touch the chains, here is a sledge hammer, and, although I may miss you the first time, you may depend I shan’t the second; you’ll be as dead as a door-nail if you do.’ This stalemate lasted some 5 months until the Orient was finally moved and the Georgina allowed to escape. Once his ship was free again Tatem took Yeo to court to claim damages.
At the court hearing the case came to hinge on Yeo’s claim to exclusive rights over the foreshore. His solicitor produced evidence that Henry VIII had granted the manor of Northam along with the foreshore rights to Lady Catherine Arundell in 1545 and his heirs had never cancelled the lessee’s rights – and Yeo was the present lessee.
Tatem’s defence rested on two arguments. The ‘Parlour’ had never been in the manor of Northam and the common law of England was that any shipowner had a legal right ‘to resort to the foreshore to repair their ship’. On both counts he claimed Yeo had acted illegally.
The trial was very technical but did have its lighter moments. Tatem was talking about his efforts to move the Georgina – ‘When I found I could not get out, I employed as many “Black Leicesters” as I could get.’ When the judge asked who these oddly named individuals were he was told ‘Those men who are not allowed to work in the dock’ i.e. shipwrights blacklisted by Yeo.
Another witness Emmanuel Marshall took the stand and when asked how long he had known Appledore began ‘I was married….’ Only to be interrupted by the judge saying ‘Never mind about your marriage. No doubt you like to think of your wife, but simply answer the question. It is an amiable weakness, but we cannot take up the time of the court.’
After a lot more evidence which varied between knockabout and esoteric points concerning manorial and shipping law the jury went off to discuss the case. Returning they announced they had found in favour of Tatem and awarded damages of £200 (then a huge sum) against Yeo. The result was carried by many newspapers which served coastal areas and was seen as a landmark decision in favour of the small shipowners of Britain. Appledore doesn’t often make the national news but when it does it does so with a bang. Peter Christie