Bob Miller's Account of the Wreck of the Crown of London

Robert B. Miller, Jr.
2626 Anwell Drive
Richmond, Virginia
23235-3108 U.S.A.
804-330-8146, voice & fax
rbmjr@bellatlantic.net

The Covenanters;

Covenanter prisoners from the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, which was fought on June 22^nd, 1679, were banished to the plantations as slaves. This was a rebellion between the Scottish Presbyterians and King Charles II’s Church of England/Episcopalians and it occurred 8 miles southeast of Glasgow. 1184 prisoners were captured after the battle, some were tortured and executed ("…to be hanged on a gibbet till they be dead, and their bodies be hung up on chains in the said place till they rot…"), but most were discharged on August 14^th with the Act of Indemnity proclamation. However, an earlier order had been made on July 4^th by the Privy Council for all "Ministers, Heritors, and Ringleaders" who were to be prosecuted and banished to the plantations as white slaves. William Paterson was the merchant in Edinburgh that contracted with Provost Milns, Laird of Barnton [7], for the job of transportation [2]. The prisoners were held in the Greyfriar’s Churchyard, Cannongate and Edinburgh Tollbooths (prisons) and Heriot’s Hospital. On November 15^th the 30 prisoners held at Edinburgh Tollbooth were moved to Leith by Captain John Ballfour [3] to board the Crown of London [4] which was commanded by Captain Thomas Teddico [4] (described by the Reverend Blackadder as a "…profane, cruel wretch, and used them barbarously…") and sailed for either Barbados [6] or Virginia [8] on November 27^th with 257 prisoners. On December 10^th, they landed at Deersound, Orkney due to stormy weather but sailed that evening against local advise and wrecked at Scarva Taing about a mile west of Mull Head near Deerness, Orkney drowning approximately 211 of the prisoners [1]. The 46 known survivors are marked with an asterisk * [1] and were possibly reshipped to Barbados, Jamaica [6] or New Jersey [9] as slaves. However, the 9 bolded names were reported to have escaped to Ulster, Ireland [7]. Additionally, the families of Muir and Delday, on Orkney, claim to be descended from survivors [5]. Monuments have been erected at the Bothwell Bridge Battlefield site and at both Kirkwall and Scarva Taing on Orkney.

The following is an alphabetized list of the 248 recorded prisoners from the 257 total prisoners onboard the Crown of London. There were numerous spelling differences between the Reverend Thomson’s A Cloud of Witnesses (1714) and Carslaw’s Exiles of the Covenant (1908). In these cases, Thomson’s spellings were used since his was the original source.

Covenanter Prisoners onboard the Crown of London

William Waddel was recorded as being a survivor and according to his great-great-great-great-grandson Joseph Waddell quoting Thomson’s A Cloud of Witnesses in his work Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, p8;

Those who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the persecuting government were sentenced to banishment. The list of these men reads like a muster roll of Augusta County people, including the familiar names of Anderson, Bell, Brown, Brownlee, Cochran, Craig, Campbell, Finley, Hutchison, Hamilton, Henderson, Morrison, Reid, Scott, Steele, Waddell, Walker, White Wilson, & c. The following are the names of some of the prisoners who survived the shipwreck and escaped to Ireland: John Thomson, William Waddell, John Gardner, Thomas Miller, Thomas Thompson, Andrew Thompson, Hugh Montgomery, John Martin, Andrew Clark and James Young.

Forsameikle (For as much) as there (have been) many of the passengers and seamen that have escaped of the vessel late broken at Deirsound and called the Crown come into this town and some of them have (been) quhered (heard) to prejudge and wrong the inhabitants. In remead qrof (where of) these are in his Majesties name and authority and in name and authority of the provost and bailyies (aldermen) of the said burgh, discharging the haill inhabitants within the same to arrest of any of the said crew except such civil persons as the receivers of them will be answerable for and give notice of their names nightly to any of the magistrates in qais (whose) quarter they live, or to the clerk that notice may be had of their names and qualifications. Certifying these quha (who) dueth (do) in the contrair they shall be liable for any prejudice the saids strayling persons shall do by, and author such censure as shall be thought couverment for their contempt and disobedience qrof none is pnd (pretend) ignorance be these(?) puts (presents; this proclamation, a legal term). Given under the hand of our clerk of the said burgh the 17 day of December 1679.

God save the King

(Signed) Da. Forbes Cl.
(clerk)

17 Dec 1679 this proclaimed by WM Angussone officer and WM Marwick drummer for qch (which) given at the provest direction 12s out of Jaes adamesones (James Adamsons) wyfes fyne.

The inscription on the monument at Bothwell Bridge, Bothwell, an obelisk erected in 1903, reads as follows:

OF
THE COVENANTERS
WHO FOUGHT AND FELL IN THE
BATTLE OF BOTHWELL BRIDGE
22^nd JUNE 1679
IN DEFENCE OF
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
___________

ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTIONS
1903

BOTHWELL BRIDGE
22^nd JUNE 1679

The monument in Kirkwall, Orkney, a fountain with a column on the Kirk Green erected in 1891, stands near the intersection of Broad Street and Palace Road. Its inscription reads as follows:

The inscription on the monument at Scarva Taing, Orkney was erected in 1888 and reads as follows:

Over eleven hundred of the Covenanters were held as prisoners at Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. In 1706 a the Martyr’s Monument was erected in their memory with the following inscription.

The flag carried by the Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge was pictured on page 147 of FitzRoy MacLean’s book Highlanders A History of the Scottish Clans (London: David Campbell Publishers Ltd., 1995.) and was a cross of St. Andrew with five roses in the center and the words: