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Brass Binoculars

by Hollie Gaze
Swansea Museum Visitor Services Officer

New Donation

This simple pair of brass binoculars has a tragic history. The binoculars were aboard the SS Amazon, which sunk along the Margam Sands near Port Talbot on the 1st of September 1908.

The SS Amazon was a four-masted, iron barque; a sailing ship built by Barclay, Curle & Co at Greenock in 1886. On the morning of the 31st of August, the SS Amazon was towed out of Port Talbot Docks bound for Iquique (pronounced ee-key-kay) with 2,000 tons of coal. Iquique is a port in Chile that is well-known for its export of saltpetre, a mineral used in gunpowder and fertiliser. Ships would sail to Iquique with imports, such as coal, and return with the saltpetre.

There was a light breeze as the Amazon was taxied to Mumbles, where the breeze was quickly turning into a gale. The captain, Andrew Garrick, gave order to drop anchor. The decision was made to wait out the wind as they couldn’t get the ship’s head to the wind, so the tug left the ship and went back to port. As evening fell it became clear that the wind was not going to let up and was actually getting stronger. Another anchor was dropped. Hope of the weather clearing was dashed by the morning. The wind was so strong the anchors were unable to keep the ship still and were now dragging along the sea floor.

The Amazon’s broadside was to the wind so when the anchors snapped, the ship was blown south with no way of controlling its path. The ship and its crew were in a desperate situation, so the captain ordered them to don their lifebelts and to take to the rigging to avoid being swept into the sea. They flew their Red Ensign flag upside down – the signal of a ship in distress. They continued to be pushed south, passing the sands of Port Talbot until it was run aground at Margam Sands. The Amazon been blown south for approximately 7 miles.

Once it hit the sands it was battered by waves, causing the captain to be swept against the deckhouse. He was knocked unconscious but was tied to the mast by the ship’s carpenter. They tried to lower the ship’s boat, but it was destroyed by the tempest. The ship’s cook was swept overboard which spurred crew left on deck to climb up the rigging for safety.

It was now morning and people started to gather along the shore to see what was happening. They were so close they could hear the sailor’s distress, but the sands were perilous. With the waves and the soft sands, they could do little but watch the scene unfold helplessly. They tried to shoot a rocket line to the ship, but it failed to make it. The Mumbles lifeboat, Charlie Medland, was unable to get within a mile of the ship due to the shallow water. The Amazon began to sink into the shifting sands and the waves were now overtaking the ship. Three of the four masts snapped, sending sailors into the sea. Others jumped into the water, hoping to make it ashore. The main mast finally gave into the sea’s assault, sending the rest of the sailors into the sea. The sailor cries were heard by the people waiting at the shore and many onlookers collapsed in despair.

Finally, the tide withdrew enough to attempt to reach the remains of the Amazon, many risking their lives to save the sailors still in the water. One man, Charles Russell, jumped into the water and swam out to Christopher Sullivan who was still clinging to the remains of a mast. Russell was injured badly but managed to save Sullivan’s life. Others quickly made their way to the Amazon to find another sailor wedged in the wreckage, injured but alive. Henry Care swam out with a line and managed to save two sailors. Even after the brave efforts of sailors and spectators, only 8 of the 28 men aboard the SS Amazon were saved from the wreckage.

This pair of binoculars was found among the sand near the remains of the Amazon. They are fairly ordinary, although now badly tarnished as the sea water has eaten into the brass and fogged the glass lenses. Now in the museum’s collection, they will serve to remember the tragic fate of the SS Amazon and 20 of its crew.

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Refugee Week

By Phil Treseder
Swansea Museum Education & Participation Officer

On the 30th of March 2021, His Excellency, Libor Secka, the Czech Ambassador to the UK attended the Wales V Czech Republic football qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup.

Whilst in Wales he took the opportunity to visit several graveyards to pay his respects to fellow countrymen and refugees to Britain who paid the ultimate price whilst serving in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War 2.

The visit included St Hiliary’s in Killay. There are a number of RAF personnel buried there from various countries including the USA, South Africa, Canada and two from the Czech Republic.

Rudolf Rohacek and Josef Janeba were both part of 312 Squadron based at Fairwood Common during 1942.

Rohacek was born in 1914 in Marianske Hory. Following the fall of Czechoslovakia, he joined the Polish Air Force, then the French and finally the RAF.  He was killed on the 27th of April 1942 when his Spitfire crashed very near to Axbridge Railway Station.in Somerset. The most likely cause of the accident was oxygen equipment failure.

Janeba was born in 1915 in Kralove. He was killed on the 2nd of May 1942 when another Spitfire caught and broke off the tail of his Spitfire on take-off. He managed to bail out but had not gained enough height for the parachute to work. The spitfire crashed into Kilvrough farmyard, close to the South Gower Road. Janeba kept a diary, and the last entry is written by his friend and fellow pilot, Vojtech Smolik.

“He died in a plane crash on the 2nd of May 1942. He used his parachute, but the crash happened at a very low altitude, so the parachute could not save him.  He was my best friend. Honour to his memory”.

Photograph of the graves of Josef Janeba and Rudolf Rohacek

The Czech Ambassador also paid his respects to some of the fallen from another Czech Squadron, 311, a bomber squadron based for a while in Pembrokeshire, seconded to Coastal Command. One of the members of the squadron Vaclav Bozdech ended up being a refugee twice. Following the fall of Czechoslovakia he joined the French Air Force. Whilst serving with them he adopted a puppy who he named Antis and on the fall of France escaped with the dog and joined 311 Squadron, where the dog became the squadrons mascot. Unusual for a mascot, Antis went on the combat missions. On his return home, Bozdech had to escape again, this time from the communists and become a refugee for the second time. Antis saved him by first alerting him to a patrol of border guards and later pinning one of them down to allow them to escape and get back to Britain. In 1949 Antis received the Dickin Medal (a Victoria Cross equivalent for animals). In December 2024, the medal sold at auction for £50,000, plus commission.

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International Women’s Day

By Phil Treseder
Swansea Museum Education & Participation Officer

In December 2024, Wales International Women’s Team qualified for the first time for a major international tournament. Women’s football has had a difficult journey. The First World War provided a major boost, but the Football Association worried about its growing popularity effectively banned it in 1921 by threating to ban any clubs from membership that allowed women’s teams access to grounds and facilities.

Women’s football does date earlier than World War 1 and at times there was considerable resistance. A touring team named the British Ladies’ Football Club were in Swansea in July 1896.  A game was held against a men’s team (apparently the first ever such game in Swansea) which resulted in 4 – 4 draw. However, the gate was rather small and as a result the team could not afford the fares to Cardiff, their next destination.

The team did manage to get to Cardiff eventually, but the news was covered by the South Wales Daily Post on the 7th of August with the following commentary.

“So, the British Ladies’ Football Club managed after all to get out of the awkward predicament in which they found themselves on Tuesday and bade Swansea farewell for ever on Thursday. No one could but help sympathise with the poor girls in their sad plight, but at the same time I hope their severe lesson will drive home the conviction that football is not a game for women no more than darning stockings is an occupation for mortals of the masculine gender. The ordinary species of the new woman is almost intolerable, but when females turn out in bloomers on the football field the whole business becomes positively disgusting, and if a slice of bad luck, such as that experienced by the British lady footballers at Swansea, will have the effect of crushing out the practice I shall rejoice exceedingly over it. By-and-by there will be no holding these masculine females”.

One of the earliest known teams in Swansea was Baldwins United, formed during WW1. The team were women working at the National Shell Factory.

The woman who organised the team was Nancie Griffith Jones employed as a welfare officer at the factory. A keen sportswoman, she played football, hockey and water polo.  Later in life she would be awarded an OBE for services in the education sector. She would also spend WW2 as a prisoner of the Japanese as at the start of the war in the Pacific she was running a school in Singapore.

SM MI 6877.2 is a photograph of the team taken at St Helens ground pre or following a match and probably for a game played against Newport in April 1918 to raise funds for the Prisoners of War Fund. Nancie is sitting fourth from left in the front row.

National Shell Factory (Baldwins) taken in front of the old pavilion at St Helens ground.

The team surnames are given along with an initial.  However, some of the newspaper reports provide us with a first name. It is therefore possible to speculate on the full name and address of some of the team.

If anyone recognises them as an ancestor or know of anyone else in the team and can provide further information, please contact Swansea Museum via phil.treseder@swansea.gov.uk

The possible names given along with Nancie Griffith Jones are:

N Dalhgrin
L Quick (captain)
D Wise
D Thomas
E Griffiths
A Davies
G Gower
A Guy
K Roper
M Forrester
In a later game there is an E Mountfield

A few possibilities include:

The captain is named as Lizzie in a newspaper report. Possibly Lilian Elizabeth Quick born in 1895 in Wolverhampton and living in Margaret Terrace, St Thomas in 1911.  If so married Evan Gordon Davies in 1924.

K. Roper in the newspaper is named as Katie. There is a Catherine Roper born about 1900 living at 3 Wandsworth Street with her brother and uncle.

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Oxfam T-shirt

New Donation

In October of 1969 a group of young people gathered at midnight at Singleton Park. They were taking part in a 20-mile charity walk to Porthcawl that would take them up to 8 hours to finish. The donor of this t-shirt, along with the rest of the group were walking to raise money for Oxfam, a charity that fights poverty all around the world.  The front of the shirt has the logo ‘Oxfam Walk 69’ on the front and the back has the easily misunderstood slogan, ‘Help Stamp out Oxfam’.

Photograph looking down at a white t-shirt laid out in a rectangular box. White tissue paper sits underneath the t-shirt. The t-shirt has a bright , circular, orange logo in the centre that says Oxfam Walk 69.

The Swansea charity walk was part of a larger National Youth Walk movement that took place all around Britian. One of the most well-known walks was the summer walk to Wembley Stadium. 50,0000 young people started off at 12 different points to do their charity walk to the stadium, walking up to 30 miles. It was a hot day and quite a few of the young people were new to long distance walking, so the St John Ambulance crew were kept busy treating heat stroke and wounded feet. Those who reached the stadium were welcomed with a concert including the bands Love Affair and Dire Straits.

This T-shirt represents a new generation realising that making a difference to the world starts with a single step.

Followed by thousands of other ones.

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Bison & Buffalo Conservation

Bison & Buffalo heads before conservation

In our Natural History Gallery there were two Bovidae heads mounted on the wall that were in need of care and conservation. Time had taken its toll on the taxidermy heads so Laura, from LR Conservation, came to Swansea Museum to provide the expertise to conserve and clean them.

One is a head of an Indian Gaur Bison. This is the largest species of surviving Bovidae and are capable of killing tigers when provoked. Our bison head came from Kolhapur in Northern India and was donated in 1960. The bison head had serious damage to one horn, which needed to be carefully reattached. It had also been missing its glass eyes for many years.

damaged horn and ear before conservation – bison
repaired horn and ear with new glass eye – bison

The other Bovidae head is of a Water Buffalo that came from Kolhapur at the same time as the bison. There are two different types of water buffalo: swamp and river. We are still unsure which one our buffalo is. They are usually told apart by their body size, which isn’t terribly helpful with only the head. Our buffalo had shrinkage damage where the fillers used by the original taxidermist had dried up. In addition to some repair work, both heads needed a good conservation clean and polish.

cracks & dust before conservation – buffalo
after crack repair and cleaning – buffalo

Due to the expertise of the conservator, both heads are squeaky clean with shining eyes and gleaming horns. Once the mounts are made, both heads will be placed back into the Natural History Gallery.

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New Donation

World War 2 Pepper Pot

Sometimes the most unassuming donations can have an interesting story. The museum has had a recent donation from a local family of a metal cannister of black pepper. The outside looks a bit rusty, and the inside contains an ordinary paper bag of pepper. During World War 2 this pot of pepper was kept in the family’s air raid shelter. However, it wasn’t used for seasoning their rations. The donor’s grandmother kept it there as a last line of defence if the Germans invaded. She had it ready to throw in their faces to blind them so the family could make a quick getaway.

This donation is part of a collection of three items related to WW2 in Swansea. The other two items in this donation are photographs of the donor’s relatives who worked as a nurse and an ambulance driver during the war.

SM2024.1.3