William Henry Wesley Clapp (1840 - 1904)

Born 11 Aug 1840 in St Petrox, Devon, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Charlotte (Pinkham) Clapp — married 16 May 1860 in Devonport, Devon, England

Descendants

Died 3 Nov 1904 at age 64 in Newton Abbot, Devon, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

The following text is from "In search of adventure: A family history of Clapps from Devon", 1984, by John Clapp (born 1953) (now John Clapton). John is a descendant of William.

Old John's third son, William, was born at St Petrox on August 11, 1840, the only survivor of twins. When he was 12 years old, he went to love in Teignmouth with his Uncle Robert, and there he learnt his trade. When he completed his indenture, he moved to the R.N. Dockyard at Devonport in Plymouth, taking with him his sweetheart Charlotte, whom he married in St James Church, Devonport, on May 19, 1860.

While working at the Devonport Dockyard, William developed the skills of a shipwright-diver. These skills were necessary for the purposes of examining ships structural conditions without dry-docking them, as well as for the preparations for the use of floating docks which were beginning to be used at that time. Consequently he was quite a proficient swimmer which stood him in good stead on several ocassions. One such was when a workmate fell into the water at the dock, and because he could not swim, William's immediate response was to dive into the water and save him. Such an event would have been insignificant had not the admiral been passing by at the time. William and his workmate were hauled aboard the Admiral's vessel, and his heroism duly noted by the admiral.

A short time after this, William was asked if he would go to Bermuda. There the navy had recently installed a floating dock, the largest in the world at the time and capable of lifting a vessel of 10,000 tons displacement. The skills of a shipwright-diver were essential around the floating dock, and William, in fact, would be the only one there.

So William packed up with his wife and six children and moved to Bermuda, taking up residence on Ireland Island, which is part of the parish of Sandys, in Bermuda. The Naval Dockyard was at the northern end of the island, and ceased to function as a dockyard early this century. It is now being restored as a Maritime Museum.

William gained a reputation as a man with nerves of steel, though this confidence may have arisen from his unquestioned faith in the only man he would allow to operate his pumping equipment, a bronze coloured native of the islands named Charles Mandes. While he was responsible for various tasks around the floating dock, non were more important, or perhaps as dangerous, as the inspection prior to "sinking". The waters were often dark and murky for such a task, yet he had to cover the whole of the bottom of the dock by working in a criss-cross pattern with a gauge-staff to ensure there was enough clearance. Because he was working under the actual dock in this criss-cross pattern, there was a greater than usual risk of snagging either his air-line or his tug-line.

A further anecdote that gives some indication of William's prowess in the water is most unusual. Apparently someone had drowned in the dock area and several unsuccsessful attempts had been made to locate the body with grappling hooks. So William was called, I presume with his diving equipment, and after a short search, came to the surface with the body in his arms.

William and Charlotte lived in Bermuda for about twenty years, until William broke his ankle and was necessarily repatriated back to England, leaving Bermuda on Christmas Day, 1892. By this time their four eldest children had married in Bermuda and had made their own lives, but their youngest son, William came back with them, he being just 19 years old at the time.

They sailed to Plymouth, and when they got there, found that William's father, Old John, had walked the 28 miles from Dartmouth, in mid-winter, just to be there to greet them. He was 86 years old at the time. William and Charlotte went back to Ringmore in Teignmouth to love, living first in "Rose Cottage" and later in "Cape Cottage", both of which are standing today.

Sources

• Birth: GRO Reference: 1840 S Quarter in TOTNES Volume 09 Page 443
• Death: GRO Reference: 1904 D Quarter in NEWTON ABBOT Volume 05B Page 66

• 1901 Census: "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSW6-FSH : 21 May 2019), William Clapp, Saint Nicholas, Devon, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Teignmouth subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.