Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - Some newspaper reports from the 1870's

I was unable to ascertain if Hugh Tracey survived his stabbing ordeal but the preceding account confirms yet another of the dangers to life and limb whilst at sea. A few less intense stories next.

• May 1878 - Adventures by a Boy at Penarth and Cardiff - "A little boy named Thomas Hartley, aged four years, the son of a labourer living at the Lime Kilns, near Penarth Dock, disappeared on Wednesday afternoon. He left home in the morning with his elder brother to go to school. Both attended school in the morning, but the younger ran away from his brother at 12 o'clock, and did not go home to dinner. He was seen playing on the beach, and as he did not come home in the evening his parents became uneasy and instituted an inquiry. Nothing was discovered, and the general impression was that he had been drowned. His father, however, went to the Cardiff police station on Thursday morning to give information, when he found his son safe in the charge of the police. It appears that he walked to Cardiff after dark to see the swings, and was wandering about the streets when he was picked up by the police, who restored him to his parents." Cardiff Times [019] 25th May 1878.

• May 1878 - Curious Incident at Penarth Dock - "On Friday afternoon, as a gentleman named Mr C. Phipps, second mate of the s.s. Capellus Capt. Dryer, which left Penarth Dock on Saturday for Odessa, was riding a bicycle along the side of the dock, he suddenly rode into the river, disappearing bicycle and all ; but he soon rose and landed, after a good ducking. The machine being a borrowed one, he could not leave it at the bottom, so he attached a cord to his body, dived into the water, tied the rope to the machine, which was safely pulled out." Cardiff Times [019] 25th May 1878.

• June 1878 - The Penarth Shipping Company - "The Penarth Shipbuilding Company does not start with a very large capital, it is true, but capital can be added at any time if the success of the company warrants the step. The names of some of the directors and shareholders are a sufficient guarantee that competent men are connected with it, and that is more than half the battle. I have known banks established with but very small capital, but they are now among the first in the country. The chief point is whether such a company is wanted, and the answer being in the affirmative, there is every hope of a successful issue. Most undertakings fail because they are launched on the markets without there being any absolute need for them. Some years ago there was a mania for insurance companies, but many of them have since that time been wound up or have merged their businesses into older and sounder concerns.