Looking Down the Tracks :: widwed05

Looking down the tracks at Beamish, the living museum of the north.

My family has many connections with the coal industry around here.

My GGG grandfather died from a heart attack whilst driving a coal train on a nearby track in 1879.

My GG Grandfather was electrocuted at the entrance of a mine in 1920, when lighting fell onto water. His family was told when his body was wheelbarrowed to the house.

Another GG Grandfather was lost at sea on a coal ship he was Captain of on 1924 when his crew refused to sail on Christmas eve. They sailed Christmas night headlong into a storm, all were lost.

His son, my Grandfather, also sailed the coal ships between Newcastle and Holland. His ship, the Pegaway, also sank in rough seas in April 1938 but all were rescued by the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff. The Gustloff later became the subject of the largest loss of life in marine history although little is mentioned about it. Worth searching the ship's story.