THE THREE JOHNS

 

There are two plaques in Paul Church commemorating three brave Cornish fishermen from Mousehole who perished in Tierra del Fuego, South America in 1851 whilst members of a small party of missionaries from the South American Mission Society lead by Captain Allen Francis Gardner, late Royal Navy. Their names are John Badcock, John Bryant and John Pearce otherwise known to us as the Three Johns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The external plaque, located to the right of the main entrance, was erected by the widow of Captain Gardner – Elizabeth Lydia Gardner. She was his second wife, whom he married in 1836, and was the daughter of the Reverend Edward Garrard Marsh, vicar of Aylesford, Kent.

 

IN MEMORY OF

JOHN BADCOCK, JOHN BRYANT &

JOHN PEARCE

THREE YOUNG FISHERMEN

A PORTION OF A LITTLE BAND

WHO, WITH CAPT. A.F. GARDNER R.N.

LEFT THEIR NATIVE LAND THE 7TH SEPT, 1850

ON THE PERILOUS ENTERPRISE OF SOWING THE SEEDS

OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE BARBAROUS SHORES OF

TIERRA-DEL-FUEGO. AND WHO, WITH

THEIR COMPANIONS THERE UNHAPPILY PERISHED

AFTER A SERIES OF UNPARALLELED SUFFERINGS

ENDURED WITH EXEMPLARY FORTITUDE A.D. 1851

 

THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS, AND

LET EVERY ONE THAT NAMETH THE NAME OF CHRIST

DEPART FROM INIQUITY       2 TIM .2. 19

 

E.L.G.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The internal plaque is the first memorial on the right on entering the church.

 

THIS TABLET

IS ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF GOD

AND IN THE HONOURED MEMORY OF

JOHN BADCOCK, JOHN BRYANT & JOHN PEARCE

YOUNG FISHERMEN OF THIS PARISH; WHO NOBLY

JOINED THE MISSIONARY BAND WHICH ACCOMPANIED

THE LATE CAPTn. A. GARDNER, R.N. IN HIS ENDEAVOUR

TO TAKE THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST TO THE INHABITANTS OF

TERRA-DEL-FUEGO, IN THE YEAR A.D. 1850. ONE BY ONE THEY ALL

PERISHED FROM WANT AND EXPOSURE. THEIR JOURNAL, ENDED BY

THE DYING HAND OF THE LATEST SURVIVOR, BEARS TESTIMONY TO THE

UNFLINCHING CONSTANCY WITH WHICH THEY “ALL DIED IN FAITH”.

 

S.Matt, XIX. V. 29

Hebws. XI. V. 15.16

“God is not ashamed

to be called

their God”.

 

Captain Gardner’s party consisted of himself, Richard Williams, a surgeon, John Maidment, commended by the Young Men’s Christian Association, the three Johns and a carpenter called Joseph Erwin. They sailed from Liverpool in the square rigger Ocean Queen on the 7th of September 1850 and arrived at Banner Cove, Picton Island on the 5th of December. The party landed, set up camp and two weeks later the Ocean Queen departed. They had two twenty six foot boats in which they stowed provisions to last for six months. However, fierce weather, extreme climate, native hostility and a series of errors and logistical problems hampered them from the start. Scurvy, disease and finally starvation took their toll and one by one they died. A ship with relief supplies arrived in October some six weeks after the last member of the party, Captain Gardner himself, had died. Later the remains of the party were buried and Captain Gardner’s journal was recovered by Captain Morshead of HMS Dido.

 

There is also a plaque in St. Clement’s Methodist Church in Mousehole.

 

KEEP IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE

JOHN BADCOCK, JOHN BRYANT AND JOHN PEARCE

COURAGEOUS YOUNG METHODISTS OF MOUSEHOLE

WHO WITH CAPTAIN ALLEN F. GARDNER R.N.

IN 1850 AS SERVANTS OF GOD, SAILED TO

TIERRA DEL FUEGO, AND THERE, SORELY TRIED

WITH CHRIST-LIKE FORTITUDE PROVED THEMSELVES

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH

Romans, Ch.8 v. 35-39