From: A Franklin Date: Friday, 4 June 1999 1:41 Hello Roy I have no connection with the DRAKE family at all, but wonder if you know of the Francis DRAKE who was drowned in the Bristol Channel in 1851. My gt.gt.grandfather William Dennis JONES, a boatman of Weston-Super-Mare and his partner George PURNELL, rescued two survivors from the ship-wrecked 'Joseph Anderson' on their boat 'The Ganymede', and were rewarded in May 1852, £1.10s from Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners Benevolent Fund. The newspaper account is as follows: Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian - Saturday 19 July 1851 Fatal Shipwreck in the Bristol Channel Between six and seven o'clock on Sunday morning last, the Joseph Anderson, a brigantine schooner of 135 tons burden, bound from Newport to Bristol, laden with coals, went down on the Culver Sands, about 6 0r 7 miles south of the Steep Holm. The Captain, the mate, and three of the crew perished, the two others were saved. The illfated vessel left Newport on Saturday evening at 8 o'clock and first got on the Culver Sands at ten o'clock the following morning, where, after beating about for a few hours, she foundered. The names of the deceased are Richard HOLTEN, Captain (who has left a wife and eight children) John TOPE, mate, William SHEPPARD and Francis DRAKE (both of Plymouth), seamen, and a boy, name unknown. Matthew CROKE, a seaman, and Charles SWEET, apprentice, were saved by lashing themselves to a studding sail boom, and the other to a couple of oars. They floated about for some time and were at length picked up by The Ganymede boat, off Weston-Super-Mare. The Joseph Anderson is a Plymouth vessel, and belonged to the Devon Coal Association. We understand she was not insured. I do hope this information will be of help to you or others looking for an elusive 'Francis DRAKE' Regards Ann Franklin