Criccieth – Old Gadwalad Braich y Saint; Cadwalader Jones Braich y Saint

Description

Criccieth – Old Gadwalad Braich y Saint
Cadwalader Jones 1791 – 1871.
Cadwalader Jones Braich y Saint

You might have heard the poem or song about Old “Gadwalad “of Braich y Saint Farm but did you know that there was a ship named after him? This was the small schooner “Cadwalader Jones”, built in Borth y Gest. Members of his family, from the farms Braich y Saint and Pen y Bryn in Criccieth, invested in the ship. His nephew John Cadwalader from Salem Terrace was the main owner and Captain. In his autobiography, "Llongwr o Rhoslan", John Jones Williams gives a vivid description of the poor conditions on some of the small schooners from Porthmadog. “After being home for a while I found work on the schooner "Cadwalader Jones" in Porthmadog . The captain , John Cadwalader , was an elderly man; hard and frugal. He was always telling me off for

using too much tea or bread, and there was very little food at all times. ………… I remember very well going down to the cabin the first time and a strong odour came from somewhere. It came from buckets of margarine that the ' old man ' had bought cheap. I had never seen margarine before and that's what we received while we were on the ship and despite the terrible smell, as it had melted then solidified at some time, we lived and fattened on margarine and hard bread (ship’s biscuits). ……. Our favourite pleasure was catching mackerel and we were very lucky. When I asked the captain what to prepare for breakfas, his answer was ' Catch mackerel and fry them', and we had mackerel for breakfast and tea.