Gravestone mystery leads to identity of Scottish sailor lost for two centuries

For years, people in the tiny Connecticut village of Mystic were puzzled by a gravestone in the corner of the cemetery which read: "Unknown, HMS Terror, August 13, 1814.

No-one knew who was buried in the grave or even when the memorial stone was placed there.

The mystery drew in local historian Grace Cleere, who became determined to find out who lay in the grave and how they ended up so far from home.

After years of research, she finally found the answer to the sailor's identity but the mystery of the gravestone remained.

The sailor was William Adamson from the Fife fishing village of Pittenweem who had been shot in a skirmish between British forces and an American militia during the War of 1812.

Cleere believes he enlisted in the Navy in 1807, most likely after being press-ganged and forced into service.

By August 1814, he was a quarter gunner on the British warship HMS Terror.

He was part of the crew sent out on a small boat known as cutter to chase a fishing boat that was trying to breach the warship's blockade.

However, the fishing boat was a trap to lure the cutter off the warship and lead them to an ambush at the nearby Groton Long Point, where members of the militia were waiting on the shore.

The militia were attempting to take the cutter's crew as prisoners and take the boat for prize money but one of their shots flew too low and hit Adamson, killing him.

They buried the Scottish sailor without learning his name and paid their respects with military and religious services for him.

Adamson left behind his wife Christian and their two daughters after his death.

Cleere told BBC Scotland News she had been trying to find out more about the grave for years, but various historical societies and libraries gave her no clues.

No-one could help her but Cleere didn't stop looking and her hard work paid off when she found a passage in a book published in 1986 on the history of Mystic.

It mentioned a Scottish sailor who had been killed in a skirmish with the village's militia and was buried in the cemetery.

"I said, 'this has got to be it. But who is he?' Nobody knew," said Cleere.

Determined to find the sailor's name, she asked Dr Roger Hutchins, a friend who was a professor in England.

She says she would often call him up and ask if he could find the HMS Terror log books or something in the archives that would help discover the sailor's identity.

Dr Hutchins always told her that she would never figure it out, until one day in August last year she received a package from him.

He had found the very documents she was looking for - the muster rolls and the captains logs for HMS Terror.

Cleere and Dr Hutchins worked through the documents until they found the name William Adamson.

The muster rolls showed that he had been signed onto HMS Terror in 1814 and was killed in action with the enemy in August that year.

"I said, this is our man. This has got to be him," said Cleere.

Just finding Adamson's name wasn't enough for Cleere, as there was another mystery that was playing on her mind: "Who put the stone up?"

She says it was obvious that the gravestone was not from the time of Adamson's death.

Cleere said the modern font and lack of wear on the stone made it clear it had been put there quite recently.

She asked around to see but no-one knew how it got there, until a friend said there was a plaque at Groton Long Point that had the unknown sailor's story.

Cleere then began to phone everyone who lived there and on the second call she got her answer.

"There was this pause on the phone," she said.

"The man on the other end says, 'yeah, I know all about it. I put that stone up'."

This man was local historian Jon Fuller.

He has a summer house near Groton Long Point and had heard the story of a sailor who had been killed there.

In tribute, he erected the plaque and the gravestone at Packer Cemetery.

After meeting, Fuller and Cleere decided to honour Adamson and hold a remembrance ceremony for him in August.

The ceremony included a pipe band, Fife and Drum corps, a re-enactors group and guest speakers.

Adamson was honoured with a traditional sailor's burial, with rum poured over his grave and pouches of tobacco laid as well.

Cleere said she lays thistles from her garden on Adamson's grave every day.

"I really do feel that these people gave their all and served their countries as best they could and then died for their countries," she said.

"We should remember them. Whoever they are, we're all comrades in the end, aren't we?"