«Биркенхед» кемесінің апатқа ұшуы және құтқару операциясы

Steam troopship of the Royal Navy

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The next morning, the schooner Lioness discovered one of the cutters and, after saving the occupants of the second boat, made her way to the scene of the disaster. Arriving in the afternoon, she found 40 people still clinging to the rigging. It was reported that, of the approximately 643 people aboard, only 193 were saved. Captain Edward W. C. Wright of the 91st Argyllshire Regiment was the most senior army officer to survive; he was made a brevet major for his actions during the ordeal, dated 26 February 1852. The number of personnel aboard is in some doubt, but an estimate of 638 was published in The Times. It is generally thought that the survivors comprised 113 soldiers (all ranks), 6 Royal Marines, 54 seamen (all ranks), 7 women, 13 children and at least one male civilian, but these numbers cannot be substantiated, as muster rolls and books were lost with the ship. Of the horses, eight made it safely to land, while the ninth had its leg broken while being pushed into the sea.

There was a rumour that the Birkenhead was carrying a military payroll of £240,000 in gold coins weighing about three tons, which had been secretly stored in the powder room before the final voyage. Numerous attempts have been made to salvage the gold. In 1893, the nephew of Colonel Seton wrote that a certain Mr. Bandmann at the Cape obtained permission from the Cape Government to dive the wreck of the Birkenhead in search of the treasure. In 1986–1988, a combined archaeological and salvage excavation was carried out by Aqua Exploration, Depth Recovery Unit and Pentow Marine Salvage Company. Only a few gold coins were recovered, which appear to have been the possessions of the passengers and crew. The rumour of treasure and the shallow depth of the wreck at have resulted in the wreck being considerably disturbed, despite its being a war grave. In 1989, the British and South African governments entered into an agreement over the salvage of the wreck, sharing any gold recovered.

Three placenames in the Canadian province of British Columbia were conferred in honour of the Birkenhead disaster by Hudson's Bay Company explorer Alexander Caulfield Anderson, a boyhood friend and cousin of Lt Col. Seton of the 74th Regiment of Foot, on a traverse of uncharted country between the Fraser Canyon and the coastal Lower Mainland in 1846. Named after his cousin, Seton Lake cuts west through the Coast Mountains from the Fraser Canyon town of Lillooet, beyond which is its twin Anderson Lake. A few miles southwest from the head of Anderson Lake is Mount Birkenhead, named by Anderson, on the north side of the low pass connecting the valley of those lakes to that of the Birkenhead River. The river, the valley area near Mount Birkenhead known as Birken, and Birkenhead Lake at the summit of the pass were in turn named after the mountain, and not directly by Anderson.

According to local tradition, Salmonsdam Nature Reserve in the Overberg—a region in South Africa—is named after Captain Robert Salmond. Locals to this day refer to Great White Sharks as "Tommy Sharks," after the Tommys that were taken by them in water.