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Description

The HECTORINE was reported to have been wrecked near Conway during the Royal Charter Gale, 25-26 October 1859. However, documentary evidence suggests that the schooner continued in service after going ashore, but at a high cost to her owner.

The HECTORINE was built in Kirkcudbright in 1840. A technical specification is given in the ship's port of Preston shipping register entry (image shown above):

Official number 8163... 40.35 tons burthen... 1 deck, 2 masts, that her length from the inner part of the main stem to the forepart of the stern post aloft is 54.6ft, her breadth in midships is 13.6ft, her deph in hold at midships is 7.9ft, that she is a schooner rigged with a standing bowsprit, square sterned, carvel built, no galleries, a female bust figurehead, that the framework and planking are of wood, and that she is a sailing vessel.

The schooner was transferred from the port of Kirkcudbright to Preston on 23 November 1840, when it was acquired by Roberts Parker of Garstang (36 shares) and Richard Gardener of Kirkland (28 shares), both corn merchants. Thirty-six of the vessel's shares were used as a security for a loan taken out with James Pedder, Henry Paul Fleetwood, and Edward Pedder of Preston, bankers.

In March 1854, the bank appears to have foreclosed on loan and sold the shares to John Farnell of Dundalk, County Louth, master mariner.

The same year, the schooner acquired a new master - Hugh McGovan - who joined the vessel at Whitehaven in November.

The schooner was extensively damaged when it was driven ashore near Conway during the October hurricane. And again in the heavy gale that followed just a week later. However, the HECTORINE was salvaged, repaired and re-registered at Beaumaris in November 1860 by Moses Thomas Edwards of Conway, merchant. The schooner was 2 inches shorter in length, but was substantially wider - a whole 2ft amidships - to improve her cargo carrying capacity.

The cost of the salvage and the rebuilding is likely to have been substantial. After being put back into service, the HECTORINE appears not to have been able to recoup the outlay quickly enough for Moses Edward's overstretched finances. Eighteen months later, he was forced to use his 64 shares to secure a mortgage for £600 from Henry Jones of Prodidda, Conway, esquire.

Ongoing financial difficulties are noted in the HECTORINE's shipping register entries - November 1863 a loan from Thomas Carr and Peter Robinson, merchants of Liverpool; February 1864 loan transferred to John Layton of London, timber merchant and Matthew Issac Wilson of Liverpool, shipowner; and transferred again Charles Mozely of Liverpool, banker, in February 1864.

The HECTORINE was finally lost, place unknown, on 17 November 1864.

Sources include:
Port of Preston Shipping Register 1825 - 1849, Lancashire Archives SS 8/2, folio 147
Port of Beaumaris Shipping Register 1855 - 1865, Gwynedd Archive Service XSR/10, folios 113 and 193


Kirkcudbright is on the banks of river which shares its name with a river in Wales. In which country is Kirkcudbright and what is the name of the river?

Which ship builders were active at Kirkcudbright around the time that the HECTORINE was built?

http://www.old-kirkcudbright.net/obituaries/campbell.asp

Liverpool shipowner, Matthew Issac Wilson, is associated with a paddle steamer which was used by the American Confederate Army to evade blockading Union Ships in 1864? What was the name of the ship?

How might we find out where the HECTORINE was finally lost?

http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/lloyds

Contributor: Lowri Roberts, Moelfre


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