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Official Number
68217 |
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Official Number
68217 |
The Mary Bell was built by William Ashburner and Son at Barrow-in-Furness and was managed by Thomas Ashburner & Co. She was a large three-masted schooner that was undoubtedly built to travel in similar trades to the William Ashburner, for she was finished with copper bolts, indicating that after her first year she would have been felted and yellow metalled. She was well-built, being accorded Lloyd's highest classification for a wooden ship, 12A1. Her surveyor stated that "a large quantity of high class materials has been judiciously used in the construction of this vessel, with extra fastenings and superior workmanship". Despite her good construction, the ship was lost within a year of her launch, and the furthest she ever travelled into the Atlantic was Madeira.
After being launched in some style on the 26th April 1873, the Mary
Bell was put under the command of Capt. John Latham, who had previously
commanded the James & Agnes.
He took her to Madeira and to the Guadiana River ports for copper ore.
Early in 1874 he returned to Madeira carrying a coal cargo from Newport,
then picked up a cargo of copper pyrites at Pomaron. Returning to Gloucester,
the Mary Bell disappeared in the Bay of Biscay after being last
sighted on the 6th April. Capt. Latham, his 19-year old son James, and
five other crewmen were lost with her.
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