Mary Jane

Official Number
28005

The Mary Jane was built by William and Richard Ashburner at  Barrow. She was the fifth schooner built by the shipyard, and the first to be retained under the management of the Ashburner family. Her command was originally given to Capt.Robert Ashburner, a brother of the shipbuilders, and he was the principal shareholder in the new vessel. The schooner was named after his daughter, and it was she that christened the schooner when she was launched on the 20th August 1860. The Mary Jane could carry 180 tons of cargo and she initially operated in foreign trade, visiting the Baltic and Mediterranean and participating in the ore trade to Spain.

The Ashburner family continued to manage the Mary Jane until their fleet was auctioned off  in 1908/9. The Mary Jane was bought for £555 by the family of her then master, Capt. Hughes of Shotton, North Wales. He had her command when she was lost off the north Cornish coast in 1911. The Mary Jane had been bound from Britonferry to Gosport with a coal cargo, and suffered severe damage during a gale. Her crew were evacuated by a Cardiff steamer 10 miles north of Godrevy, and the ship then drifted onto rocks at Watergate Bay, near Newquay, on the morning of 13th November.
 
Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Mary Jane
1860
99
83.2
20.5 
10.4
2
Female 
Round 
9A1 

Sources :

  1. "The Ashburner Schooners", by Tim Latham (1991), ISBN 0-95-16792-0-1.
  2.  Launch reported in the Ulverston Mirror 25th August 1860, page 4, and also in the Cumberland Pacquet, 28th August 1860, page 6. The vessel was launched on the same day as the Alfred Stonard at Ulverston.
  3. Robert Ashburner's career from Captains Register 18567/1 in Lloyd's Library at the Guildhall Library, London.
  4. Clayton's Register of Shipping 1865: Mary Jane, schooner, 100 tons, built 1860, registered at Lancaster, master Capt.R.Ashburner, owned by Robert Ashburner, shipbuilder, of Barrow.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1875: Mary Jane, schooner, 89 tons, built at Barrow in 1860, official number 28005, signal letters PTNW, registered at Lancaster, owned by William Ashburner, of Barrow.
  6. Mercantile Navy List 1896: Mary Jane, schooner, 80 tons, built at Barrow in 1860, official number 28005, signal letters PTNW, registered at Lancaster, owned by Thomas Ashburner, of Barrow.
  7. Loss reported in Lloyd's List 13th November 1913, and in "The Merchant Schooners" 4th ed. (1988) by Basil Greenhill.