Useful
 Official Number
 76892
The Useful was a sister ship to the Isabella, both being built from the same plans. She was launched on the 22nd March 1879. She was named by the wife of her first master and part-owner, Capt. Robert Wright, who had previously commanded the Margaret Ann. He was one of the many Barrow seamen born in Tarleton, but he had moved to live at Connah's Quay and the Useful was effectively based at that port for all her life. Capt. Wright was closely associated with the Ashburners, who had built the schooner at Barrow, and he was later to participate in the design of the Result. The Useful traded around the Irish Sea and the west coast. She was a general-purpose trading vessel, and somewhat comically the schooner had "Useful Barrow" displayed on her stern.
 Schooner Useful at Ellesmere Port, 1937, courtesy of Keith Lewis

The Useful was at the port of Braddan, Isle of Man, on the night of the April 1881 census - the crew were listed as follows:
 

Robert Wright  m  36 Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, Eng. Master
John Lee m  27 Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, Eng. Mate
Samuel McAinn u  36  Dalbeattie, Kirkcudbright, Scot. AB
Samuel Cadnor m  37  St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada AB
Elizabeth Ann Wright m  27 Connah's Quay, Flint, Wales. Master's Wife

The Useful was retained under the management of Thomas Ashburner and Co. until they disposed of their fleet by auction in 1909. She was bought for £610 by Capt. Gregory of Arklow, but she was fairly soon sold back to owners at Connah's Quay. Like most other schooners that survived into the 1930's she was fitted with an engine, a Widdop diesel. In January 1947, when owned by Capt. John Wynne of Connah's Quay, and with only him and his son aboard, the Useful was wrecked at Santon Head, Isle of Man. She was sailing from Mostyn to Belfast loaded with bricks and tiles, but at night and in thick fog and with a heavy sea running she struck broadside onto jagged rocks at the base of the cliff, the crew having failed to see the Langness and Chicken Rock lighthouses. The crew eventually had to scale the cliffs to save themselves, nearly dying of exposure before being found by a local farmer. The Useful was smashed to pieces against the rocks.
 
Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Useful
 1879
99 
89.3
21.3 
9.1 
 2
Scroll 
Round 
10A1 

Sources :

  1. Launch Report in the Barrow Times 29th March 1879
  2. Census info provided by Shirley Gaunt.
  3. The Ashburner Schooners ISBN 0-9516792-0-1
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