Ellen Harrison

Official Number
76891

The two-masted schooner Ellen Harrison was the last merchant sailing vessel to be built at Ulverston. She was built at William White's shipyard and was launched in August 1878, immediately going into service with William Postlethwaite's fleet.

The Times, Wednesday, 12th November, 1890, page 6;

" THE GALE - Day by day more casualties are reported at the North Wales ports as the result of the recent hurricane. At Connah's Quay, on the Dee, yesterday, the report was confirmed that Captain Richard Coppack, of the Ethel May, schooner, which was blown ashore between Rhyl and Prestatyn, and subsequently got off, was washed overboard as the vessel was, for safety, being taken into the Dee. There is mourning in almost every home at Connah's Quay, for the morning before the gale, tempted by the lovely weather, 30 vessels left the river outward bound, and nearly all have been wrecked, or stranded, or their whereabouts is unknown. The following was the record at Connah's Quay last night:- Schooner Margaret, of Chester, sunk in Mostyn Roads, crew saved; schooner Ellen Harrison, ashore on West Hoyle Bank, mate washed overboard, rest of crew saved by lifeboat; schooner Elizabeth Latham, ashore at Moelfra Roads, one seaman dead from exposure, others saved by lifeboat; schooner Alice Latham, ashore same place, crew saved by lifeboat; schooner Ethel May, ashore between Prestatyn and Rhyl; schooner Lorne, reported to be ashore on Derby Point, Isle of Man. The following vessels have not been heard of, and are supposed to be lost with all hands:- Schooner Ernest, of Chester, Benjamin Williams, master, and three seamen (her boat has been picked up at Hoylake); the three-masted iron schooner Bridget Annie, John Bennett, master, Connah's Quay, and three seamen; schooner Florence Emily, of Chester, John Bennett, master and owner, and three seamen."

The Ellen Harrison was sold by Postlethwaite in 1912. She was sunk by gunfire from a German submarine 7 miles NW of Cherbourg on the 29th April 1917, whilst carrying coal from Cardiff.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Ellen Harrison
1878
 103
 83.5
 21.0
9.6 
2 
 
 
 9 years A1

Sources :

  1. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1880-1: Ellen Harrison, schooner, 103 grt, 91 nrt, built by White at Ulverston in August 1878, official number 76891, registered at Barrow, owned by William Postlethwaite, master Capt.E.Coppack.
  2. The Ellen Harrison is erroneously listed as lost in Vol.5 of "The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles". It says that she was stranded in NNW Force 10 on the West Hoyle Bank, Dee River on the 7th November 1890. The master is named as E.Coppack, and the BoT Wreck Returns are cited as the source of the information. Refer to history of the John Ewing for another instance where the BoT Wreck Returns, often considered to be a definitive source for a ship's loss, are misleading.
  3. Lloyds' War Losses - The First World War: Casualties to Shipping through Enemy Causes 1914-1918 at Lloyds' Library, Guildhall Library, London.
  4. See Mariners website - British Merchant Ship Losses in WW1