Kate

Official Number
70473

The two-masted schooner Kate was built by William White at Canal Side, Ulverston in November 1874. Like the Mabel, built in the following year at the same shipyard, she immediately entered the fleet of William Postlethwaite. She stayed in this Millom fleet until sold to Capt.Louis Aldridge of Arlingham, Gloucestershire, on the 16th June 1911.

In the book "Schooner Captain", Capt. Hugh Shaw mentions that he bought the Kate in 1911, together with Capt. Aldridge, his father-in-law. Capt.Shaw left the Sarah Latham to take command of her. He tells of surviving an Irish Sea gale at Christmas, 1912, that caused the loss of the Harvest Queen. He stayed with the Kate throughout the First World War, employing her in the cross-channel trade and surviving an encounter with a U-boat in 1918. In 1920 he had an engine fitted to the schooner, and then in 1922 he left the Kate to the charge of his brother, Capt.William Shaw. The schooner was sold by the Shaw family in 1928.

The Kate was still registered at Barrow in 1936.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Kate
 1874
104
82.8
20.8
9.7
 2
 
 
 

Sources :

  1. Research by Trevor Morgan
  2. "Schooner Captain" by Norah Ayland, pub. by D.Bradford Barton Ltd. (1972)
  3. Mercantile Navy List 1924: Kate, schooner, 75 tons, built at Ulverston in 1875, official number 70473, registered at Barrow, managing owner Lewis Aldridge, of Friday Street, Arlingham, Gloucester.
  4. Mercantile Navy List 1936: as MNL 1924, except managing owner Harry Chugg, of Braunton.