Maggie Brocklebank

Official Number 62703

The two-masted schooner Maggie Brocklebank was built at Ulverston by William and Richard Charnley. She was launched in 1869 and in her first year of service she made two voyages to Seville under the command of Capt. Michael Bond.  The  Maggie Brocklebank was owned by the Millom shipowner William Postlethwaite from 1873.

The Maggie Brocklebank went missing in bad weather on the 21st December 1909, with the loss of all crew. The following notes are from the Board of Trade Official Inquiry report :

The Maggie Brocklebank was owned by William Postlethwaite, managing owner, and 22 others. Her master for the last three years had been Capt. William Hughes of Bangor, an uncertificated master. The ship was sailed by shares, half the gross freights going to the master, who paid the crew, and half to the owners. For this reason the names of the crew were unknown by the owners, and apart from the master it was not possible to establish the identities of the crew, or even how many of them there were. From dockyard gossip it was believed that one of the crew was Swedish and that another was a black man.

The ship loaded 171.95 tons of coal at Swansea on the 16th and 17th December 1909, then departed for Dublin, in company with the Carrie Bell of Lancaster and the schooner Dantzic of Banff. On the evening of the 21st the ships encountered a severe gale and the Maggie Brocklebank was last seen at 4pm. A lifebuoy from her was later found at Pembroke.

George Postlethwaite (William Postlethwaite's son) attended the Inquiry. He stated that the original build cost of the schooner was unknown, but that she had been valued at £960 after repair in 1883, the ship having been practically rebuilt at Rodgers yard at Carrickfergus for a cost of £655. The Maggie Brocklebank had been repaired in 1899 at the Duddon Ship Building Co. at Millom, at a cost of £161 0s 8d. There had been subsequent repairs, listed, which amounted to £333 3s 1d. Micaiah Jones, a partner in the Duddon Ship Building Co., testified to the seaworthiness of the vessel, which was insured with the Barrow-in-Furness Mutual Ship Insurance Co. for £400.

Sources :

1. Research by Trevor Morgan
2. Crew List for 1872
3. Report of Inquiries into Wrecks 1909/10, Inquiry No. 141 (Maggie Brocklebank) at DoT Marine Division Library, Holborn.