Charlotte Helen

Official Number 21761

The schooner Charlotte Helen was launched from the shipyard of A.B.Gowan & Son at Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1859. She was owned for the whole of her life by James Fisher & Sons of Barrow-in-Furness.

Capt. John Williams was awarded a gold watch by the US government for rescuing the crew of the American ship Marengo in March 1862. This vessel foundered on a voyage from Huelva to Cardiff , the crew being rescued by the Charlotte Helen (see Source 3).

The Charlotte Helen was sunk in collision with the screw steamer Rambler, of Glasgow, Swansea for Naples, south of Cape Finisterre on the night of 22nd August 1878. She was bound from Seville for Carrickfergus with 220 tons of sulphur ore. Captain Dickenson, of Lancaster, the mate and cook were drowned, but two other crewmen were rescued by the steamer and landed at Naples (see Source 4).
 

Name	Year Built	Gross Tons	Length (feet)	Breadth (feet)	Depth (feet)	Masts	Figurehead	Stern	Lloyd's Classn.
Charlotte Helen	1859	132							A1, 8 years

Sources :

1. Berwick Shipyard - Build List 1841-1878 - indicates that the Charlotte Helen was the 5th of 26 vessels built by Gowan for James Fisher.
2. Clayton's Register of Shipping 1865 - names master as Capt.J.Williams, vessel registered at Lancaster.
3. From Welsh Mariners website - also names Capt.Thomas Davies as master when the vessel was lost.
4. Wreck reported in  the Manchester Guardian (9th September 1878,  page 7) and the the Times (Monday, 9th September 1878,  page 5) - both articles name the vessel as Charlotte Ellen, but identify her as as a schooner owned by James Fisher & Sons of Barrow-in-Furness.