Flower of May

Official Number
17248

The Flower of May was a small schooner built at Parbold, Lancashire, in 1848. She was a regular trader to Barrow and the Ulverston Canal, and is noted in William Gawith's notebooks as trading to Barrow in the 1850's and 1860's. Her master in the late 1850's was Capt.John Latham, and he was also her owner until the the late 1860's. At the end of her career, the Flower of May was owned by William Postlethwaite, director of the Hodbarrow Mining Company.

The Glasgow Herald, Thursday, 3rd November 1887;

“ The Flower of May (of Preston), from Ulverston for Lytham, with limestone, struck the clay bed near Conishead Priory, Barrow-in-Furness, and foundered. All the crew saved. ”

Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser, Thursday, 3rd November 1887;

“ A SEVERE GALE - During Monday night a severe gale of wind, from the South, blew over the district, and continued all day on Tuesday...........Slates and chimney pots were displaced, trees were uprooted, and in some instances the roofs of Dutch barns were bodily removed. The South wind brought an unusually high tide into Morecambe Bay............Two vessels were lying at anchor between the Beaconsfield Pier and Conishead Point. Such was the force of the sea that the Flower of May was swamped and sank, Captain Robinson and a seaman named Hesketh took to the rigging where they had to remain exposed for upwards of three hours. An attempt was made to take them off by means of a boat, but the latter was thrown back by the force of the waves onto the railway embankment, and Robert Wilson, one of her voluntary crew of three men was severely injured. When the tide had run out somewhat and the fury of the waves abated, Captain Roskell of the Alice and Eliza and a seaman named Brough went to the wrecked vessel and took off the two men who were clinging to her masts. They are both elderly men, and as will be imagined, were both greatly exhausted by the exposure. In the afternoon the rain fell and towards evening the wind abated. ”

From Ulverston Harbour records, the Flower of May had left the canal on the 22nd October, bound for Lytham with a cargo of stones.

Name Year Built  Tons Length (feet) Breadth (feet) Depth (feet) Masts Figurehead Stern Lloyd's Classn.
Flower of May 1848  55       2      

Sources :

  1. Captain John Latham above was not the same John Latham that drowned with the Mary Bell.
  2. Mercantile Navy List 1857: Flower of May, 46 tons, official number 17248, signal letters MFTS, vessel registered at Preston.
  3. Clayton's Register of Shipping 1865: Flower of May, schooner, vessel registered at Preston, master and owner named as J.Latham, of Tarleton.
  4. Mercantile Navy List 1867: Flower of May, 47 tons, official number 17248, vessel registered at Preston, owned by John Latham, of Preston.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1880: Flower of May, schooner, 47 tons, built at Parbold, Lancashire, in 1848, official number 17248, owned by William Postlethwaite, of Hodbarrow, Cumberland, vessel registered at Preston
  6. Ulverston Canal records, information from Peter Sandbach.