Maggie Townson

Official Number
76886

The Maggie Townson was an iron three-masted schooner built by D.Noble & Co. at Barrow. She was launched on Tuesday, 29th January 1878 and was owned by the Barrow shipowners John Walton & Co. Her first master was Capt.E.Sharples, and it was his daughter who performed the christening ceremony at the launch.

The Maggie Townson was lost by collision in her first year of service. On the morning of 24th November 1878 she was carrying a cargo of cast iron ingots from Barrow to Ellesmere, beating up the Mersey in a snow shower. She struck the bow of the Blue Funnel steamship Teucer, anchored mid-stream off the entrance to the Alfred Dock. The schooner sank within five minutes, but the crew were all saved.

The Maggie Townson was sunk a little to the S of a line drawn between Seacombe Landing Stage and the embayment of the St.George and Prince's Landing Stages on the Liverpool side. The day following her sinking, a lightship was placed near the wreck. The following day, Tuesday 26th November, in endeavouring to avoid this lightship in thick fog, the Liverpool ferry Gem collided with the Brocklebank ship Bowfell, resulting in the loss of the lives of 19 passengers on the former vessel.

This vessel is one of several that was listed under the official number of 78571 in the Mercantile Navy List, so the number given in Lloyd's Register is probably correct.
 
Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Maggie Townson
1878
149
 106.3
 22.1
 10.0
 3
 
 
100A1, Special Survey

Sources :

  1. Launch reported in the Lancaster Gazette, Saturday, 2nd February 1878.
  2. Mercantile Navy List 1878: Maggie Townson, schooner, 136 tons, registered at Barrow, official number 78571, signal letters RNKJ, owned by John Walton, of Barrow.
  3. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1878-9: Maggie Towson (sic), schooner, 149 grt, 136 nrt, built by Noble at Barrow in January 1878, official number 76886, owned by J.Walton & Co., registered at Barrow, master Capt.E.Sharples - annotated "Collision".
  4. Collision and loss reported in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper, Monday, 25th November, 1878, page 6 - gives name as 'Maggie Townshend'.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1880: Maggie Townson, schooner, 136 tons, built at Barrow in 1878, registered at Barrow, official number 78571, signal letters RNKJ, owned by John Walton, of Barrow.
  6. See CLIP (Crew List Index Project) website for official numbers.