Englishman

Official Number
45346

The Englishman was a two-masted schooner built by Matthew Simpson at Glasson Dock, and launched on Thursday, 22nd September 1864. She was named by Mrs.Carter, wife of the ship's husband, John Carter, of Fleetwood. The vessel's figurehead was a representation of him. The schooner was copper-fastened, and intended for the coasting and foreign trade.

Lloyd's Register 1887 gives her master's name as Capt. J.Green and states that she was built using 8 and 12 year old timber, and had repairs to damages in 1869 and 1876.

During the First World War the Englishman was shelled by a U-boat on the 16th December1916, north of the Isles of Scillies but was rescued.  Presumably the Royal Navy arrived and the U-boat dived.

The Englishman was owned by G.H. Dudderidge of Truro in her final years, mainly employed carrying china clay from Cornwall to Runcorn.  On the 2nd May 1933 she was on passage from Charlestown to Runcorn when she struck a submerged object 14 miles NNE of the South Bishop lighthouse. With their vessel leaking badly, the crew deliberately drove the Englishman ashore at Musselwick Bay, St. Bride's Haven, on the Pembrokeshire coast.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Englishman
1864
144 
94.0 
22.7 
11.2 
2 (later 3) 
 Man
Elliptic 
8 years A1 

Sources :

  1. Launch reported in the Lancaster Gazette newspaper, Saturday, 24th September 1864.
  2. Lloyd's Register information Gilbert Provost's website.
  3. "British Merchant Vessels Lost at Sea 1914 - 1918"
  4. Report of loss in "The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles Vol.5"  by  Richard and Bridget Larn.