Wennington

Official Number
51081

The Wennington was a full-rigged ship built by the Lune Shipbuilding Company. She was the first iron ship to be built at Lancaster, and was built to Special Survey and was launched in March 1865. She was registered at Liverpool and was owned by Wilson & Co. until 1875. She was subsequently owned by the Lancaster Shipowners Co. Ltd.

Lloyd's Registers list the ship's masters as : E. Williams (1865-7), Reade (1867-9), G. Byron (1869-71), Davies (1871-73), J.McAvoy (1873-4), Winder (1874-7), Sterwood (1877-78). Destined voyages are listed in Lloyd's Register as Australia (1865-69), San Francisco (1869-71), Rangoon (1871-73) and New Zealand (1873). In the 1870's it seems that the Wennington was taking emigrants to New Zealand on her outweard passages, then returning from Far East ports with merchandise.

On the 9thJanuary 1878 the Wennington, under the command of Capt. Sterwood, sailed from Samarang, Indonesia, bound for Cork or Falmouth. She had a crew of 18 and one passenger. Her cargo of 1,151 tons of sugar had been loaded in baskets, and carefully stowed under the supervision of the captain.  The Wennington was last seen aground in the Bali Straits on the 30th January 1878. Capt.Sterwood subsequently sent a telegram that the vessel had been got off and was uninjured. She proceeded on her voyage but was never seen again, lost with all nineteen people aboard.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Wennington
1865
 882
189.7
32.0 
20.8 
3 
 
 
Special Survey 

Sources :

  1. "The Lune Shipbuilding Company" by Andrew White, local studies booklet No.2, Lancaster City Museums.
  2. There is a photo of the nearly-completed Wennington at the shipyard in March 1865, in the book "Merchant Sailing Ships 1850-1875; Heyday of Sail" by David R. Macgregor (1984).
  3. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1865-6 (Supplement): Wennington, iron ship, 882 tons, owned by Wilson & Co., registered at Liverpool, master Capt.E.Williams, voyage Lancaster - Australia.
  4. Mystic Seaport Library Ship Register Search has shipping register details for all years from 1869 to 1879.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1867: Wennington, 882 tons, official no.51081, signal letters HCQM, registered at Lancaster, owned by Lancaster Shipowners Co.Ltd.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1874-5: Wennington, iron ship, 882 grt, owned by Wilson & Co., registered at Liverpool, masters Capts.J.McAvoy & Winder.
  7. Wreck details from "Abstract Returns of Wrecks and Casualties on Coasts of U.K.; Casualties to British Ships elsewhere, and to Foreign Ships on Coasts of British Possessions Abroad, 1878-79 , Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1880 (C.2519) lxvi.189; Merchant Ships--Foundered and Missing, 1st January 1873 to 16th May 1880 , pp. 244-245, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1880 (C.2625), lxvi.444-445." - research by Michael Palmer.
  8. Loss reported in the Liverpool Mercury, Friday, 13th September 1878 - names master as Sherwood.