Aristocrat

Official Number
none

The Aristocrat was a brig built by Kelsick Wood & Sons at Maryport, launched on the 12th January 1841. She was registered at Liverpool, and was owned throughout her life by W.Fisher, of Workington.

The Aristocrat was stranded on the beach at Blackpool on the 29th October 1843, whilst bound for Liverpool from Montreal with a cargo of ashes and flour. There was a crew of ten aboard, and two passengers, Miss Eliza Leach and John Frederick Spark. With a large crowd watching from the land, the mate and a seaman took the small boat to row the passengers ashore, but the boat overturned in the surf and both passengers were drowned. The two seamen saved themselves by clinging to the upturned boat as it drifted towards the shore. After discharging her cargo the brig was refloated on the 3rd November and was taken into Liverpool for repair.

The Aristocrat, Capt.Thompson, was one of thirty five vessels wrecked in a storm in Bustamente Bay, Patagonia, on the 18th April 1846.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Aristocrat
1841
207
 
 
 
2
 
 
10 years A1. 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding at Maryport - a Checklist" by Harry Fancy, published by the Friends of Whitehaven Museum, 1989.
  2. Information on the stranding at Blackpool from "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" Vol. 5 by Richard & Bridget Larn, pub. Lloyds Register, 2000, ISBN 1 900839 61 X. A report of the inquest on the passengers appeared in the Preston Chronicle, Saturday, 4th November, 1843 - the body of Miss Leach had not been found. An eye-witness account of the tragedy was reported in the Manchester Guardian, and then reproduced in the Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser, Saturday, 4th November, 1843.
  3. Refloating reported in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper, Friday, 10th November 1843.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1845-6: Aristocrat, brig, 207 tons, owned W.Fisher, registered at Liverpool, master Thompson, voyage Liverpool - Monte Video.
  5. Wreck and loss reported in the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper, Tuesday, 21st July 1846. See also the Caledonian Mercury (citing from Lloyd's List), Monday, 20th July, 1846.