Cannata

Official Number 1219

The Cannata was a ship built at Maryport by K.Wood & Son, and launched on the 23rd April 1845. She was built for Kenneth, Dowie & Co. of Liverpool, was registered at Liverpool, and was intended for the Montreal trade, according to the newspaper report of her launch. She was first commanded by Capt.Digby Berkeley Morton, but he seems to have only stayed with her for her first voyage. In October 1846 the Cannata, Captain Tillson, was bound from Manilla to London when she picked up the survivors from the Elizabeth Walker, of Glasgow, that had been abandoned on fire. The boats were towed into Singapore. The Cannata seems to have spent the rest of her career in the trade to the Far East.

In October 1861 the Cannata was re-surveyed at Liverpool, and it appears that she was re-rigged as a barque at this time, and sold to John Hodgeton, her future commander. He continued in the China trade, taking her to Singapore in 1862 and to Hong Kong in 1864. On the 18th March 1865 the Cannata was abandoned at sea off Rangoon. It seems she was subsequently recovered and repaired, and in 1867 she was owned in Rangoon by James Cotton.

Sources :

1. Launch report from the "Cumberland Pacquet and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser", Tuesday, 29th April 1845, page 3.
2. "Shipbuilding at Maryport - A Checklist", published in 1989 by the Friends of Whitehaven Museum.
3. Report of the rescue of the Elizabeth Walker survivors in the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper, Tuesday, 5th January 1847, page 3.
4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1845-6 (Supplement): ship, registered at Liverpool, owned Dowie & Co., master D.Morton, voyage Liverpool for Montreal.
5. Mercantile Navy List 1857 gives official number - vessel registered at Liverpool, 514 tons, signal letters HJCG.
6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1857-8: ship, registered at Liverpool, owned Clint & Co., master Tiddy, voyage Liverpool for Calcutta.
7. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1860-1: ship, registered at Liverpool, owned Clint & Co., master F.B.Hire, voyage Liverpool for India.
8. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1865-6: barque, registered at Liverpool, owned and commanded by Hodgeton, voyage Liverpool for China - annotated 'abandoned'.
9. Information on abandonment from David Hodgeton, from family history.
10. Mercantile Navy List 1867 - Cannata, official number 1219, signal letters HJCG, 514 tons, registered at Rangoon, owned by James Cotton, of Rangoon.