British Queen

Official Number
9360

British Queen, painting by Oliver Hodgson, 1839, photo from Sheila Cartwright.The British Queen was a 218 ton brig built by Lumley Kennedy & Co. at Whitehaven, launched on the 24th May 1838. She was owned for her entire career by Robert & Henry Jefferson, Whitehaven merchants. Hollett states that the order for the brig was placed by the Jefferson's upon the loss of their brig Thetis off Finisterre in 1837.

Jefferson's had business interests in Antigua (rum, sugar and molasses) and the British Queen started her career in the trade from Whitehaven to that island, under the command of Captain Thomas Kennedy. From 1846 the master was Capt.Joseph Wise. He was still in command in 1858 when the Jeffersons tried to sell the brig, placing an advertisement in the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper. No buyers were forthcoming, and the brig continued to work for the Jeffersons, under the command of Capt.Joseph Ledger.

The British Queen was abandoned in the Atlantic on the 6th May 1861. She had been bound from Liverpool for Greenspond with a salt cargo, and had struck ice at 47 o56' N 47o40' W. The brig sank within a few hours, and the master and crew safely abandoned her, being picked up next morning by the Transit from Liverpool. They were landed at St.John's, Newfoundland.


Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
British Queen
1838
 206 om, 218 nm
 
 
 
 2
 
 
 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984).
  2. "From Cumberland to Cape Horn" by D.Hollett. Names master at time of loss as Capt.William Hinde.
  3. The painting and a ship's log is on display at The Rum Story, Lowther Street, Whitehaven.
  4. " A List Of The Cumberland Shipping, Corrected To February 1840, by William Sawyers, Comptroller Of Her Majesty's Customs At The Port Of Whitehaven" : British Queen, brig, 218 tons, built 1838 at Whitehaven by Kennedy, owned by Robert & Henry Jefferson, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.John Robinson.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1860: British Queen, 218 tons, official number 9360, signal letters KGWV, registered at Whitehaven.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1860-1: British Queen, brig, 206 tons om, 218 tons new measurement, built 1838 at Whitehaven, owned by Jefferson, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.J.Ledger, voyage Whitehaven - West Indies.
  7. Wreck reported in the Morning Chronicle newspaper, Tuesday, 28th May 1861, and in the Times newspaper, Monday, 27th May 1861, page 12.