Earl Grey

Official Number
1915

The Earl Grey was a brig built by Thos.& Jno.Brocklebank at Bransty, Whitehaven, launched on the 22nd July 1834. In her early career she traded to South America and the Far East. Hollett (see Sources) records a voyage to Calcutta in 1840 (Capt.Bell), and to Valparaiso, Chile in 1855 (Capt.E.Curwen), then to Bahia, Brazil two years later (Capt.W.Bell, crew of 13). She was sold by Brocklebanks in 1860 and was subsequently owned in Kincardine.

The Earl Grey was abandoned and lost on the 2nd March 1873, S of Ushant, having been struck by a heavy sea which shifted her cargo and caused her to leak. One of the 10 crew did not survive the abandonment. The brig was on passage from Glasgow for Lisbon with a cargo of 366 tons of coal. She was owned by W.Rankin & Co., of Glasgow, and was registered at that port.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Earl Grey
1834
242 
94.6 
24.2 
16.2 
2 
 
 
 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. "From Cumberland to Cape Horn" by D.Hollett - names masters as Capts.Adamson, Mawson, M'Wean, Sproule, Chesters, Sharp, Curwen, Bell and Woof.
  3. Mercantile Navy List 1857 : Earl Grey, 242 tons, gives port of registry as Liverpool, official number 1915, signal letters HLWP.
  4. Loss reported in the Times, Saturday, 8th March 1873, page 11 - lost 19 miles from Ushant.
  5. Merchant Ships - Foundered and Missing, 1st January 1873 to 16th May 1880 (Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1880) - lost 60 miles S of Ushant Bay.