Superior

Official Number
????

The Cumberland Pacquet and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser newspaper, 13th December 1825;

" This morning was launched from the building yard of Messrs.T.& J.Brocklebank, a handsome new copper-bottomed brig, of 240 tons register, called the Superior, built for Captain James Gunson, of this town, and is intended to proceed to Liverpool, for the purpose of taking in a general cargo, then for Valparaiso, Lima, etc."

The Superior was a brig built by Thos. & Jno. Brocklebank at Bransty, Whitehaven, in December 1825. She was sold immediately to Capt.Gunson, though the Brocklebank family retained some shares in her. The Superior made her first passage under Capt.Gunson's command to Liverpool, comiing into contact on the way, 15 miles off Ormishead, with the masts and spars of a sunk square-rigged vessel, believed to have been the Albion, Capt.Fisher, of Whitehaven.

The Superior was owned by Riley and Co. and was registered at London at the time of her loss, in about 1864.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Superior
1825
 241
 90.0
24.6 
16.6 
2
 
 
11 years A1 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. See National Archives website for catalogue of the Brocklebank Collection at Merseyside Maritime Museum Library - the Superior is ref. B/BROC/16/93 1825.
  3. First voyage reported in the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper, 23rd January 1826, page 3.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping (Shipowners' Red Book) 1830: Superior, brig, coppered, 240 tons, owned by Brocklebank, master Capt.Salmon, voyage Liverpool - Brazils.
  5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1839-40: Superior, brig, 241 tons, owner J.Gunson, registered at Whitehaven,, master Capt.Lindsay, voyage London - Bahia.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1856-7: Superior, brig, 241 tons, owner Riley & Co., registered at London,, master Capt.Shiells, voyage London - Cadiz.
  7. In the Mercantile Navy List 1860 there are several vessels named Superior, the most likely to be this vessel being official number 23228 (249 tons, registered at Shields).
  8. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1864-5: Superior, brig, 241 tons, 90.0 x 24.6 x 16.6, built at Whitehaven in 1825, owned by Riley & Co., registered at London, master G.West. Annotated "Lost".