New Draper

Official Number 8654

The New Draper was a brig built at Emsworth in 1791. She was registered at Whitehaven in 1845 (see Source 1) and it appears that she was owned and registered in the same port until her loss in 1880. In 1845 her master and owner was Benjamin Barwise. In 1865 (see Source 3) she was owned by John Bagg, shipbroker, of Whitehaven.

On the 23rd June 1824 the New Draper, under the command of Capt.Barwise, arrived at the port of Quebec, with 80 passengers from Dublin (see Source 6).

On the 27th December, 1852, the New Draper, in company with the Brunswick, Atlas and Hebe, went ashore at Whitehaven.

In February 1861 the New Draper  was driven ashore near Wicklow harbour, her eight crew (including the master, Capt.William Stuart) being rescued by the Wicklow lifeboat (see Source 5).

The New Draper became involved in one of the incidents of the Fenian uprising of 1867. In February of that year her master, Capt.Charles Smith, agreed to carry two passengers from Whitehaven to Dublin. Unknown to him, they were "Captain" John McCafferty and John Flood, both Fenians who had been involved in plotting an uprising in Ireland. McCafferty, a US citizen, former Confederate soldier and member of the Fenian Brotherhood, had been the leader of a failed attempt to seize arms at Chester Castle earlier in the month, and was attempting to return to Ireland for the uprising, projected for the 5th March. The two men had sought passage on the collier brig because they knew that the passenger steamers sailing to Ireland would be under survreillance. However, when the New Draper arrived at Dublin on the 23rd February 1867, that port too was being watched. The two Fenians were met and taken from the vessel in an oyster boat, but were spotted by policemen, pursued (in a chase across the river involving a ferry, a canal boat and a collier) and then arrested. Ultimately they were tried for High Treason. Found guilty, McCafferty was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released under amnesty in 1871 and returned to the US (see Source 4).

From "The Times" newspaper, Saturday 10th January 1880, page 11 :

The New Draper, brig, laden with coal, bound from Whitehaven for Douglas, Isle of Man, was lost yesterday morning at Garwick, near Douglas. One man saved.

Sources :

1. A List Of The Cumberland Shipping, Corrected To February 1840, by William Sawyers, Comptroller Of Her Majesty's Customs At The Port Of Whitehaven.
2. Mercantile Navy List 1857 - registered at Whitehaven.
3. Clayton's Register of Shipping 1865
4. Reports of McCafferty's trial in the Times newspaper,  Monday 6th May, 1867 page 4 and Saturday 4th May, 1867 page 5. The assault on Chester Castle was abandoned after the Fenians had discovered that the plot had been betrayed from within their own organisation. The plan had been for 3,000 men to assault the castle, seize arms, then carry them by rail to Holyhead, before commandeering a mail steamer and shipping the arms to Ireland. McCafferty and Flood arrived in Whitehaven on a steamer from the Isle of Man, so their escape route was by no means straightforward. The New Draper departed Whitehaven on the 20th February, so it was a long passage, and raises the possibility that Capt.Smith delayed his arrival to ensure the capture of the two men. The newspaper report makes it clear that the waiting policemen had been alerted that "two persons with a suspicious appearance" had boarded the New Draper at Whitehaven. Capt.Smith appeared as a witness at the trial. For a potted history of "Capt." McCafferty, see Speeches from the Dock, which also mentions the New Draper.
5. Wicklow Lifeboat - Station History
6. Ship Arrivals at the Port of Quebec, 1824