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Richard | Official Number
9256 |
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Richard | Official Number
9256 |
The Richard was a brig or schooner built at Chepstow in 1813. She was registered at Whitehaven in 1840 and was owned by John Webster and others, her master being Capt.W.Martin.
From a newspaper cutting dated October 1870;
" SUPPOSED LOSS OF THE BRIG RICHARD OF WHITEHAVEN AND
ALL HANDS - On Tuesday last intelligence reached Mr.Superintendent Little,
at Whitehaven, from Bedminster, that a boat with the words "Richard, of
Whitehaven, Owen Murphy" painted on her stern, containing the dead body
of a seaman, was found by the steamer Prince Cadogan, Thomas Evans
master, floating in the Bristol Channel 50 miles from Bristol, and was
towed to that port. We publishe the report furnished by the police at Bedminster:
The following is the description of the body of a man found on the
15th instant by Captain Thomas Evans of the steamer Prince Cadogan,
now lying alongside the Welsh Back, in a boat which has the name "Richard,
of Whitehaven" painted on it, floating about 50 miles down the Bristol
Channel, and which he towed to Bristol. The body appears to be that of
a man about 40 years of age, about 5 feet five inches high, sandy hair,
and whiskers meeting under the chin. He was dressed in a blue guernsey,
blue flannel shirt, white flannel drawers, rough blue cloth trousers, white
stockings, worsted knitted cravat, clog boots with brass tips, and sou'wester
hat. The body was conveyed from Bathurst Basin to St.Peter's Hospital,
where it lies awaiting a coroner's inquest and identification. The boat
is newly painted lead colour, has two iron straps inside the stern, with
"Richard of Whitehaven" painted on one side and "Owen Murphy" on the other,
in yellow paint.
The description of the boat agrees in every particular with that of
the Richard, and the body is doubtless that of James Slane, one
of the crew, whose description is also recognised. Deceased was a native
of Annalong, Kilkeel, County Down, Ireland, and is not known to have any
relatives, save a half-brother in the Isle of Man. The Richard,
of which Mr.John Bragg was the owner, left Cardiff with a cargo of coals
for Dublin, on the 10th instant, and nothing has been heard of her up to
the receipt of the above report. When she left Cardiff she had on board
5 hands - Owen Murphy, the master, aged 60 years, who has a wife and family;
David Coulthard, aged 47, the mate, who has a wife and four children (both
the master and mate are natives of Whitehaven); James Slane, whose body
was found in the boat; and a couple of ordinary seamen, aged from 18 to
20 years. It is feared that the Richard, encountering one of the
recent gales on the Welsh coast, foundered and the crew in taking to the
boat must all have been lost except the man who was found in the boat,
and who is believed to have died of exposure."
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