Jane Williamson

Official Number
58191

The Jane Williamson was a wooden brig launched on the 17th March 1870 from the shipyard of H & J Williamson at Whitehaven. She was initially commanded by Capt.T.Karron in foreign trade, then was sold by her builders to owners in Ulster, from where she spent the rest of her career in the coasting trade. At the time of her loss in 1917 she was owned by Richard Kearon, of Arklow, and was registered at Belfast.

The Jane Williamson was lost on the 10th September 1917 when she was attacked and sunk by a German submarine 20 miles NNE of St.Ives. The brigantine had been travelling from Liverpool to Cherbourg with a coal cargo and a crew of six. The submarine attacked with gunnery at 4 pm, her first shot from 150 yards smashing one of the boats, and the second killing one of the crew. The remaining five men got into the second boat, but this was also hit,  killing one man outright and mortally wounding the master and one other. Only the ship's boy was uninjured. The survivors were rescued by a trawler crew and landed at Penzance, the injured men later dying in hospital. The dead seamen were buried at Penzance. The inquest into their deaths produced a verdict of  "wilful and diabolical murder", and the incident seems to have been exploited in British propaganda subsequently published in the USA. It was claimed that the submarine crew beckoned the survivors to row alongside in order to taunt them.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Jane Williamson
1870
197
105.0
24.2 
 13.0
2
 
 
10 years A1, Special Survey

Sources:

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1871-2: Jane Williamson, brig, FYM 1870, 188 tons, owned by Williamson, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.T.Karran, voyage Whitehaven - West Indies.
  3. There is a painting of the Jane Williamson at the Castletown Maritime Museum, Isle of Man, along with other Whitehaven vessels owned by J.Karron, including the Sumatra.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1883-4: Jane Williamson, wooden brig, owned by S.Keith, registered at Belfast, master Capt.J.H.Newman.
  5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1889-90: Jane Williamson, wooden brig, official no.58191, signal letters JWTD, 197 gross tons, owned by R.Kearon, registered at Belfast, master Capt.G.Kinch.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1898-9: Jane Williamson, same details as 1889, except the vessel is described as a brigantine.
  7. Mercantile Navy List 1907: Jane Williamson, brig, 163 tons, built at Whitehaven in 1970, official no.58191, signal letters JWTD, registered at Belfast, managing owner Richard Kearon, of Main Street, Arklow, Co.Wicklow.
  8. Wreck info from "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" Vol.1 (1995) by Richard & Bridget Larn, pub.Lloyd's Register, 2000, ISBN 0 900528 88 5.
  9. See Naval History Net (citing from "British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-1918" published by HMSO, 1919) - states 4 lives lost.
  10. Account of the loss in "The German Pirate: His Methods and Record" by "Ajax", published in New York, 1918.