Whitehaven

Official Number
9234

The Whitehaven was a brig built at Whitehaven by Robert Hardy, launched on the 9th December 1825. In 1827 the Whitehaven, Capt.Fidler, sailed from Cardiff to Smyrna with a cargo of iron ore. The Whitehaven newspaper reported a letter from Capt.Fidler complaining that the brig had been intercepted by pirates in the Silota passage, and had been plundered. There was considerable pirate activity in the Eastern Mediterranean at this time, and in the next few months Royal Navy vessels were given instructions to destroy all armed vessels, other than national ships, flying the Greek flag.

In 1840 the Whitehaven was owned by Joseph Russell and others, and was commanded by Capt.Benjamin Turner.

The Whitehaven was wrecked in a gale and went to pieces at the mouth of the harbour at Whitehaven, on the afternoon of  Thursday, 4th November 1869. The crew were rescued by the Whitehaven Volunteer Life Brigade led by Chief Officer Jinks, in the presence of hundreds of spectators. The brig had left Whitehaven for Dublin with coal on Sunday 31st October but had lost her sails and had had to put back to her home port.

Another brig named Whitehaven was launched at Whitehaven the preceding year.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Whitehaven
1825
 156
 
 
 
 2
 
 
 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984).
  2. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1827 (Underwriters' Green Book) - brig, 156 tons, coppered in 1827, masters E.Burk and D.Fidler, owner Bennycat.
  3. Report of piracy in the Cumberland Pacquet and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser, Tuesday, 3rd July 1827 - letter dated 18th May 1827, Smyrna., and sent to Jonathan Sim, probably the managing owner.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1829/30 - brig, 156 tons, master Fidler, owners Sims & Co.
  5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1834 - vessel registered at Whitehaven, brig, 150 tons, master T.Barnes, owners Sims & Co.
  6. "A List of the Cumberland Shipping corrected to February 1840" by William Sawyers, Comptroller of Her Majesty's Customs at the Port of Whitehaven, republished by Michael Moon (Whitehaven, 1975, ISBN 0-904131-09-2).
  7. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1855 - vessel registered at Whitehaven, brig, 150 tons, master R.Higgins, owners Russel & Co.
  8. Mercantile Navy List 1857: Whitehaven, vessel registered at Whitehaven, official number 9234, signal letters KGMP.
  9. Clayton's Register of Shipping 1865: Whitehaven, vessel registered at Whitehaven, brig, 142 tons, master Adamson, owner William Nicholson.
  10. Wreck reported in the Times newspaper, Monday 8th November 1869, page 4.