Hartfield

Official Number
87961

The Hartfield was an iron full-rigged ship built by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Company at Whitehaven, launched on the 12th April 1884.

The Liverpool Mercury of the 25th January 1908 reported that the owners of the Hartfield, Messrs. Walmsley & Co. of Liverpool, feared that she had been lost off the Vancouver coast, with all hands, on a voyage from Valparaiso to Tacoma, in ballast. Wreckage had been found, with the name Hartfield of Liverpool, on the West coast of Vancouver. The crew aboard the vessel when she left Valparaiso on the 26th August 1907 were listed as follows.

NAME POSITION OF
Arthur Sandison Master Liverpool
Thomas Williams Chief Officer Mona, near Llangefni, North Wales
Martin F. Bust 2nd Officer Nettleham, Lincs. (Shipped at Sidney)
Thomas Shine Carpenter Shipped at London
August Hanson Sailmaker Shipped at London
Charles Scott Cook Canning Town (Shipped at London)
W. H. Hill Steward Gillingham (Shipped at London)
C.R. Redin, A. Wigger & Joseph Lee All Seamen Shipped at London
George Milger, James Donohoe, Thomas Devine, Charles Rendall All Seamen Shipped at Valparaiso
Richard Jones, C.Ellsworth, H.Hamilton, Frank Cossack All Seamen Shipped at Valparaiso
John H. Wate, John Adams, Charles Oliver All Seamen Shipped at Valparaiso
Jules Jampers Apprentice Brussels
Arthur Tullock Apprentice Hull

The Hartfield disappeared off Cape Flattery on the Pacific coast of Canada in January 1908. The Liverpool Mercury of 14th March 1908 reported that pieces of wreckage, which had included cabin furniture and a life belt, inscribed with the ship's name, were picked up off the Vancouver coast two months previously. It was also reported that a ship resembling her had been seen near a headland on Vancouver Island, battling with the storm in which she was reported to have disappeared.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Hartfield
1884
1867
 195.1
 31.3
19.8 
3 
 
 
100 years A1 Special Survey 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984).
  2. Refer to the website of the National Library of Australia for photographs and newspaper reports. Photo from the State Library of South Australia.
  3. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1883-4 (Supplement): Hartfield, iron ship, 1867 grt, 1815 nrt, built in April 1884 by the Whitehaven, official number 87961, owned by J.B.Walmsley, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.Nickleson.
  4. Mercantile Navy List 1907: Hartfield, ship, 1815 registered tons, built in 1884 at Whitehaven, official number 87961, signal letters JKLS, managing owner T.J.Walmsley, of 18 Chapel Street, Liverpool, and registered at Liverpool.
  5. Details from Liverpool Mercury submitted to Rootsweb Mariners-L List by Jane Campbell (also on Merseyside Shipping website)
  6. Vessel posted missing in Lloyd's List, 11th March 1908. States that the Hartfield was feared wrecked off the West Vancouver coast about 16th January, during a heavy gale and with all crew of 27 lost.
  7. Shipwrecks of Juan de Fuca