Irton

Official Number 69712

The Irton was one of several iron barquentines built by the Whitehaven Ship Building Company for George Nelson (see Jasper and Bootle). She was launched in October 1873, and was probably a sister ship to the Bootle, launched in the same month. 

The Irton was lost on a voyage from Workington to Newport with a cargo of cast iron ingots, under the command of Capt.F.Evans and still owned by Nelson & Co. She was wrecked on the 14th January 1883 approx.3 miles SW of the Smalls, Pembrokeshire. Of the nine crew, only the master survived.

Sources :

1. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1873-4 (Supplement): Irton, iron brigantine (Bn.), 248 tons, built at Whitehaven in October 1873, official number 69712, owned by G.Nelson & Co., registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.W.Lewis, voyage Whitehaven - Antwerp.
   
2. Mercantile Navy List 1880: Irton, brigantine (Bn.), 248 tons, built at Whitehaven in 1873, official number 69712, signal letters MJTP, owned by George Nelson, of Whitehaven, registered at Whitehaven. NB. A barquentine was sometimes referred to as a three-masted brigantine at this period.
3. Wreck info from "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" Vol.5 by Richard & Bridget Larn (gives an incorrect Official No.)
4. Wreck reported in the Liverpool Mercury, 17th February, 1883.

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