Blencathra

Official Number 11567

Six vessels were built at Workington for the Lamport & Holt line. Their first vessel was the Christabel, built by James Alexander in 1845, and then five others were built by Charles Lamport, namely the Cathaya, Blencathra, Coniston, Glaramara and Chalgrove. The Blencathra was a 466 ton barque built by Charles Lamport at Workington in 1857, and owned for her full career by Lamport & Holt.

From the Liverpool Mercury newspaper, 5th January 1857 (see Source 3):

" SHIP LAUNCH AT WORKINGTON.- On Thursday there was launched at the shipbuilding yard of  C. Lamport Esq., a beautiful clipper ship, barque, called the Blencathra, the old name for Saddleback, burthen nearly 500 tons, length 156 ft., breadth 27 ft., depth 18 ft. She is built for Messers.Lamport and Holt, Liverpool and is intended for the West India trade. She is diagonally braced with iron under the ceiling and her clamps, stringers and waterways are dowelled to timbers and beams at every yellow metal bolt. Her ceiling is diagonal trussing between deck, and her beams are also trussed with hard wood under the deck to prevent any tendency to twist. "

" RESCUE BY A SPANISH SHIP.- Messrs.Yeves & Co., of 24, Fenchurch-street, send us a copy of a letter addressed by Mr.William Hunter, the master, John Forman, the mate, and 14 seamen of the British bark Blencathra, to Señor Don Manuel Elortegui, captain of the Spanish brig Lucas, of Gijon. It appears from it that the Blencathra was abandoned, and that her crew were saved from inevitable death during a storm by the Spanish ship, which came to their rescue regardless of danger, when they were sinking, their strength exhausted, and when all hope was gone. The Spanish captain took the Englishmen on board his ship. He treated them "like brothers", divided with them all he had, and cut short the rations of his sailors on account of the addition of 16 men on his crew of 10. He had the men he had rescued on board his ship for 17 days, and in consequence of scarcity of food was obliged to deviate from his course for Bilbao and put into the port at Gijon. The captain and crew of the English ship express in the warmest terms their gratitude to the Spanish captain and his men for their generous and gallant conduct, and hope that he will receive some compensation for the losses sustained. The letter is authenticated by Mr.William Penlington, English Consul at Gijon. "

Sources :

1. Mercantile Navy List 1857 describes the Blencathra as 466 tons, of Liverpool, and registered in January or February of that year.
2. The Ships List Fleet History - Lamport & Holt Line - states built 1857, scrapped 1874.
3. Old Mersey Times website.
4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1858 - names master as Capt.Yeo, vessel sailing to South America.
5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1867 - names master as Capt.J.Doron, vessel sailing to New Zealand.
6. Mystic Seaport Library Ship Register Search has shipping register details from 1871 to 1873.
7. American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping, 1873 - names master as Capt.Stewart.