Forest King
 Official Number
16927

The Forest King was a  ship or barque of 473 tons, built at Harrington in 1856. She was registered at Dumfries in February 1856, and was owned by William Turner and others from Dumfries and Galloway.

In 1857 the Forest King was mentioned in an advertisement in the Cumberland Pacquet for Cunningham's Patent Self-Reefing Topsails, placed by William Briggs (Marsh Side Ropery, Workington), the local agent :

Mr.W.Briggs,

Dear Sir,- I received a letter from Captain Redmond, of the ship Forest King, of her safe arrival at Valparaiso. He seems very much pleased with the Patent Reefed Topsails. One of the best things ever was on board of a ship, and wishes he had them all the same way, if so he could close reef his Ship in twenty minutes and would be a great saving.

Yours, &c. W.Turner.

It seems that fitting Cunningham's patent was becoming popular in Cumberland at the time, and the advertisement refers to a 700 ton ship being fitted with the device at Lumley Kennedy's yard (probably the Mallard). The same newspaper later in the year described a visit to Whitehaven by the inventor, and Cumberland ships launched in 1857 fitted with the device included the Yarratilda and Kamehameha the Fourth, both intended for the China trade.

The entry for the Forest King  in the Dumfries shipping register was closed "Vessel lost at sea 1861", citing a letter from the British Consulate at Bahia.
 

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Forest King
1856
 473.75
 148.9
 28.7
 18.35
 3
Lion
Square
 

Sources :

  1. Dumfries Shipping Register
  2. 1857 Mercantile Navy List gives port of registry as Dumfries, official number and signal letters MDNK, tonnage 473.
  3. The Cumberland Pacquet and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser, Tuesday, 6th January, 1857, page 1 advertisement.
  4. For details of Cunningham's Patent Self-Reefing Topsails see Maritime History Virtual Archives.
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