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Valiant | Official Number
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Valiant | Official Number
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The Cumberland Pacquet, Tuesday, 31st January 1826, page 3;
" Launched at Workington Saturday last, from Messrs.Thomas Peile & Co.'s yard, a fine new vessel called the Valiant, 229 tons register, built for Captain Bragg - from Mr.William Wallace's yard, a new vessel called the Tyne, 112 tons per register, built for Captain Thompson."
The Valiant was a snow built at Workington by Thomas Peile,
launched 28th January 1826. Her first voyage was to Grenada and the
second to Mauritius (Isle de France), returning to London in April
1827.
In London the master, Joseph Bragg, was arrested for the murder on
the high seas, of the black cook, Francis Williams. At the eventual
trial at the high court, evidence was presented that Bragg had
ill-treated the cook from the point of departure until the brig crossed
the Equator. He had beaten
the cook, with his fists and a lash, forced him to drink salt water,
burned him with a red hot poker, and hauled him with a rope above the
deck, and three times in the sea. The cook was found dead in his
hammock the morning after this final assault. Bragg had the crew sign a
paper to the effect that the cook had died of natural causes, and then
on arrival in Mauritius had a second paper signed in front of a notary.
At his trial much was made of these papers, which the crew claimed they
signed out of fear. Despite many of the crew describing the horrors
inflicted on the cook, the mate claimed that the corpse was unmarked
when it was examined after death. Character witnesses, including Thomas
Peile and William Fisher, appeared for Bragg. The judge highlighted the
inconsistencies between the evidence of the mate and of the other crew
and the jury did not even retire before announcing a 'Not Guilty'
verdict. The trial had attracted a great deal of attention, and Bragg
was obliged to retire to spend the evening after the trial in Newgate
prison for
his own protection. One wonders if Joseph Bragg was related to Sampson
Bragge, master of the Maryport brig Francis Watson, who was tried for murder in similar circumstances two years later.
The Valiant was owned by the Bragg family and was registered at Workington for her full career, which was maainly spent in the trade to the Caribbean and Central America. In 1853 the Valiant was abandoned in mid-Atlantic, approx. 1,400 nm W of Tenerife, and was subsequently sighted at position lat.30N, long.43W, on the 21st February, by the Meridian (Mobile for Liverpool). The Valiant was reported derelict, but apparently in good condition and only recently abandoned.
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