Bellcairn

Official No. 86950: Code Letters HKMW.

Owners: 1883 E. Cory & Co. West Hartlepool: 1887 R. Irvine Junior (Jackson Bros. & Cory) West Hartlepool: 1888 Jackson Bros. & Cory, West Hartlepool

Masters: 1882 W Kerrison: 1885 WB Ling: 1886 Phillips: 1887-90 EJ Martin: 1891 JW Morris: 1892-93 T Robson: 1894 J Hourie.

On 28 December 1887 Peter Caberry, 26 of Arklow, able seaman, died of smallpox at Constantinople.

On a voyage from Sfax to West Hartlepool with a cargo of barley & a total crew of 18 & one passenger Bellcairn collided with the steamer Venus of West Hartlepool in dense fog off the East Goodwin lighthouse on Saturday, 3 October 1894. For about four hours Venus attempted to tow Bellcairn but she was filling with water so was handed over to the tug Falcon which tried to beach her at Hope Point, a mile west of Kingsdown, Dover, but it was low water & a strong wind had sprung up. She struck the ground & sunk in about 7 fathoms of water. Because the wreck was a danger to navigation it was destroyed. No lives lost.

Cory, Lohden & Co., was formed in 1869 by Ebenezer Cory and Jacob Lohden. They went into partnership with George and Walter Jackson of London as ship agents and ship insurance brokers. In December 1881 Jacob Lohden left the partnership and started up as J. Lohden & Co. Ebenezer started up as E. Cory & Co. By 1885 the company had become Jackson Bros. & Cory. Ebenezer was also part of the firm of Cory, Wilcocks & Co., colliery agents of Fenchurch Street, London. Jackson Bros. & Cory was broken up in 1923 and became Jackson Bros.

Cory, Lohden & Co., had nine ships between 1869 and 1881. E. Cory & Co., had three ships between 1881 and 1886.

Family History:

Ebenezer Cory was born in April 1841 at Cardiff to parents Richard and Sarah. He married Jane Pyman, daughter of George Pyman, in 1865 and they had three children. Jane died in 1870 and Ebenezer remarried in 1871 to Janet Gow Irvine, daughter of Robert Irvine, shipbuilder. The couple had five children. The family lived at Stranton, West Hartlepool before moving to Surrey.

Ebenezer shot himself on 7 October 1886 at Claremont Villa, Trewsbury Road, Penge at the age of just 45. Those close to him stated that he had been unwell for a time. The subsequent inquest found that he had committed suicide whilst of unsound mind. Ebenezer left a personal estate of £7,235.