Year |
Name |
Owner |
|
---|---|---|---|
1883 | Kirtle | G. Steel | |
1889 | Kirtle | Steel Young & Co. | |
1894 | Kirtle | Glasgow Navigation Co. Ltd. | |
1900 | Baltique | Giani & Muller |
Outward bound from Antwerp for Seaham Harbour with a cargo of silvers and & a crew of 16, during a heavy storm, Baltique anchored for shelter at the mouth of the Escaut in Flushing Roads where she sank after being rammed by the Belgian Red Star liner Finland on 25 December 1910. Six lives were lost.
Completed May 1883; Official No. 86953: Code Letters HLMD: Code Letters MBDH.
Owners: 1883 G. Steel & Co (R. Livingstone, manager), West Hartlepool: 1889 Steel, Young & Co, West Hartlepool: 1894 Glasgow Shipowners Co. Ltd. (Glen & Co Ltd) Glasgow: 1900 Giani & Muller, Antwerp-renamed Baltique.
Masters: 1883-85 Wills: 1885 WT Atkinson: 1887-92 Ernst: 1892-93 J Gansden: 1894 GT Alleyne: 1895-96 D Morris: 1897 W Major: 1898-99 WC Silley: 1900-09 J De Vries.
On a voyage from Elba for Philadelphia with a cargo of iron-ore & a crew of 22 Kirtle had her decks swept & lost boats, sails & steering gear in a NW force 9 gales in the Gulf of Lyons in the Mediterranean in February 1886. The master was persuaded by the crew to allow the boatswain, mate & three of the crew to take a lifeboat to try to get help from the Bermudas. The lifeboat never reached shore & all five lives were lost. The steamer was eventually towed to port by a passing steamer. At the subsequent inquiry the master’s certificate was suspended for six months for bad judgement in allowing the lifeboat to leave the steamer even though he was pressured into this decision by the crew.
Lives lost February 1886: Atkins, George, seaman; Boulogne, Louis, seaman; Jeftles, George, seaman; Sullivan, boatswain; Trestrail, TJ, 1st mate, Newport.
More detail »Robert Livingston and George Steel traded as managers and shipbrokers under the title of G. Steel & Co. The partnership was dissolved in April 1889 with George continuing to trade under G. Steel & Co. In the same year Robert went into partnership with Leonard Richard Conner under the title of Livingston, Conner & Co. Both partners set up their own companies in 1899 and the partnership of Livingston, Conner & Co. was officially dissolved in July 1900.
R. Livingston & Co. ceased trading in 1916 when Robert retired.
Family History:
Robert Livingston was born in 1858 at West Hartlepool. He married Bessie Robinson in 1890. By 1891 to at least 1901 he lived at Glencairn Villa, Hutton Avenue. By 1911 the family had moved to The Gables, Eaglescliffe, Preston-on-Tees.
Robert died aged 81 at Eaglescliffe in January 1939 leaving effects of £120,120. He was interred at Eaglescliffe.
More detail »Robert Livingston and George Steel traded as managers and shipbrokers under the title of G. Steel & Co. The partnership was dissolved in April 1889 with George continuing to trade under G. Steel & Co.
In 1873 he formed a partnership with William Young establishing Steel, Young & Co. They eventually moved the company to London. Almost all the ships they owned were built in Hartlepool. George purchased the Para built by Withy in 1875. This was the first steel steamer to be built at Hartlepool.
Included in their fleet at different times were two ships named Para, two named Kennett and three named Blenheim.
Family History:
George Steel was born at Annan, Dumfriesshire in April 1828. In 1856 he set up business in West Hartlepool as an ironmonger. By the 1881 census he was an ironmonger, shipowner and farmer of 366 acres at Owton Manor. He lived at Owton Manor House with his wife Margaret, two of their sons George Carlyle and Henry Foster and their daughter Jesse.
George died on 11 October 1899 at the age of 71 leaving assets of £83,842.
William Young was born in April 1827 at Chatton, Northumberland. By 1861 he was living at Stranton, West Hartlepool with his wife Mary. By 1891 he was living at Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, Kent and managing the ships from offices at Fenchurch Street, London.
William died on 25 November 1916 leaving effects of £208,376.
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