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Derwent - a general history

Owners: Scarborough S.S. Co. (John Stephenson) Scarborough. Managed by Leask, Clark & Co., West Hartlepool

Masters: 1884-85 R Meldrum; 1885 Henry Price.

Usually trading between London, Scarborough & Hartlepool Derwent left West Hartlepool at about 3pm on 24 October 1885 bound for Chatham with a cargo of 417 tons of coal, six tons of general coal & a crew of 12 consisting of the master, chief & second mate, four able seamen & three firemen. The pilot guided her out of the harbour & then left. It should have taken no more than 29 hours to reach her destination but she never arrived & was not seen again. Previous members of the crew of the Derwent,Mark Bulmer, mate, Alfred Vie, fireman & Matthew Murray, able seaman gave evidence at the inquiry as to the vessel’s seaworthiness. It was concluded that she had been in a good & seaworthy condition & no explanation could be found for her disappearance.

On 30 November 1885, the same day as the inquiry into her loss was held, a wooden bucket from the Derwent washed up at Spurn Head & a bottle containing a message was found on South Shields beach. The message read:

‘Steamer Derwent off Boston Deeps, Saturday night 8pm. Fires all out: no hope left for us. Full of water. Goodbye; cannot say any more now. Nothing in sight. Only one other plunge.’

She was posted as missing at the end of December 1885.


Lives lost October 1885:

Askew, engineer, Hartlepool

Bennett, Charles, London

Harris, donkeyman, Hartlepool

Pallister, second mate, Scarborough

Price, Henry, master, Hartlepool

Russell, able seaman, Scarborough

Shears, Richard, second engineer, London

Shears, Thomas, stoker, London

Speed, chief mate, Hartlepool

Stanton, Thomas, London

Tallantyre, George, Bridlington

Wells, cook /steward, Scarborough

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