Ibex

Completed July 1880;  Official No. 81649: Code Letters TJHP.

Owners: 1880 Cory, Lohden & Jackson, London: 1882 Jackson Bros. & Co. London: 1885 Jackson Bros. & Cory, London

Master: 1881 Watson: 1882 Clark: 1883 D Morgan: 1883-91 R Osborn: 1892 James Howrie

Ibex left Stettin on 18 November 1892 with a cargo of about 1,400 tons of flour & a crew of 19 bound for Sundsvall, Sweden. On 20 November she headed for Soderham Island & at 4.30pm she stopped about two miles from the island to signal for a pilot. Heavy snow showers were then falling & the lighthouse was obscured so the vessel kept her position as far as she was able. Becoming anxious about his position & with no sign of a pilot the master decided to stand out to sea but at about 5.30pm on 21 November 1892 she struck on the Norrgrundan Rocks near Soderham lighthouse in the Gulf of Bothnia on 21 November 1892. At about 10.30pm the crew left the ship reaching the shore in safety & through the night the vessel became a total wreck. It appeared that the lighthouse-keeper had come out to the vessel shortly before she was abandoned to tell them that no pilot would come as it was too cold & dark. The lighthouse keeper had told them that although the pilots were Government official they were like a group of farmers & not fit to be pilots at all. The master could only put the stranding down to an inset in the current during the snowstorms but there was no current mentioned in his sailing directions. The inquiry found that the cause of the casualty was that the master allowed the vessel to get to the westward of Soderham light. The vessel, after 5 p.m., was not navigated with proper and sea-manlike care. The master was in default but the Court thought he was in considerable difficulty as it was necessary to get a pilot to take the vessel for quarantine to Fejam, with which place he was unacquainted, and the sudden storm prevented him from ascertaining his exact position. The Court did not deal with his certificate but he was reprimanded. No lives were lost.

Crew November 1892:

Kenny, Charles, 2^nd engineer

Lewis, EJ, chief officer

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.