Official No. 58767; Code Letters WRVT.

Owners: 1873 John Coverdale (5 Radcliffe Terrace) West Hartlepool; 1876 Coverdale & Co. Hartlepool; 1884 Coverdale & Son (John & Robert Hauxwell Coverdale) Hartlepool.

Masters: 1873-75 Webster; May 1875-76 E Fleetham; 1876 J Hay; 1877-80 John Harrold; 1881-83 Robert Beckett; 1884 J Dixon; 1885 Thomas A Tait.

Voyages: arrived Middlesbrough from Porman 4 January 1881; arrived Tyne 7 January 1881 from Middlesbrough; left Tyne 11 January 1881 for Nice; arrived Nice 25 January 1881; left Nice 29 January 1881 for Porman; arrived Carthagena 1 February 1881; left Carthagena 5 February 1881 for Middlesbrough; arrived Middlesbrough 17 February 1881; left Tyne 23 February 1881 for Leghorn.

Mary Coverdale with a crew of 16 was wrecked after stranding on the Danish coast on 17 December 1885.

From the inquiry into her loss:

 ‘Mary Coverdale had recently received extensive repairs at a cost of £3,000. She sailed from Memel on 10 December 1885 bound for Hull with a cargo of about 854 tons of linseed & about 50 tons of wood sleepers. Just after they passed the North Rose light at the entrance of the Grounds passage it became hazy & together with her own smoke the leading marks were obscured. She grounded on the outer edge of Saltholm at 10.30pm on 11 December. She remained fast for 16 hours when a tug got her off & towed her to Copenhagen. A diver made an inspection & found no damage so at 8am on 15 December she left port in charge of a pilot who accompanied her to Elsinore. At 1.25am on 17 December the master came on deck & saw ‘a white streak’ on the port bow & the vessel struck near the Hautsholem light on the coast of Denmark. Some of the deck cargo was jettisoned but finding the water was only up to ten feet they ceased & they then sent out signals of distress. At 5am a rocket was sent from the shore followed by several others which all missed until 7.30am when communication with the shore was established. At 9am a lifeboat from the shore took all the crew off. Mary Coverdalewas now filling with water & the linseed was washing out & floating alongside. A salvage vessel made efforts to get the vessel off but this was unsuccessful & she became a wreck. The master was found in default by culpable neglect of navigation & a want of seamanship. His certificate was suspended for six months.’

About 8,000 of the 32,000 bushels of linseed were recovered from the vessel.

Crew June 1881:

Bacca, Amero, fireman, 23, Leghorn; Baker, Benjamin, mate, 30, Hastings; Bekett, Robert, master, 47, Aldeburgh, Suffolk; Belt, Robert, second engineer, 24, Hartlepool; Booth, John W, fireman, 23, Hartlepool; Bully, Christopher, steward, 22, Yarmouth; Dale, George, able seaman, 23, Whitby; Dunking, Robert, fireman, 23, England; Dunn, John E, able seaman, 23, Liverpool; Dunn, Joseph, boatswain, 41, Ellington; Fell, John, second mate, 47, Orfart; Graham, Joseph, fireman, 23, England; Jackson, Christopher, first engineer, 28, Hartlepool; Jass, Robert, third engineer, 27, Aberdeen; Mauk, Christopher, able seaman, 23,   Denmark; Olsan, Joseph, fireman, 23, Sweden; Russel, John, able seaman, 23, London; Sheerwood, Charles, cook, 31, Rye.