Triumph - a general history

Advertised as under constuction  in January 1855; completed May 1855; Official No. 6300; Code Letters JNFW.

Owners: William Liversidge & William Banks (Selby) & James Trowsdale, Stockton-on-Tees; by 1859 James & John Trowsdale, Stockton-on-Tees; 1860 William White, Newcastle-on-Tyne; 10 October 1860 John Trowsdale (Stockton-on-Tees) Sunderland.

Masters: 1855-58 James Trowsdale (C.N.6730 Liverpool 1856); 1859 William R Croke; 1859-60 Edwin Dunne; 1861-65 J Turnbull.

Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Saturday, June 2^nd, 1855:
At HARTLEPOOL. THE new Barque TRIUMPH, now in the Dock at Hartlepool, of the following dimensions:- Length of keel, 191 feet; rake of stem, 9 feet; extreme breadth, 27 feet; depth of hold, 16 feet 10 inches; about 369 tons O.M.; classed eight years A1; will carry a large cargo, and expected to sail fast. For particulars apply JAS TROUSDALE and Co., Stockton; or to P. TINDALL, RILEY, and Co., 17, Gracechurch-street, London.

Miscellaneous: 12 November 1859 she had sailed from Moreton Bay to Bavaria where she was detained and the master, Croke, and mate were arrested on a charge of conspiracy to scuttle their vessel. They were forwarded to Singapore for trial; August 1860 a case was heard at the Court of Admiralty regarding Triumph. In February 1860 she was at Port Louis in the Mauritius bound to Queenstown for orders & then to the UK. She was in such a poor state of repair that the journey could not possibly be undertaken. The master had no funds or credit for repairs so borrowed money from a Port Louis merchant with the barque & her fittings as security. The loan was to be repaid twenty days after her arrival at her final port of discharge which was to be Sunderland. With the vessel refitted she sailed for Queenstown arriving on 13 May 1860.
Due to subsequent events the owners refused to allow their vessel to leave that port to sail for Sunderland. James & John Trowsdale, the owners, claimed that the loan & wages exceeded the value of the vessel so they would hand her to the Admiralty Court at Queenstown to be disposed of in payment of debt. The vessel was sold at Queenstown on 18 August 1860 under Admiralty writ for the sum of £1,800 to William White junior of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
A crew had been engaged by the master, Croke, on 13 January 1859 at Hobart to sail on Triumph for a term of 15 months to any port until they returned to Great Britain for discharge.  At Coe Pang in the Island of Timor, Edward Dunne took over as master. The vessel sailed from Mauritius arriving at Queenstown on 13 May 1860 where the voyage terminated & the service of the crew was no longer required. Their request for payment was ignored so their case was heard before the Court of Admiralty. As the owners had abandoned their rights to the vessel the crew were paid from the Court funds out of what remained of the sale. This amounted to just over £520 for 11 of the crew, one of whom was, by this time, deceased. On 10 October 1860 she was recorded as being sold to John Trowsdale & was still registered as being owned by him in 1865. There appears to be a bit of skullduggery going on there!

Voyages: January 1865 arrived Gloucester from Sulina with barley; 27 August 1865 from Sunderland for St John’s she went ashore on Cross Island near Machias. She was re-floated on 30 September & towed to Eastport in October to be repaired where she was found to have little damage. She may have then been sold & re-named or broken up as she was not registered in the UK as Triumph by 1867.

Related items :