hartlepool history logo
close button

John and Richard - a general history

Official No. 24889; Code Letters PCRG.

Owners: Lightfoot, London; 1856 Hunter & Co, London; 1858 Guernsey.

Masters: 1852-55 Matthew Charles Butler (pilot); 1856-58 James Stimson (C.N. 4976 London 1852); 1858-59 John WS Davey; 1859-62 Phillip Langlois (C.N. 8286 Plymouth 1855).

In June 1852, to load for Cronstadt, John & Richard was number 11 in the procession of vessels to enter the West Hartlepool New Dock on its opening.

Voyages: 1853 Hartlepool for the Baltic; 1855-56 Gravesend for Malta; 1858 Antwerp & Havana; 1858-59 Falmouth for the West Indies; 26 June 1862 bound from Liverpool for Danzig she was in a collision in the English Channel with the fishing smack Britt of Liverpool. Neither vessel was seriously damaged.

Bound from Demerara for Queenstown, Ireland with timber, John & Richard encountered a severe gale on 1 November 1862 causing her to spring a leak when her cargo shifted. The master decided to try to head for Barbados but the crew became exhausted working the pumps & it was inevitable that the vessel would founder. The master & crew left the sinking vessel on 2 November & arrived utterly exhausted in an open boat at the island of Canduan, near St Vincent, on 4 November. They were taken to St Thomas on the Royal Mail steamer & then to Southampton on the Atrato.

Related items :