Arrow - a general history

Official No. 17713; Code Letters MHST.

Owners: Denton & Co, Hartlepool; 1847 Robert France, Hartlepool; 1853 Philip Stubbs (Low Street) Sunderland.

Masters: 1843-45 Magnus Emerson; November 1845 Robert Smith; 1846-47 Magnus Emerson; 1847-55 Henry Youlden; 1857 Pearce; 1859 Wright; 1871 George Robson.

Voyages: from Hartlepool for Jersey on 25 August 1843 she put into Southampton with loss of foretopmast, jibboom, maintop-gallantmast & other damage sustained in a heavy squall; 1847 Hartlepool for Guernsey; 1850-52 Hartlepool for the Baltic.

Arrow had sailed from Sunderland on 9 February 1871 bound for London with a cargo of coal & a crew of six when shewas driven ashore & broke up between South Landing & the lighthouse at Flamborough Head during a force 12 SE gale on 10 February 1871. Two of the crew were saved by rocket lines. Fishermen, in high winds & strong tides, rowed to the vessel in their coble. The youngest man on the coble, Leonard Mainprize, climbed aboard the vessel & cut a man free from a tangle of rope. Two lives were lost.

There were more than 40 lives lost in Bridlington Bay during that storm & they are commemorated on a headstone in St Mary’s Priory Churchyard, Bridlington.

On the east side of the headstone:

‘In lasting memory of a great company of seamen who perished in the fearful gale which swept over Bridlington Bay on February 10, 1871.

The waves of the sea are mighty and rage horribly, but the Lord, who dwelleth on high is mightier.’

On the north side are the names of ten of the vessels that were wrecked including the Arrow.

On 3 March 1871 an auction was held for the stores salvaged from the wreck. These included 16 sails, four anchors, 200 fathoms of chain, wire & rope rigging, hemp tow lines, long boat & numerous other items.

The Arrow was not insured.

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