Acacia (1847) - a general history

Official No. 4379; Code Letters JCGV.

Owners: JP Denton, William Shaw Lindsay (London), William Lisle, Robert Elstob Hutton, William Ord, Thomas Bell Ord, Errington Bell Ord & Robert Ord (Sunderland) Hartlepool; by 1859 William Gray (draper) John Callender (draper) & Phillip Howard (master mariner) Hartlepool; 1861 William Gray, Hartlepool; 1863 William Gray & James McBeath (master mariner) Hartlepool; 1866 Robert Lawn (Catherine Street) Hartlepool; April 1881 James Young, South Shields; April 1884 John Matthew Adams, South Shields.

Masters: 1847-51 William Reed (C.N.1931 South Shields); 14 July 1851-52 William Triggs; 15 February 1853-57 Lawrence Tulloch (C.N. 5056 Shields 1851); 1864-65 James McBeath; 1866 Chapman; 1866-67 MacLean; 1875-80 Robert Lawn; 1880 Mogg; 1881-84 T Jones; 1884-85 John Matthew Adams.

Miscellaneous: November 1880 she was docked at Leith discharging her cargo of Esparto grass when a fire broke out in the master’s cabin. A seaman, Johnson, saw the flames & dragged the unconscious master out. Mogg, the master, was severely burned & died a week later in Leith Hospital. Johnson received minor burns to his hands & feet. The cabin was completely destroyed but the fire was brought under control before it took hold elsewhere. It was thought that the fire must have started from a coal falling from the hearth.

Voyages: 1848 Hartlepool for the Mediterranean; arrived Adelaide on 24 September 1848 from Hartlepool via Mauritius; 1850-55 Swansea to Coquimbo, Chile; 26 January 1853 spoken with bound from Sunderland for Point de Galle; 1856-57 Hartlepool for South America; 14 July 1858 arrived Gravesend from Wyborg, Russia; December 1878 from Oran for Berwick with Esparto grass while in the River Tweed in tow of a tug the Acacia grounded & stuck fast; 1883 bound from Oran for the Tyne she encountered severe weather in the Bay of Biscay which threw her on her beam ends.

Acacia left the Tyne bound for Torre del Mar with a cargo of coal. On her return voyage from Almeria for Leith with a cargo of esparto grass she went ashore near Lagos, Portugal & became a wreck on 21 January 1885.

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