Conqueror

Built at Montrose, Forfar: Official No. 5124: Code Letters JGKP.

Owners: 1843 G Dickie, Montrose; 1847 G Gleg, Arbroath; 1848 John Owen, Cardiff; April 1848 William George & Robert Henry Jackson & William Kilvington (Yarm) Hartlepool; August 1853 William Merryweather, James Graham, William Booth, Henry Weatherell, Charles Compton, R Hainsworth & John Richardson (Stranton) Hartlepool .

Masters: 1843-46 W Brown; 1847-48 S Gibson; 1848 Henry Johnson; November 1850 John Phillips; February 1851 Henry Johnson; December 1852-54 Robert Hall; March 1855 Charles Colet Cole; 1855-62 G Green; 1862 Hainsworth.

Voyages: 1843-46 Montrose for Archangel; 1847 Clyde for Barcelona; 1855 Hartlepool for London

Stockton & Hartlepool Mercury 12 January 1856.

Intelligence has been received at Hartlepool of a painful occurrence by which four of the crew of the Hartlepool vessel Conqueror, all young men, have met with a premature death. The letter received by Mr William Merryweather, part owner, is from the master of the Conqueror & recites the circumstances to the following effect; On Saturday 8 December last (the account from which we quote is dated December 9^th) the Conqueror lay in the harbour of Larasche, on the coast of Morocco, having taken in a large proportion of her cargo (grain) & was ready to proceed. In this semi-barbarous port the vessel had had a considerable stay & it may be surmised that both captain & crew were by no means sorry at the prospect of early setting sail for the return voyage. This was not to be however. The harbour, which owes to nature more than to art any capability it furnishes for the shelter of shipping, is barred off from the wide ocean outside by immense accumulations of shifting sands. These form banks which fluctuate in position more or less from every change in wind; & which are often the greatest possible hindrances to navigation immediately after the prevalence; for however short a period, of turbulent waves or the visitation of a gale. Such a visitation had just passed over the place & the master, with a prudent forethought, rendered necessary by the circumstances, on the 8th ult ordered a boat’s crew, consisting of a mate & four other men, to ascertain the condition of the bar. Outside the sea, it may be supposed, still ran high. The boat’s crew, however, pushed gallantly out & proceeded to their work. They were under observation at the time; but the accident which occurred is unexplained by the meagre details which have come to hand. The boat was, from some cause or other, suddenly upset & the poor fellows it contained consigned to the deep. Not all of them; one escaped but only one! The mate, who is a married man & a resident, if not a native, of Sunderland, managed to keep himself above water until assistance arrived, but all the others had meantime sank to rise no more. The names & ages of the deceased are as follows; Edward, 21 & Daniel Downing aged 21, both of the port of Crookhaven in Ireland; Robert Brown, 19, a native of Newhaven; Robert Reid, 18, from Aberdeen. The mate who is the only survivor is named Cook & has a wife & family residing in Nesham-square, Sunderland.

To the above sad history, a letter subsequently received states that the bodies of the unfortunate youths, who had thus untimely perished, have since been recovered, identified & followed to the grave by their fellow seamen who at least had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing the last sad rites of Christian internment rendered in this far distant land. Two of the bodies had been washed ashore about ten miles distance from where the accident had occurred & the others were recovered still further along the coast. Much inconvenience it was probable would be experienced by the captain by this sweeping & calamitous reduction of his crew; but, when he wrote, he intended attempting to proceed by the assistance of some Moors in the hope that his crew would be adequately recruited from Gibraltar.

A shipping company which was formed through a long connection of family shipowners which included William, Richard, Joseph Benjamin Lister and William Scott Merryweather. William Merryweather was an auctioneer and purchased shares in his first sailing vessel soon after the Victoria Dock opened in Hartlepool in 1840. His son, Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather formed a partnership with Robert Coverdale & Charles Scotson Todd in 1873. On 31 August 1878 the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent and Joseph and his son, William Scott, became partners. Their first ship was the Sarah Ann named after Joseph’s wife.  

William added ships to the company after his father’s death. The last ship was sold in 1915 and he carried on a business as a shipbroker.

Family History:

Richard Merryweather was born in 1815 at Welbury, Yorkshire to parents William and Elizabeth. He became an auctioneer and in the late 1850s and early 1860s had shares in sailing vessels. Richard was married to Elizabeth Mould at Buckingham in 1841. By 1851 the couple were living at Southgate, Hartlepool and by 1861 at Cleveland, House, High Street, Hartlepool with their five children.  Richard died on 3 October 1891 aged 76 at Hartlepool leaving effects of £72.

William Merryweather was born in April 1791 at Welbury, Yorkshire to parents Richard and Margaret (nee Snaith). He married Elizabeth (nee Lister) in October 1813 at Welbury. Elizabeth died in 1854. William was remarried in February 1860 to Eleanor Forster. He died in February 1866 and is buried in St Hilda’s Churchyard alongside his first wife. On his death his effects were less than £1,500.

William and Elizabeth’s first son, also William, was born at Welbury in 1815. He became a porter merchant and then a shipowner. In June 1844 he married Margaret Ann Hauxwell at Hartlepool. William died in July 1853 at Stockton-on-Tees.

Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather was born to William and Elizabeth in 1836 at Hartlepool. In June 1859 he married Sarah Ann Scott at Wakefield. By 1881 the family were living at Alverthorpe, Wakefield. Joseph died on 22 December 1902 at Welbury Grange near Northallerton leaving effects of £38,173.

William Scott Merryweather was born in January 1860 at Hartlepool to Joseph and Sarah. He married Emily Elizabeth Wattley in 1885. At this time he was living at ‘Ethelbert’, Victoria Road. He was a member of the Town Council for many years and a J.P. By 1911 he was living at ‘Wrenwood’, Park Avenue, West Hartlepool. William died in July 1930 at Welbury leaving just £40 to his widow.