Earl Grey

John Coverdale purchased shares in sailing vessels from about 1852 and by the 1860’s had become the sole owner of a fleet of sailing vessels.

John entered into partnership with Charles Scotson Todd under the company name of Coverdale, Todd & Co. On 30 June 1882 this partnership was dissolved and on the same day John went into business with his son, Robert Hauxwell Coverdale, as his partner. The company became Coverdale & Son with their business premises at Victoria Terrace, West Hartlepool.

Robert took over the company when his father died and it became R.H. Coverdale. When Robert died the company reverted back to John Coverdale & Son which eventually ceased trading in 1914. The company of Coverdale Bros. carried on until 1917.

Family History:

John Coverdale was born in 1814 at Sneaton, near Whitby, in Yorkshire. John became a master mariner and in the early 1850's he moved to Hartlepool from Sneaton already part owner and master of the sailing vessel Madonna in which he had invested in October 1852. In 1854 he was part owner and master of the Schofield. John had married Mary Hauxwell at Stockton-on-Tees in 1852 and by the 1860's the couple were living at Radcliffe Terrace with their two children Jane and Robert. He retired from the sea and became owner and manager of a fleet of sailing vessels. When iron constructed ships became the new revolution he sold his wooden vessels and went into steam shipping.

During his lifetime he took an active interest in municipal life and was the people’s warden at St Hilda’s Church, a member and then chairman of the Hartlepool Pilotage Commissioners, a lifetime trustee of Henry Smith’s charity, a member of the Hartlepool School Board and one of the governors of the Hartlepools Hospital.

John died aged 70 at his residence, South Crescent, Hartlepool, on 15th February 1885 leaving effects of £21,330.

Robert Coverdale was born in December 1858 to parents John and Mary (nee Hauxwell) Coverdale. He married Catherine Sanderson in 1878 and they lived at 18 Cliff Terrace, Hartlepool.

Robert died aged 47 on 20th February 1906 at Hartlepool leaving effects of £101,046. He was interred at Spion Kop Cemetery.

Wooden vessels in John’s fleet other than those listed below were; brig Albion built 1811 owned from about 1855 to 1857; snow Come On built 1854 owned from 1866 to 1872; barque Sarepta built 1856 owned from 1866 to 1872.

Steamships owned by the Coverdale companies other than those listed below were; Muriel Coverdale built 1905 owned from 1905 to 1913; Frank Coverdale built 1903 owned from 1903 to August 1912; Gladys built 1890 owned from 1890 to 1906.

Built at Sunderland: Official No. 23837: Code Letters NTHC.

Owners: 1831-36 N White & Son, Sunderland; 1845 Christopher & Isabella Davison (Hartlepool) & Charles Lester (Greenwich) Hartlepool; 1853 Representatives of the late Christopher Davison (Hartlepool) Isabella Davison (Homerton, Middlesex) Edmund Shaw (London) Robert Davison & John Whitbread (Middlesbrough) Hartlepool; April 1859  John Coverdale, West Hartlepool; May 1859 John Coverdale & William Henry Sayers, West Hartlepool; April 1864 John Coverdale, West Hartlepool.

Masters: 1831-36 J Bartram/Bertram; 1845-55 Jonathan Thompson; 1860-64 WH Sayers; 1864 BS Grainger.

She was insured with Hartlepool Mutual Marine Association in 1854-55.

Middlesex Chronicle, December 17^th, 1864:
Dreadful Sufferings of Ship's Crew. Intelligence was received at Hartlepool on Sunday respecting the brig Earl Grey, of Hartlepool, which was caught in a recent gale, was dismasted, and water-logged at Anholt. In the case of the crew their sufferings have been most bitter and intense. All hands were six days board the ship, while it was waterlogged, without the possibility of getting any provisions beyond few peas ; one lad actually died from starvation before help arrived. The master and all the others had been since landed at the isle of Lessoe, whence intelligence of their plight was tele graphed the owner, Mr Coverdale, of Hartlepool, by the British consul at Frederickshaven.
A letter received on Sunday night from the Captain (B. S Granger), stating that he passed Elsinore last Tuesday week, with every prospect of making a good passage, but on the following day, at 3.30 a.m., the ship came to ground on Anholt Reef, where she lay, the sea beating over her till nothing that could wash away was left standing. At 5 p.m. on Thursday she beat over the reef and was all afloat again, but a complete wreck—stern beaten out, rudder and stern-post gone, and both masts gone overboard—no compass left, no provisions left, and the ship full of water; and from that time until Monday, himself and six of crew had to remain under cover of a top studding, with nothing to eat but a few peas soaked with salt water - no water to drink but what was so salt it only increased the thirst they longed to allay.
On Monday afternoon they were rescued from this position by a small boat from the island of Lessoe ; but one hand, a boy named John Matthewson died shortly after he reached the shore. All the rest of the crew were cared for by the natives. Some portion of the cargo may be saved, and the surviving crew are rapidly recovering. 

The Earl Grey was got off in January 1865, and towed to Frederikshaven where she was condemed and sold as a wreck.