Ship Lady Turner

[ShirleyX]

John Manners obtained his seaman's ticket in 1839 and boarded the ship Lady Turner - record states lost at sea 1846 - not sure if this is just John being lost or if the vessel was lost. I need help locating information about this ship. Not recorded in Log of Logs, could not find newspaper report of the ship missing or otherwise.

Any ideas where else I can look.

Thanks
Shirley

[normamac]

Mariners and ships in Australian Waters.
Lady Turner.
of Salcome,John Fletcher Vincent, Master,Burthen 430 tons from the Port of Adelaide to Sydney, New South Wales, 29th March 1876.

Norma.

[ShirleyX]

Hi Norma

I saw this entry but being so late am not sure it is the same vessel - I suppose it is possible - but would a vessel 30 years old still be trading?

Shirley

[KGarrad]

There is an ebook copy of "Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping", 1st July 1839 - 30th June 1840 on Google.

It says:
Lady Turner, built 1830 in Bermuda
Owned by Hunter & c, belonging to the port of Greenock
Destined voyage - Clyde to Newfoundland


And, in "The Newfoundlander" dated 21st November 1839:
On 14th November Brig Lady Turner, Captain George, bound for Oporto - 3400 qtls fish

[KGarrad]

I think the "Lady Turner" of the 1870's was a later vessel of the same name?

From The Sunderland Site (http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland095.html):

Lady Turner, built 1868, 430 tons
A wooden barque, likely of 3 masts. Per 1 (burnt at sea in 1877, at column bottom), 2 (House of Commons papers, volume 66). 140 ft. 8 in. long, signal letters HWKL. The vessel is not Miramar listed. The webmaster has a number of editions of Lloyd's Register available to him from 'Google' books, see left. The vessel was built for B. Balkwill & Co. ('Balkwill') of Salcombe, Devon, U.K., who remained the vessel's recorded owners thru the 1876/77 register, the last that I have available that references the vessel. The Mercantile Navy List of 1870, however, records Robert Hancock Balkwill of West Alvington, Devon, as the then owner of the Salcombe registered vessel. It would seem that the vessel was acquired to serve the Indian Ocean - Ceylon & India etc. - & had only one captain in its lifetime, S. (Sherrick) Vincent. On May 12, 1877, the 'Hawke's Bay Herald', a New Zealand newspaper, advised that the ship, owned by Balkwill & valued at about £3,500, had burned at sea, while en route from Melbourne, Australia to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). They further advised that the crew was rescued by Arratoon Apcar, a steamer, & landed at Galle, (SW tip of Sri Lanka). I have found no additional data which might set out the detailed circumstances. I learn that the loss actually occurred on Mar. 9, 1877, & that the vessel, when lost, was owned by E. (probably Edward) Jarvis ('Jarvis'), of Kingsbridge, Devon (near Salcombe). I presume that Balkwill must have sold the vessel to Jarvis late in 1876 or very early in 1877. It would be good, in that regard, to know if the vessel was listed in the 1877/78 Lloyd's register, and if so, who was recorded as the owner. There is very little data WWW available about the vessel.

[ShirleyX]

Thanks for the information. Certainly the later vessel is not the one I am after. The first one seems perfect. My ancestor was from Greenock. I'll see what I can locate on the owner and builder.

[KGarrad]

Try looking for Thomas O. Hunter, of T.O. Hunter & Co.

I found his name under Scottish Post Office Directories:
http://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=85210278&mode=transcription

[J11]

This could possibly be his first voyage:

Ships from Scotland to North America, 1830-1860, Volume 1
Lady Turner, Capt. George from Greenock with 6 passengers bound for Newfoundland on 20th April 1839.

[ShirleyX]

James Hunter & Co were merchants and co-partners in Greenock. I believe they owned the ship and were running their goods to various ports. Oporto - another name for Porto in Portugal and was a destination previously mentioned in this post - I'm wondering if there would be notices about the ship arrival there or for the trips to Newfoundland. If the vessel left in 1839 and was lost in 1846 then it most likely made a number of runs to various ports.

Of course it could have been one of the thousands of vessels not recorded as lost because no one knows where or exactly when it went down. Many newspaper articles mention other ships coming across upturned ships or debris but not knowing what vessel they belong.

As John Manners was married in August 1841 in Greenock it still means five years of travels so it is possible he was even on another vessel that went down. It may not have been the Lady Turner that went down. Or he may have lost his life but the vessel he was on did not. He may have only started his career on the Lady Turner.

There may also be a newspaper report about John being lost at sea but to date I've not found one that is online but I expect there are many not on line. The report may even be years later when the ship did not report back - many trips being some years at sea before returning to the original port. Depending where he was lost at sea the report might be in that countries newspapers.

The chase is on.