What sorts of vessels were these 1868-1878? Bo'sun John Flemming was aboard...

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
I'm not entirely sure where on here to pose these questions, but I need someone with a knowledge of boats and shipping in the 1860's/1870's out of London.
So, I have a series of Allotment and Discharge notes for a John FLEMMING, a boatswain or bo'sun.  These refer to the ships or boats White Adder (1868-71), Alnwick (I think) Castle 1872,  Gosforth 1872-74, and Lochee 1873-1875.
I was wondering what kind of vessels these might have been.
Many thanks!
Keith

[KGarrad]

A google search finds a book called "The China Clippers", which mentions:

White Adder, built 1862, Owner J. Willis, built by Bilbe, London.

[Keith Sherwood]

That was quick, K.Garrad, perhaps I should google the others...
China clipper sounds exciting, I wonder how the White Adder measures up to the Cutty Sark?
Many thanks,
keith
...predictive bloomin text had Cutthroat Sark for a moment or two there!

[KGarrad]

Have a look at this thread from 2005!
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=37775.0

Also a newspaper report from 1867:
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Maritime_History/GB/Brisbane_Courier(1867-11-29).html

[Keith Sherwood]

Oh, gosh!
I'd better contact SB on here, though of course 12 years has elapsed now...
Keith
...and thanks for that fascinating article with another mention of White Adder...

[KGarrad]

The following makes a darned good read, too!

www.keithdash.net/ClipperShips.pdf
Available from here: http://www.keithdash.net/Shipstories.html

A few mentions of White Adder in there.

[DavidJP]

Hi Keith,

Hopefully the following from the Clip database may be of help!

White Adder (O/N 45052) - http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnumview.php?OfficialNumber=45052

Possibly also known as Whiteadder.


Alnwick Castle (O/N 15854) - http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnumview.php?OfficialNumber=15854

Built in 1862 in London. Although there were five ships of this name listed, this is the only one from London at the right time frame.


The Gosforth, there were 8 ships of this name of which two are possibilities.

The Lochee, there were 5 ships of this name of which three are possibilities.

O/N by the way means Official Number.

Hope this all helps.

Kind regards

David

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks again KGarrad for that interesting extra link...
and David, sorry for the delay in thanking you for all this further info on those ships' names and for taking the trouble to look them all up for me.  Had popped out for a while and had not realised that you had meanwhile added more fascinating detail to this thread...
Keith

[Skoosh]

It's been a while but there's a very good article in today's National on the Tea Clippers & The Great Tea Race of 1866, after 99 days & 14,000 miles the "Taeping," built by Robert Steel of Greenock & owned by Cap'n Alexander Rodger of Cellardyke & captained by Donald MacKinnon of Tiree, was first into port beating  "Aerial", also built by Robert Steel, by only 28 minutes, "Serica" owned by James Findlay,  was another Robert Steel ship & came third, a mere 75 minutes later.
 The Great Race of 1872 saw the fastest clipper, the Aberdeen built Thermoplae, Cap'n Robert Kemball, challenged by the Dumbarton built "Cutty Sark" Cap'n George Moodie. After a month at sea "Cutty Sark" was three miles ahead but lost her rudder in a storm, "Thermoplae" won home by seven days but "Cutty Sark" had the public plaudits thanks to the cobbled-up jury-rudder.
  Subsequent contests saw the "Cutty Sark" supreme & "Thermoplae" never beat her again.

 The 150th anniversary of "Cutty Sark's" launch at Denny's yard takes place in November. The author of this article, Hamish MacPherson, is on the case & intends to "Mak Siccar!" it won't be forgotten.