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Mary Ashburner | Official Number
76884 |
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Mary Ashburner | Official Number
76884 |
The Barrow Times, 10th November 1877;
" LAUNCH OF A SCHOONER AT
BARROW - On Tuesday morning last, a finely built schooner named Mary
Ashburner, of 100 tons register, was launched from the shipbuilding
yard of Mr.W.Ashburner, Hindpool. She is classed A1 at Lloyds for 11 years,
and is intended for the coasting trade. The builder is the managing owner.
Her dimensions are as follows:- Length 88 ft; beam 22 feet; depth 10 feet.
Captain Charnley will be the commander. William
Ashburner, another schooner, was re-launched at the same time after
being re-coppered. The Mary Ashburner is ready for immediate service,
and we understand she is the 34th ship built by the firm, of which 32 are
still afloat. "
The Mary Ashburner was launched on the 6th November 1877, and was
named after the wife and daughter of Thomas Ashburner, her managing owner.
She was a well-built ship, constructed under the rules of Lloyd's Special
Survey and classed 11 years A1. Her surveyor stated that "in scantlings and in
fastenings she is considerably in excess of the requirements of the Rules...and
the material and workmanship is of superior quality".
The Mary Ashburner was commanded for her first voyage by Capt.Edmondson Charnley, and then for several months by Capt.Robert Latham. Within a year of her launch her command was given to an Anglesey seaman, Capt.John Hughes, who had previously commanded the Twin Brothers for the Ashburners. Capt. Hughes was to keep charge of her for the rest of her career. The Mary Ashburner operated in the coasting trade, occasionally travelling to French and Belgian ports, but primarily operating around Britain and Ireland.
For the 1881 Census the Mary Ashburner was berthed at Ilfracombe,
Devon, and her crew were recorded as : John Hughes, master, age 32, widower
from Pensarow, Anglesey; Hugh Thomas, mate, age 38, unmarried, Hud
Wharf, Anglesey; Thomas Hand, AB, age 29, married from West Port, Ireland;
Hugh Thomas, seaman, age 17, unmarried, from Nebo, Anglesey.
In 1908/9 the Ashburner fleet was sold off at a series of auctions at Connah's Quay, and the Mary Ashburner was sold for £550 to William and John Thomas, shipbuilders and shipowners at Amlwch, North Wales. Thereafter she continued in the coasting trade, and in particular in the china clay trade between Cornwall and Runcorn.
The Mary Ashburner left Charlestown, Cornwall, at 5.30 pm on the 25th November, 1913, bound for Runcorn with 164 tons of china clay. Her master was Capt.Hughes and she had four crewmen aboard. The schooner never reached her destination, and two weeks later her small boat was found floating near Lundy Island. A Board of Trade Inquiry investigated her loss, and concluded that the Mary Ashburner must have been the unidentified schooner that had been struck by the steamship Castilian. This ship had reported that she had collided with a schooner in thick fog on the night of 27th November, about 60 miles W of Lundy. They had thought the schooner had sunk, but despite searching for several hours had been unable to locate any survivors.
The crew who died with the Mary Ashburner were:
Capt. John Hughes, age 65, born Amlwch
William Hughes, mate, born Amlwch (unrelated to the master), age 22
Owen Hughes, cook, age 16 (brother of the mate), born Amlwch
William John Edwards, able seaman, born Holyhead, age 20
Another able seaman, name unknown, from Plymouth, only taken
on for the final voyage.
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