William Miles (1816 ship)

Last updated

William Miles (1816 ship).jpg
Ship William Miles, of Bristol, in two positions. Miles Walters (1774–1849), Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameWilliam Miles
BuilderGeorge Hilhouse & Sons, Bristol [1]
Launched1816
FateWrecked 9 August 1883
General characteristics [2] [1]
Tonnage572  GRT (post 1854)
Tons burthen
  • 1816: 323 (bm)
  • 1854: 634 (bm; new Act (post 1836), & post lengthening)
Length
  • 1816: 105 ft 1 in (32.0 m)
  • 1854: 134 ft 4 in (40.9 m)
Beam
  • 1816: 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
  • 1854: 28 ft 4 in (8.6 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 2 in (5.8 m) (post 1854)

William Miles was launched at Bristol in 1816 as a West Indiaman. She remained a West Indiaman until 1846, though she did make some voyages to Archangel and to the Baltic. New owners from 1846 sailed her to Quebec and North America. She underwent lengthening in 1854. Thereafter, a sequence of owners sailed her to India and the Mediterranean. She was wrecked on 9 August 1883.

Contents

Career

William Miles first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1816. [3]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & Notes
1816[Richard] WilliamsMiles & Co.Bristol–JamaicaLR
1822Williams
R[ees] Waters
Miles & Co.Bristol–JamaicaLR
1823R. Waters
J[ohn] Escott
Miles & Co.Bristol–JamaicaLR
1830Escott
[Isaac] Reynolds
Miles & Co.Bristol–JamaicaLR
1838[James] PikeMiles & Co.Bristol–JamaicaLR: large repairs 1833 & 1835
1843[James] Cook[e]Miles & Co.Bristol–Trinidad
Bristol–Jamaica
LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843
1845Crow
Rowe
Miles & Co.
Howell & Son
Bristol–Jamaica
Bristol–Quebec
LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843
1846[Thomas] RoweHowell & SonBristol–Quebec
Bristol–America
LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843
1850[James] AyreHowell & Co.LR

Between 1851 and 1853, William Miles was not listed. In 1854 she reappeared, having undergone lengthening that under the pre-1836 method of calculation doubled her burthen. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1854T.CreightonJ.DeWolfLiverpool–CalcuttaLR; lengthened 1854
1860SilverM.I.WilsonLondon–IndiaLR; lengthened 1854

William Miles received sheathing with yellow metal.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1864W.N.de Mattos [2] LiverpoolLR; lengthened 1854
1865H.HillsG.& J.RobinsonLiverpool
London–Mediterranean
LR; lengthened 1854
1869H.HillsG.& J.RobinsonLondon–MediterraneanLR; lengthened 1854
1883–1884R.WilliamsG.&J.RobinsonLondonLR; lengthened 1854

Fate

William Miles stranded near Porthcawl in the Bristol Channel on 9 Aug 1883. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat Chafyn Grove rescued all twelve people on board. [4] William Miles was on a voyage from Havre de Grâce to Swansea. [5] The lifeboat first took off the mate's wife and a seaman; the rest of the crew refused to leave. When the winds increased the lifeboat came back and took off the remaining crew. [6] [2]

Her entry in Lloyd's Register for 1883 carried the annotation "Lost". [7]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Farr (1971), p. 5.
  2. 1 2 3 Farr (1950), pp. 62–63.
  3. LR (1808), Supple. pages "W", Seq.non.W63.
  4. Tovey, Ron. "A Chronology of Bristol Channel Shipwrecks" (PDF). Swansea Docks. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  5. "Board of Trade Inquiry". The Times. No. 30914. London. 1 September 1883. col B, p. 7.
  6. "THE LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION". (1885) VOL XII: p.205.
  7. LR (1883–1884), Seq.no.W322.

Related Research Articles

Elizabeth was a merchant ship built at Chepstow, Wales in 1809. She made three voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. Elizabeth is no longer listed after 1832 and may have been lost in 1831.

Union Island was a merchant vessel launched at Bristol in 1794. In 1801, she participated in two single-ship actions. In the first, she repelled an attack by a Spanish privateer. In a later attack that year a French privateer captured her. She returned to English ownership in 1802. She then sailed as a West Indiaman until about 1818 when she started sailing between Liverpool and Africa. She was wrecked on 27 June 1821 on the coast of Africa.

Elizabeth was launched at Bristol in 1809. She was originally a West Indiaman, but she wrecked in October 1819 at Table Bay while sailing from Bombay to London.

Agincourt was launched at Monmouth in 1825, registered at Bristol, and became a West Indiaman sailing to Nevis. She was lost on 29 January 1829.

Lady Carrington was launched at Bristol in 1809. In an apparently short and uneventful career, she made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was broken up in 1823.

Sarah was launched at Bristol as a West Indiaman. From 1818, after repairs to damage from a fire in 1817, she sailed as an East Indiaman until she wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope in 1822.

African Queen's origins are uncertain. She was a foreign vessel, launched in 1789 or 1790, presumably under another name. She was taken in prize in 1796 and by 1797 she was sailing out of Bristol. She made one voyage to Africa during which she was captured and recaptured and then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one voyage to the West Indies as a merchant ship, and one voyage as a whaler, but was damaged in 1801 as she returned home from that whaling voyage and apparently never sailed again.

Caledonian was launched at Barnstaple in 1811 as a West Indiaman. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1811 with William Lund, master, William Scott owner, and trade Bristol–Jamaica. She made two voyages to Jamaica, and foundered at sea on 5 July 1813 homeward bound to Bristol, from Jamaica, on her second. A more complete account reports that she had suffered damage, losing her bowsprit, foremast, and main topmast. After she had parted from the rest of the convoy her crew abandoned her.

John was launched at Chepstow in 1804. She then became a West Indiaman, sailing between Bristol and Jamaica. In 1826 she started sailing to Bengal under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked on 30 June 1827 on such a voyage.

Apollo was launched in Bristol in 1819 as a West Indiaman. New owners in 1838 shifted her homeport to Dundee; she then sailed between Dundee and Montreal. In September 1843 she rescued the crew of a vessel that had foundered. In September 1846 a hurricane so damaged her that the crew and passengers abandoned her. Two passing schooners rescued them.

Lapwing was launched at Bristol in 1794, and lengthened in 1797. She was a West Indiaman until in 1801 she became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. However, on her first enslaving voyage a Spanish privateer captured her. Although the Spanish authorities ordered her restitution to her owners, it is not clear that the order was anything but moot.

Woodman was launched at Gainsborough in 1808. She traded with northern Spain and then became a West Indiaman, and later a government transport. From 1816 on she made several voyages to India and South East Asia, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She also made two voyages transporting convicts, one to New South Wales (NSW) in 1823 and one to Van Diemen's Land in 1825. She was lost in 1836.

Miranda was launched in Bristol in 1828. In 1829–1830 she made one voyage to Bengal, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a West Indiaman, sailing to Jamaica and Antigua. She was broken up around 1851.

Hector was launched at Bristol in 1781 as a West Indiaman. A new owner in 1802 sailed Hector as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one complete voyage transporting enslaved people before a French privateer captured her on her second such voyage after Hector had disembarked her captives.

Dochfour was launched in March 1810 at Bristol. She sent much of her career as a West Indiaman, sailing between Bristol and Grenada. She was wrecked in October 1846.

Nelson was launched at Bristol in 1807 as a West Indiaman. In January 1813 a United States privateer captured her off Jamaica.

Several ships have been named Trelawney or Trelawny.

Several vessels have borne the name William Miles.

William Miles was launched at Bristol in 1808 as a West Indiaman. For 20 years she was the largest vessel built in the port. In 1817 a new owner started sailing her to India, sailing under a licence from the East India Company (EIC). In 1828 she made a voyage transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land. Thereafter she traded with Sierra Leone, Louisiana, and possibly other ports as well. She was broken up in 1846.

Sir George Osborne was acquired in 1814 by British owners purchasing a prize. They initially sailed her as a West Indiaman. Then in 1820 she carried immigrants to South Africa under the auspices of a settler scheme. She then made one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Under new owners she then made a highly unusual voyage to the Pacific. Her new owners were the founders of the Pacific Pearl Fishery Company, and they sailed her on a voyage that was part commercial venture and part scientific exploration, complete with a resident scientist. After her return new owners sent her whaling to the Seychelles, where she was wrecked and abandoned in April 1829.

References