19th Century Cork Sutton Mariners, Sailing Ships and Crews

The Brown Shipyard in Passage West was established in 1832 and contributed many vessels to the Cork shipping fleet, although Brown family members were constructing ships prior to that date such as the schooner William Brown in 1829, the brigantine Charlotte in 1826, and possibly the schooner Friends in 1824. The schooners listed in Fig. 5 above: Jane & Mary Anne and Hannah were also built by the Browns of Passage West and William Sutton later captained the Brown schooner Anne 1839 – 44. The Suttons were closely associated with the Browns, both sailing on their ships and purchasing them. The Review of Voyage Agreements and Crew Lists for Cork ships in 1845 (UK National Archives BT 98, 615-617) lists the five second generation Sutton captains in Cork. George was Master of the Brown/Sutton brigantine Alexandrina Victoria , Abraham, Master of the Brown/Sutton schooner Girl I Love , Thomas, Master of the Crenin/Sutton brigantine Herbert , William, Master of the Sutton brigantine Mary , and Nathaniel, Master of the Brown brigantine Robert Lawe , with his son Robert (b.1829) as an apprentice.

Other Sutton information from the 1840s

Abraham Sutton retired from the sea in 1846 to manage the family business and with George bought properties in Cork for coal yards and stables. The family continued to purchase ships and they conducted considerable trade with ports outside the Irish Sea area but much of their coastal trade was with coal ports on the Bristol Channel. The latter ports did not welcome Irish emigration in the post-Famine period. Thus, Captain William Sutton was fined fifty pounds at Newport, Wales in 1849, when destitute passengers were disembarked from the Mary on the bank of the Usk river. An admonition was given to Irish captains: ‘all masters bringing Irish paupers here in a similarly illegal manner may expect the same treatment’ (historical article in South Wales Argus 1986 ). However, some of those who landed illegally must have prospered, as by the end of the century Newport would boast a large Irish population, including physicians from the Cork Sutton mariner families (Appendix 6: Medical Profession).

Generational change from the economically thriving Cork of 1850 until 1902

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the port of Cork experienced an eightfold increase in shipping tonnage. This was mostly made up of timber barks, brigantines and schooners as at this point steamers accounted for only ten per cent of tonnage (Bielenberg). In 1840 Cork had 368 vessels with a 32,870 registered tonnage and by 1854 had 409 vessels with an excess of 50,000 registered tonnage (Anderson). In 1830 forty per cent of the Cork shipping fleets in the Section 4 catalogue, was constructed in Cork, while British North America, which contributed few ships prior to the 1820s, accounted for fifty per cent in the 1830s. After 1850 the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Quebec supplied over sixty per cent (See Section 4: Catalogue of Sailing Ships) and this origin was reflected in Sutton ship acquisitions. The second half of the century would see the percentage of steamships in the Cork fleet increase, notably from Ebenezer Pike’s Cork Steamship Company, a decline in the Cork constr uction of sailing ships and the ascendancy of shipbuilding in Belfast.

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