19th Century Cork Sutton Mariners, Sailing Ships and Crews

PELICAN

Place and date built: Tonnage/ Vessel type:

Cork 1850

426t; Schooner-rigged Steamship

Home port:

Cork

Owner: Activity: Master:

Ebenezer Pike (Cork) Cross-channel trade

1885 Arthur Wheeler b.1842 (Wilsop, Notts)*

Mate:

1852 Josiah Hughes b.1818 (Youghal) 1885 Robert Reynolds b.1854 (Cork)*

Fate of ship:

The steamship was driven ashore at Waterloo, Lancashire on the 13 January 1863. She was on a voyage from Liverpool to Cork. She was later re-floated and resumed her voyage (List of Shipwrecks -Wiki). Pelican was a steamship and not a sailing ship. CLIP reveals the ship to have had a 140hp steam engine. However, since the Pelican was built at the mid-point of the nineteenth century, she deserves mention as she reflects the changing face of maritime travel in the second half of that century. Steamers accounted for only 10% of the gross tonnage at the Port of Cork at mid-century (see Charlotte ). The death knell for the merchant sailing ship would not ring until the 1880s (Appendix 6: Marine steam engine). Pelican was described by Dr John de Courcy to have been 636t with 16 berths and 17 sofas for passengers. She was built entirely at Pike’s Yard, Water St, Lower Glanmire Rd. in 1850. Ebenezer Pike (1806-83), who came from an influential Cork Quaker family, re-organized the St George Steamship Co. (see the Joseph R Pim ) in 1843 to form the City of Cork Steamship Co. This was later re-named the Cork Steamship Co . with Ebenezer Pike as Chairman and Managing Director (Boylan). He would split off the City of Cork Steam Packet Co. Ltd in 1872, which would focus on coastal trade. Ebenezer was also, like his sons Joseph and Ebenezer, a Cork Harbour Commissioner (Appendix 6: House of Cards). Mate Robert Reynolds, a grandson of Captain George Sutton (b.1804, Clonakilty) and a son of Captain Nicholas Reynolds (b.1822, Cork), consistently served on steamships after receiving his Master Certificate in 1875 - reflecting changing times. *IMNCL; CLIP; UK M&M; De Courcy, Ireland and the Irish in maritime history; O’Riordan , Portraiture of Cork Harbour Commissioners ; Boylan, Ebenezer Pike : Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press

Additional information:

References:

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