19th Century Cork Sutton Mariners, Sailing Ships and Crews

References:

*IMNCL; CLIP; UK M&M; Guy’s County and City of Cork Directory,1875 – 6; Sutton and Walsh Family Histories.

BESSIE BENT

Place and date built: Tonnage/ Vessel type:

Halifax, Nova Scotia 1854

112t; Brig

Home port:

Cork

Owner: Activity: Master:

Murry&C/Catherine Murray Coaster and foreign trade

1855 – 7 Timothy Murray b.1830 (Clonakilty) 1858 – 62 Thomas Murray b.1828 (Clonakilty) 1867 Laurence Donovan b.1834 (Clonakilty) 1864 – 7 Florence McCarthy b.1823 (Ballincoursey) 1866 Laurence Donovan b.1834 (Clonakilty) 1867 Daniel Farassy b.1833 (Clonakilty)

Mate:

Seaman:

1861 – 2 John Driscoll b.1839 (Clonakilty) 1867 James Barry b.1840 (Clonakilty)

Fate of ship:

Bessie Bent was laid up for part of 1867; otherwise documented in trade that year between Newport and the ports of Bandon, Clonakilty and Kinsale (IMNCL). She was driven ashore near Brandon, Co Kerry on 22 August 1868. Her crew were rescued. She was on a voyage from Tralee to Caherciveen and Valencia Island, Co Kerry (List of Shipwrecks - Wiki, extracted from the London Standard ) Lloyd’s has this ship, (Reg: 24221) registered in Halifax, while IMNCL indicates it to be the Port of Cork during the 1860s. An obit described the young and single Captain Timothy Murray of Clonakilty, dying in Portugal after being struck by the boom, when the sail of his ship, the Betsy Bent , jibed in Portugal on the 16 Feb 1857 (pers. comm. Murray family). That ship must have been the Bessie Bent (see also Hebe and Thomas & Anne). This obit shows that Captain Thomas Murray would have been the Captain T Murray in Lloyd’s for 1858. The Clonakilty merchant mariner Murrays were related by marriage to the Ballincoursy McCarthys. Tracking on IMNCL suggests that Captain Florence McCarthy, documented as captain of Mary Ann at the Runcorn Docks near Liverpool in the 1861 Census, switched to the Bessie Bent at Runcorn in 1864. He resumed command of Mary Ann again in 1867 (see Argonaut for further information on the two Clonakilty Florence McCarthy master mariner cousins who were both born in 1823).

Additional information: