Additional information courtesy of Christine Simm

Technical

Official Number: 65801
Completed: 1871
Gross Tonnage: 63
Net Tonnage: 47
Length: 71.4 ft
Breadth: 19.1 ft
Depth: 9.55 ft
Rig: Ketch – Trawling

History

1871: Completed by F. R. Pain, Sandwich for George Chamberlain, Hainton Villa, Hainton Street, Weelsby, Grimsby as GEORGE & MARIA.
13.4.1871: Registered at Grimsby. O.N.65801.
13.5.1871: Registered at Grimsby (GY303).
10.1888: Sold to William G. S. Letten, Grimsby.
10.1888: Sold to Thomas Holden, Ainsdale, Southport for the sum of £128. Registered owners Mrs Anne Holden, Knowsley Street, Southport and George Miller, 33 Church Street, Fleetwood. George Miller designated managing owner.
30.10.1888: Arrived Fleetwood.
11.1888: Grimsby registry closed. Registered at Fleetwood (FD49). Placed on the gridiron by James Armour, shipwright, to refurbish the hull and fit out for the Fleetwood fishing trade; his bill was £50.
1889: Thomas Smith, 18 Aughton Street, Fleetwood designated manager.
14.5.1889: Mrs Holden was indebted to James Alexander, ship chandler, Dock Street, Fleetwood and mortgaged the smack (64/64) to him to cover the account.
1889: At Glasson Dock for repair, Mr Nicholson thought her a “weak vessel” and that she was “wormed”, her planks perfectly honey-combed. He put her value at £100 to £120 at the outside.
4.3.1890: In boisterous weather in the Irish Sea had the trawl beam broken.
4.8.1889: With about £50 owing on the mortgage, vessel seized by the mortgagee. Smack was working and had made something like £200 during the time she had been fishing out of Fleetwood and was in good order. When seized she was lying at the quay and Alexander was bound to treat the vessel with reasonable care and to keep her substantially in the condition in which she was when he seized her.
7.8.1889: Robert Westby, auctioneer, who was acting for Alexander, moved the smack from the safety of the quay to Kirk Bank, supposedly as directed by the Assistant Harbour Master. On Kirk Bank where she was placed she was lying broadside to the tide with a support under her main mast and the rest apart from the stern in a hollow and received damage to a considerable extent. Thomas Smith spoke with Alexander and told him of the situation and was present when he wrote a note to Westby accusing him of moving the smack without his authority and that he would hold him responsible for any damage.
12.8.1889: Survey on the Bank by Messrs James Armour, William Poole and William Stoba. “ The keel bent out of shape nine and a half inches; the vessel straining very badly, 10 of her butts opened up so as to leave a waterway between the oakum and the ends of each plank; one butt most of the oakum had dropped out and water running out of the starboard bilge seam midships; on deck we found she had strained so much as to force one deck plank out of place by half an inch; her gunwale was lifted on the starboard two and a half inches out of its proper shear.” James Armour considered her to be in good condition when seized and his estimate of the work required to make her seaworthy was £90, but she would never be as good again. Robert Newton, shipwright and boat builder and formerly foreman at Messrs Gibson & Sons estimated to make her seaworthy, £97.
20.8.1889: Mortgage discharged (with borrowed money).
21.8.1889: Anne Holden resumed ownership. Thomas Smith, Fleetwood designated manager.
25.7.1890: At 5.00 am when engaged in fishing near the Morecambe Bay Lightship, James Foster (33), fisherman, 1 Waterloo Road, Ashton, Preston, became somewhat strange in his behaviour and speech, but as he was an intemperate man, he was thought to be suffering from drink. He took off his oilskins, went into the cabin and put on his best clothes, with the exception of his coat, and before anyone could prevent him he returned on deck and jumped overboard. The smack was hove to and several lifebuoys thrown out but Foster disappeared and was not seen alive again.
29.7.1890: At about 8.00 am, the smack COMET (FD160) came into Fleetwood with the dead body of Foster onboard. The corpse was discovered in the net early in the morning when fishing some four miles NNW of the Morecambe Bay Lightship. The body was in a good state of preservation and in the pockets was a purse containing five pawn tickets, a knife, two clay pipes and a piece of tobacco. The body was conveyed to the mortuary.
30.7.1890: At Fleetwood Police Court the inquest into the death of James Foster was held. Having heard evidence from crew members of both the GEORGE & MARIA and the COMET and from Phoebe Foster, his wife, the Coroner said there was no doubt that it was a case of suicide and that the deceased was of unsound mind. The jury returned a verdict to that effect.
20.8.1890: Two fishing smacks, GEORGE & MARIA and WILLIAM & MARTHA (FD50) to be sold by auction by Mr Robert Westby in the Fielding Free Library. The GEORGE & MARIA was subsequently withdrawn from the sale. There was a good attendance and the bidding for the WILLIAM & MARTHA commenced at £15 and gradually rose to £40, at which sum she was knocked down to Mr J Chamney, shipowner, Fleetwood.
21.3.1891: At Liverpool Assizes, Anne Holden, Southport, brought an action against James Alexander, ship chandler, and Robert Westby auctioneer, both of Fleetwood, to recover damages (£120) and for injury done to the fishing smack GEORGE & MARIA. In addition a claim, £50, for loss of use of vessel from 20 August to 7th October was calculated at 3d per registered tonnage per day. After hearing all the evidence, in particular the authorisation to move the smack on to the Kirk Bank, the jury returned with a verdict for the plaintiff against both defendants, damages £120. The question of indemnity was then raised by the two plaintiffs and the letter written by Alexander, which was already before the court, was brought up by Thomas Smith, which Westby did not deny receiving. The Judge ruled that Westby should pay Alexander’s costs and Alexander was indemnified from further claim by Westby.
3.8.1891: In the evening the body of a man was found on the foreshore at Rossall by William Barnes of Carr House Farm, Rossall. He was later identified as Thomas ‘Tom Dog’ Wright (58) a fisherman who had been missing for a week. Mary McNeil, Cherry Tree Row, stated that Wright had called at her house at 10.15 pm on Monday and asked for a cup of tea, he was very drunk and alone. Thomas Smith, marine store dealer, said that deceased had been engaged as a day and night watchman for the smack GEORGE & MARIA which was laid alongside a steamer at Jubilee Quay. He had missed him on Tuesday but thought that he had gone to Southport as he was under notice to leave.
4.8.1891: At the Police Court in the evening a verdict of “ Found drowned “ was recorded.
23.4.1892: By Order of the Sheriff – FRIDAY NEXT, April 29th, by MR JOSEPH SMYTHE, at the Jubilee Jetty, Fleetwood, without reserve. Lot1. The FISHING SMACK, GEORGE & MARIA, 63 tons register, now lying at the Jubilee Jetty, with Gear, consisting of trawl Beam, Irons, Sails, Anchor, Chain, Lamps, etc. Lot 2. The FISHING SMACK CONQUEST, 50.41 tons register, now lying on Kirk Bank near the Dock, Fleetwood, with all Gear now on board. Sale for cash at Three o’clock prompt.
29.4.1892: Sold to Alexander Hull, 68 Gt. Patrick Street, Belfast for the sum of £40. Alexander Hull designated managing owner.
1892-1903: Engaged in the coasting trade (Dempsey/McGillen, masters) with paving stones, whiting (powdered calcium carbonate), coal, etc out of Scottish ports, from Loch Linnhe to Drummore and Workington, mainly to Belfast and Co.Donegal ports.
25.8.1892: Outwards from Mount Charles, Co. Donegal for Islay, in ballast, in beating out of the channels drove on the bank.
26.8.1892: In the morning, came afloat with loss of both anchors and making water, beached inside the Green Island in the bay.
18.4.1893: Reported, Ramsey for Drummore (Dempsey, master) went ashore in trying to make the harbour. Slightly damage but expected to get off next tide.
14.4.1900: FOR SALE “GEORGE & MARIA” well found, fast sailer and light draft. For particulars apply to Alex Hull, 33 Great George’s Street, Belfast.
2.6.1903: FOR SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION. At the AUCTION MART, 21 ROSEMARY STREET, Belfast, On WEDNESDAY, 10th June, at Twelve o’clock. KETCH GEORGE AND MARIA, BUILT 1871; length 71ft 4in; breadth 19ft 1in; depth 9ft 6in; registered tonnage 47; carries 90 tons on 9ft 6in. KETCH CLUTHA; built 1869; length 65ft 5in; breadth 17ft 8in; depth 9ft 6in; registered tonnage 43; carries 80 tons. The above are well found in Anchors, Chains, Ropes, Sails, &c, and have been in and well adapted for the coasting trade. Now ready for sea. Can be inspected here on application to J. W. KEENAN 56 Corporation Street. CLARKE & SON, 21 Rosemary Street, Belfast Auctioneers.
9.6.1906: Advertisement in Londonderry Sentinel – COALS. I beg to intimate I am during this week discharging Schooner [sic] “GEORGE & MARIA” at Bruckless Pier, Co. Donegal of Best SCREENED SPLINT COAL. THOMAS CASSIDY, Dunkineely.
1908: Fleetwood registry closed.

Changelog
17/11/2014: Page published.
05/01/2023: Major history update.