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Description
The BEATRICE CATHERINE was one of the shipping losses during the Royal Charter Gale over the night of 25-26 October 1859. It was wooden smack built at Bangor in 1845. The vessel's registry documentation at Pwllheli provides us with a set of technical specifications:
34 1309/3500 tons burthen. 1 deck, 1 mast, that her length from the inner part of the Main Stem to the fore part of the Stern Post aloft is 46ft, her breadth taken in midships is 13.5ft, her depth in hold at midships is 6ft, that she is a Smack rigged with a standing bowsprit, square sterned, carvel built.
If you pass your mouse over the image to magnify sections, you'll find more information about the Welsh people associated with the vessel. For example, at the top right hand corner of the left hand page, you'll find the smack's master, Watkin Williams.
The smack was registered twice at Beaumaris - the first occasion in 1845 and a second time in 1848 (shown in this image). It was named for one of its owners, Beatrice Catherine Mylton (Myton or Ayton, the handwriting is hard to decipher. Can you confirm the first letter of the surname?
There are other clues to the smack's history in the list of owners. For example, Edward Ellis of Bangor is likely to have been the smack's builder. He sold his 32 shares to Watkins Williams in October 1848, as recorded in the transactions. David Davies of Porthmadoc bought 16 shares from Edward Ellis on 5 February 1855 and 16 from Watkins Williams on 10 February 1857. He also became the master on 4 March 1851.
The BEATRICE CATHERINE was carrying culm when it was driven ashore at Porthor Bay. The Board of Trade's statistical report of losses for 1859 suggests that a passenger and three crewmembers were drowned.
Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1859 Table 19 pg25 (529), House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online, document 2623
Port of Pwllheli Shipping Register 1840-1851 Gwynedd Archive Service XSR/25, 21 in 1848
Who was Beatrice Catherine Mylton (Myton or Ayton) of Beaumaris? The shipping register entry notes that she was a widow? The census of 1851 and parish records for marriages and deaths might help to identify other members of her family and where she lived.
What type of substance is culm, the cargo that the BEATRICE CATHERINE was carrying? How is it produced? What was it used for?
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