Minehead Ships Before 1750

Some Minehead ships before 1750

THE MIDDLE AGES

Before the survival of shipping registers there is no certainty about a vessel’s provenance but many ships were stated to be of Minehead. In 1437 there were at least a dozen Minehead ships including the Nicholas, the Patrick, the Trinity trading between Bristol and Ireland with fish, hides, salt and bow staves. Others were the Sunday under Morris Tye still trading in the 1480s, the Peter under William Bostol, the John under Rich Graunt, the James under Hen Broun and possibly at least two ships called the Mary. The Katherine, probably one of the larger ships, entered Bristol from Ireland in November 1437 with a cargo valued at over £74 comprising 77 barrels and 120,000 white herring, hake, saltfish, 10 mantles and linen and returned in February with a cargo valued at over £111 mainly fish including 48 ½ pipes of salmon. There were also onward shipments from Minehead to Bristol such as a cargo of white cork and another of salted hides.

In 1461 Minehead ships included the carvel David and the Trinity, commandeered by the king. The Sampson traded between Ireland and Bristol, presumably collecting grain and beans from Minehead for Ireland.The Flower’s captain John Quirke was detained in Scotland c.1480, when three Minehead ships traded with la Rochelle, and nine were trading with Ireland in 1485—6 probably including the Magdalen under Jn Butston, the Mary Barret or Basshar under Simon Chepman, the George, the Patrick, the Nicholas under Thomas Langhill, the Mighell , the Gabriel and the Rose under John Ireland. There were two Minehead ships suitable for royal use in 1513 including the Jesus, possibly a prize,

16TH CENTURY

In the first half of the 16th century many Minehead ships were recorded. Some of these may have been trading in the 15th century and some had Irish and other foreign masters including the Katherine,Patrick, James, Sunday under Teage Portar, Trinity under Cornelius Oldangam, Mary, Elinor,Margaretunder Nicholas Daux,Nicholasunder Lawrence Lagharn, MighelunderJames Monahan, Christopher, James,Jesus, Saviour,Help at Need,Mackerel, Phoenix, Anne, Audrey and Maudlin. Other local ships were the Puppis owned by John Butston in 1509 and the Mary Penrice part ownedby Thomas Brayewho was expecting her arrival with a cargo of fish when he made his will in 1513. The Saviour and the Audreywere pressed into royal service and were sent to Scotland in 1545.

The Reformation seems to have changed the names of local ships although many still had a religious connection like the Peter and the Nicholas in the 1560s or the Gift of God, Cherubim, Fogg and Hopewell from the 1580s. In 1584 the Minehead ship Gift of God voyaged to Waterford under George Williams with beans and then to Rochelle returning with salt before sailing with 26 quarters of beans to San Sebastian followed by the Angel of Minehead with a further 24 quarters mostly for Dunster merchant John Over who received a return cargo of salt from La Rochelle.It was later said that in the mid 16th century there were 20 barks, 12 ships, a pinnace and small picards and that four men owned two each but only three ships were recorded in the 1570s none over 50 tons of which the largest was the 46-ton Saviour of John Stradling (d. 1571).

17TH CENTURY

In 1614 the Paragon of Minehead arrived from Newfoundland with 17 tons of train oil and 16 cwt of fish. Other early 17th-century ships were the 60-ton Elizabeth owned by Hugh Davis and Thomas Lee, the master and the 30-ton James owned by the same men in 1627 and the Patience owned by Nathaniel Bullock. The Dove owned by Robert Powell Customer of Minehead was used to convoy ships to Ireland in 1631 and chased a Biscayer of Madeira taken by the St Peter of Rotterdam. The John, master Francis Bishop, was used by a Bristol merchant to take clothing for army to Ireland in 1644 and many Minehead ships found themselves used for moving troops.

The Bristol Channel was said to be a haunt of pirates in the early 17th century. In 1627 the Elizabeth and James of Minehead belonging to Thomas Lee and Hugh Davis, possibly the young man who trained with Robert Quirke, were permitted to take pirates and were presumably armed. A year before the Elizabeth had been engaged in taking tobacco to Ireland. However, it was foreign merchant ships that were usually seized like the Spanish vessels laden with pitch taken in the Bay of Biscay by Henry West of Minehead in 1630 or the Portuguese ship seized by Robert Paulet’s Dove, which was later sunk by a Dutch ship although the crew were released. The Dove with its booty, the most valuable being the Portuguese ship, was valued at nearly £21,000, of which Paulet, who was for a time customer at Minehead, tried to recover over £4,000. After 1642 the claim passed to his widow Anne but does not seem to have been satisfied. The taking of prizes was normal in war but conflicted with trading interests. A French merchant ship bringing 40 ton of salt to Minehead was taken as a prize in 1689 with the salt and another seized off Minehead in 1710 and valued at £1,466 was divided among the crew of the ship that took it.

Mariner Rich Quirke left his ¼ share in the barque Blessing, which traded with Spain and Bristol in the early 17th century to his grandson Robert Hensley in 1648. Sadly she was damaged coming from Ireland in January 1671 when she belonged to John Kerry and was found abandoned at sea and taken to Bristol. Many Minehead seamen and merchants held shares in Minehead ships which appear to have been numerous in the second half of the 17th century. In 1669 Minehead ships, probably engaged in trade with Wales and Ireland included the John and Francis, Humility, Elizabeth, Thomas, Diligence, Unity, Abraham, John, Richard and Mary and Providence. The Unity was lost in January 1671 bringing wool from Cork when she was driven by foul weather and broken on rocks near Milford haven. All the men were saved but the wool was carried off by local people. Many ships sailed to the continent of Europe like the Friendship of Minehead that sailed for Lisbon in the autumn of 1667 but had not arrived by December. The George of Minehead laden with wine and salt from France was on her way to Bridgwater when she was forced ashore near Swansea in December 1669 where much salt was wasted and her boat and mainmast were lost but it was hoped she could be refloated. The Truelove voyaged to Malaga in 1670 when the barque Charles was on her was to Jamaica. These losses were one reason why shipowners often held only shares in vessels like Gregory Tilye who owned half shares in two small barks Thomsin and Seaflower.

William Bond the younger owned half a barque trading to Jamaica in 1670 and Gregory Tilye in 1675 owned half a fishing boat worth £20, half the bark Thomasin and most of the bark Seaflower worth £10 each. Humphrey Flemman, who owned half a bark worth £40 in 1681, may have been a sea captain and kinsman of William Fleming master mariner in 1709. It needed great wealth to own a large ship and bear the risk so most ships were in shared ownership like the Thomas worth £270 in 1681 when master mariner Thomas Bryant owned a third or the Reformation worth £200 shared by the Alloways and Isaac Davis (d. 1685) who owned a quarter besides a quarter of the Diligence worth only £40 as she had been wrecked. The William Alloways father and son had shares in the Reformation, used to trade to London, and the younger William also had shares in the Adventure in 1683 mainly trading with Bordeaux.

EARLY 18TH CENTURY

The War of the Spanish Succession gave further impetus to privateering and three local vessels were equipped for the purpose between 1702 and 1710. The largest was the 200-ton Queen Ann belonging to William Alloway and others, which was fitted with 16 guns and had a crew of 40 and was usually engaged in trade with Leghorn. The Three Brothers belonging to merchants Edward and James Rogers and the Wincanton owned by George Hayman, John and Joseph Alloway and others were 100-ton galleys with eight guns each. Ironically at the same time the town petitioned for guns and ammunition to defend the port from privateers.In 1723 an 80-ton ship taken by the notorious pirate Thomas Anstis sailed from Tobago and was forced ashore by her crew, including William Wilks of Minehead. The same year the Elizabeth and John of Minehead was seized by the Spanish.In 1747 Nathaniel Strode kept a 20-gun privateer and an advertisement for a Bristol privateer Tartar in 1784 declared the ship and her captain Aaron Floyd were well known in Minehead where John Floyd was a shipwright and collector of harbour dues.

In the 1700s war on the continent meant overseas trade was mainly with Ireland. Many ships carried only wool like the William and John, which was wrecked at Perranzabuloe in Cornwall in 1706 when £730 was claimed for lost cargo. The Greyhound galley of Minehead was the only long-distance vessel regularly trading from Minehead in the 1700s, mainly to Gallipoli and Leghorn in Italy on two return voyages a year taking up to 40 tons of lead, white and red herring and serge and returning with cork, cinnamon, baskets, Florence wine, Spanish brandy and oil but she also voyaged to Newfoundland. In 1710 she was joined by the Queen Anne and in 1714 by the galley Wyndham as Minehead was once more trading with Bilbao, Cadiz, Malaga and San Sebastian in Spain and Brest in France for wine, brandy, canvas, prunes and Castile soap. The main export was red and white herring but lead, cloth, glasses, beer, cider and grain were shipped to Spain and wheat, leather and shoes to Italy. The Hopewell of Minehead, which normally brought in wool from Ireland, took household goods, cloth, window glass, lead and groceries to Pennsylvania in 1710 and the Trevilian took herring, grain and 50 cwt of biscuit to Barbados in 1715.

Minehead vessels recorded in 1713 and 1715 were the Fleece, Wyndham, George, Patience, Westport, Greyhound, Penny Worth, Taunton Merchant, Hunter, Diligence, Society, Devonshire, Supply, Friendship, John and Francis,Primrose, Blossom, Elizabeth and Rebecca, Collier, Rebecca, Hunter, Orchett, Vine and the colliers Lark,Union andViolet.Larger Minehead vessels bypassed the port shipping overseas goods directly to Bristol, partly due to the need for work on the harbour, or traded between America and Europe like the 130-ton Elizabeth and Joan, owned by two Minehead men, which coming from South Carolina in 1727 under her master Francis Baston of Minehead was taken by a Spanish privateer to Pontevedra. Closer to home the Prince William of Minehead under her master Elias Perryman was trading with Dunkirk in the 1730s.

Copyright

Mary SirautPage 1Somerset Reference