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SUNSHINE

Shipbuildervessel built by Alexander HALL & Co. (Footdee, Aberdeen)

Date1855

Object NameCLIPPER

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 176.6' x breadth 29.7' x depth 14.1'
gross tonnage 467 tons

Object numberABDSHIP001085

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 197

Fate: unknown

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged clipper

Owner:
1856: Thomas Harrison & Co., registered at Liverpool

General History:
20/02/1856:
New ship SUNSHINE of and for Liverpool from Aberdeen, Captain Clark, put into Belfast Lough 17th inst, all well. Capt. Clark states that he had experienced very tempestuous weather.
(Aberdeen Journal)

18/11/1859:
Queenstown - ship KAFFIRLAND from Callao reports on 12th inst. having spoken ship SUNSHINE from Bonny (Nigeria) to Liverpool with loss of sails and short of water, would probably get into Crookhaven (Ireland).
(Belfast Newsletter)

11/06/1862:
An epidemic of the most virulant type was sweeping along the west coast of Africa. The intelligence from Benin states that the river was very unhealthy. On 8th April Captain Glanville of the ship SUNSHINE died of the prevailing pestilance.
(Birmingham Daily Post)

28/10/1863:
Ship SUNSHINE, Hooper, Liverpool - Benin was left on 23rd inst. west of the Saltees by tug Despatch.
(Liverpool Mercury)

05/07/1872:
The ship SUNSHINE, from Liverpool to Halifax, which put back to Queenstown leaky and sailed on the 10h ult. [June] after repairing, has again put back leaky.
(Glasgow Herald)

Note: Contract cost, £9,684 (builder's list held in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
This ship does not appear in Lloyd's register, nor indeed does any other ship rigged SUNSHINE in the relevant period. This means that there is some confusion over the Aberdeen SUNSHINE and one widely reported in the press as "The magnificent new Clipper Ship SUNSHINE, S. Pearce, Commander, A 1, 1,464 tons Register" (Liverpool Daily Post 26/09/1856 and many others). The date of that ship starting its activities fits the arrival of the Aberdeen built ship well, but the builder's list says the Aberdeen ship was a third of the tonnage at 467, and the price quoted is commensurate so it is unlikely that the list simply omits a thousand tons and the two were one and the same. Without either ship being in Lloyd's and the additional information it provides on masters and voyages it is impossible to tie press reports to one or the other, therefore, with the exception of the first quoted, all the press reports quoted must be considered dubious.