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ILLOVO

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

Date1867

Object NameCLIPPER

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 139 1/12' x breadth 27 1/12' x depth 15 9/12'
Gross Tonnage: 398 ton

Object numberABDSHIP001142

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 254
Official number: 56610
Subsequent Names: MERCURY (1887)

Fate: lost off Dungeness whilst in tow from Southampton to Longhope in December 1916.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged, two decks, three masts, round stern, carvel built, no gallery, shield figurehead, wood framework.

Owners:
17/12/1867: Aberdeen registry opened, No. 31 in 1867.
John Thomson Rennie, Aberdeen, shipowner, 52 shares; Alexander Airth, Aberdeen, master mariner, 4 shares; John Thomas Dene, 147 Leadenhall Street, London, shipowner, 8 shares.
18/08/1869: 2 shares from Airth to Patrick Ritchie Anderson, 123 Fenchurch Street,
London (shipbroker) .
27/05/1870: 2 shares from Airth to James Stevenson Bolton, 37 Burdett Road, Limehouse, master mariner.
27/05/1870: 8 shares from Rennie to William Gray, 6 Jamaica Terrace, Limehouse plumber/painter.
27/03/1871: 2 shares from Anderson to Bolton.
11/01/1873: 4 shares from Rennie to George Milne Cook, Aberdeen (shipbroker).
02/02/1878: John Thomson Rennie dies. Executors sell shares.
1885: Laid up in London, then bought by Charles Hoare as a training ship for Boys. The purchase and conversion cost £8,000. Moored at Binstead, Isle of Wight. 28/03/1887: Board of Trade order, name changed to MERCURY.
1887: Owner Captain Arthur Richard Hoare, London and renamed MERCURY, for use as a training ship for boys, based at Binstead on the Isle of Wight
1892: Static training ship berthed at River Hamble.
1908: Charles Hoare dies and school now run by Captain C.B. Fry.
12/09/1916: Sold for £1,250 and converted to a coal hulk in Harland & Wolff’s shipyard at Southampton. 12/1916: Sank off Dungeness while on tow from Southampton to Longhope. Reports state she was purchased by Admiralty as a coal hulk for Scapa.
1929: Aberdeen registry closed.
Aberdeen Register of Ships (Aberdeen Citty Archives) Register 3 (CE87/11/12), folio 146 (3 in 1867), continued in Register 5 (CE87/11/14) folio 78, continued in Register 7, folio 22.)

General History:
03/12/1867: Launched. Named by Miss Jane Rennie, daughter of the owner. The name being a district south of Durban on the Lovu river.

30/06/1869:
ILLOVO, ship, 25 June, off Deal, Rio Grande for Aberdeen.
(Aberdeen Journal)

21/03/1887:
Official Notice - 1, C.A.R. Hoare, of Boodle's Club, London, give notice that, in consequence of having purchased the barque ILLOVO to be used as a yacht for the training of boys, it is my intention to apply to the board of trade [...] for permission to change her name to MERCURY, to be registered at Port of Aberdeen.
(Aberdeen Journal)

In 1901 it was converted into a static training ship for young boys who planned to enter the merchant marine or Royal Navy. Based in the River Hamble, Southampton, the establishment was run by Commander C. B. Fry.

Note: Contract cost £4,266, or £15.15.0 per ton. (Builder's List held in the Lloyd's Library in the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
29/03/1871: Re-rigged as barque.
1889: Re-rigged as a ship.

See also: - http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/rennie.shtml

“Mercury” website: - http://www.tsmercury.com/tsmpics.html

History (CS): -
http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.phpyear_built=&builder=&ref=53027&vessel=ILLOVO

State Library of South Australia. Image No. PRG 1373/3/20

ILLOVO on the stocks at the left of the houses at Waterside.
© Aberdeen City & Shire Archive, Image No.HR/2/7/169a