MANLY

DateJune 1826

Object NameBRIG

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 68'9" x breadth 21' x depth 12'
gross tonnage 126 tons

Object numberABDSHIP002794

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Robert & Peter Matheson

Fate: wrecked near Spurn Point, the Humber, 5 November 1839.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Brig rigged, 1 deck, 2 masts, standing bowsprit, carvel built, square stern, no figurehead.

Owners:
1826: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
Neil Smith Jnr, merchant, 8 shares; Robert Mitchell, shipowner, 4 shares; John Meston, dyer, 4 shares; all Aberdeen.
Other shareholders;
Neil Smith Snr, merchant, 8 shares; William Pirie, merchant, 4 shares; Alexander Wilson, shipowner, 8 shares; George Williamson, Flesher, 4 shares; John Forrest, grocer, 4 shares; William Fiddes, manufacturer, 4 shares; Alexander Cowie, brewer, 4 shares; John Mathew, baker, 2 shares; Andrew Philip, cabinetmaker, 2 shares; John Parker, shipmaster, 4 shares; Nathan Bunting, glass manufacturer, 4 shares; all Aberdeen.
Owned in 1836 by Neil Smith Junior, merchant, Alexander Wilson, shipowner and Alex Cowie, brewer.
Vessel broken up and sold 14 November 1839. [presumably meaning the wreck was scrapped]
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))

Masters:
1827-30: Master C. Kenn
1831-32: Master J. Clark
1833-39: Master D. Benzie

Voyages (Lloyd's)
1827: London
1828: London - Carthagena
1830: Dublin
1831: London - Riga
1832: London - Tenerife
1833: Leith
1834-36: Aberdeen - London
1836-37: Aberdeen - Sunderland
1838: Aberdeen - Wick
1838-39: Aberdeen - Sunderland

General History:
12/11/1832:
Letter from Isle of Man, 06/11/1832 - I beg to acquaint you that the Brig MANLY, of Aberdeen, Benzie master, from Danzig with wheat for Douglas, came ashore [...] at the back of pier at Douglas, Got safe into port on evening's tide with little damage. It appears the MANLY came into Ramsay Bay on Sunday - it blowing very hard, they hoisted a signal for a pilot - when unfortunately the boat in returning upset, and four of the boatmen drowned.
(Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh))

21/10/1839:
It was our melancholy duty, last week, to announce the wreck of the brig MANLY of this port, David Benzie master, and the loss of two of her crew. The following additional particulars: - the vessel was bound from Bonnar Bridge to Goole with a cargo of railway sleepers. She left the Firth of Tain on the 29th September, and on the evening of 4th intant [October] was running for the Humber with a heavy gale from the north-east. About half past seven p.m. owing to the ebb tide and a strong fresh from the Humber, she struck the Stony Binks - as shingly bank, about a mile from the shore near Spurn point - and remained beating on the bank for several hours. The crew continued by the pumps and found her making little water, until about 10 p.m. when the flood tide began. [...] The sea, breaking over the stern, swept the decks, and between ten and eleven p.m. carried off the stern frame. The crew were now obliged to take to the rigging, where they remained about half an hour, when the vessel, floating off, upset, and fell upon her larboard side. The crew, seven in number, got on the broadside in a space not exceeding nine feet square. The vessel, once clear of the bank, drove with the flood tide into Hawk Roads. where about one-hundred sail of shipping had run for safety; but though she passed close by them, the wind blew so hard and the sea was so heavy that no assistance could be rendered. About for a.m. of the 5th, the tide began to ebb and the vessel was again carried out of the Roads. As she passed a second time through the shipping, a boat made an effort to reach her, but without success. At daybreak, one of the hands, James Annan, an old man, died of cold and fatigue; and shortly after, his fate was shared by William Abernethy, a boy about eighteen years of age from Aberdeen. as the vessel cleared the roads a fishing smack came within 200 yards of her, and put out a small boat. It failed to reach the hull of the wreck, but succeeded in fastening a rope to the mast head. This however speedily gave way and the wreck was again left to its fate. At this time the WATERLOO, a cod fishing smack, belonging to Greenwich, James Norrie master, hove in sight and soon after came close up to the wreck, on the weather side. Mr Norrie himself put out in his boat and with very great difficulty gained the stern of the wreck about nine a.m. and took of the five survivors, namely - David Benzie, master; John Sutherland, mate; Charles Beattie, James Garrick, and George Garden, all of Aberdeen. They were quite exhausted, having had no food since noon of the previous day; but by the kind and hospitable treatment that they received on board the WATERLOO, they speedily recovered. An attempt was made by the WATERLOO and two other vessels alongside her, to take the wreck in tow, but without success. In the afternoon the surviving crew were landed on Spurn point and passed the night in the Lighthouse there [...] they speak most gratefully of the exertions made on their behalf by the master of the WATERLOO. [...] the wreck had been driven on shore on the Lincolnshire coast.
(Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh) issue 18668.)