BRUTUS

DateApril 1828

Object NameBRIGANTINE

MediumWOOD; Fir & Elm

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 64.3' x breadth 20.3'
gross tonnage 112 tons

Object numberABDSHIP002988

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: James Thornton

Fate: Wrecked at Ballywater, County Down, 27 January 1842

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Brigantine rigged (see note), 1 deck, 2 masts, square stern, standing bowsprit, carvel built, no galleries, man bust figurehead, 2 iron cables.

Owners:
1828: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
Alexander Paul, merchant, 8 shares; John Johnson, shipmaster, 8 shares; John Younghusband, boatbuilder, 4 shares.
Other shareholders:
James Thornton, shipbuilder, 16 shares; John Murray, watchmaker, 4 shares; John McBain, Painter, 4 shares; William Wishart, flesher, 4 shares; Alexander Gibb, brewer, 4 shares; Alexander Jolly, merchant, 4 shares; Elizabeth Thomson, spinster, 4 shares; all Aberdeen. George Moir, merchant, Newmachar, 4 shares.
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))
1832-33: Park & Co.
1834-38: Wemyss & Co., registered at Banff
1839-42: McPherson

Masters:
1828-31: Master John Thomson
1831-33: Master J. Matthewson
1834-38: Master Matheson
1839-40: Master H. Henry
1841: Master MacKenzie
1842: Master J. Gourlay

Voyages:
1830-31: Topsham - Riga
1832-33: Liverpool - Naples
1834-38: Aberdeen - London
1839-40: Clyde - Palermo
1841: Clyde - Tobago
1842: Clyde - St. Thomas

General History:
02/02/1842
"Belfast, Jan. 27 - The BRUTUS, Gourlay, from the Clyde to St. Thomas, is on shore near Ballywater, and bilged, and expected to become a wreck"
(The Scotsman)

Notes:
In Lloyd's until 1833 as a Brig, and in the last years of its life as a Brigantine, it may always have been so as early Lloyd's did not make a distinction between them. It is in the Aberdeen register as hermaphrodite brig rigged; hermaphrodite denotes an irregular rig part way between two recognised types.
From 1834 (B682) to 1838 (B552) Lloyd's says it was built in Fraserburgh.