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BRILLIANT

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

Date20 July 1814

Object NameSHIP

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 97 3/12' x breadth 29'
Gross Tonnage: 332 ton

Object numberABDSHIP000895

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 10

Fate: unknown, last in Lloyd's 1849 (B338), last in Post Office Aberdeen Directory 1851-52, p. 35.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged, 1 deck, 3 masts, ship rigged, square stern, carvel built, no figurehead.

Owners:
1818-19: Captain & Co. (i.e. Garrioch & Co.) (Lloyd's)
1820-24: J. Robinson
1824: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
John Lumsden, 8 shares; Alexander Dalgarno, 4 shares; James Brebner, 4 shares (all merchants, Aberdeen).
Other owners in 1824: Alexander Cheyne, 2 shares; Robert Catto, 4 shares; William Pirie, 4 shares; Alexander Duthie Jnr, 4 shares; George Elsmie, 4 shares; Alexander Bannerman 1 share; Thomson Bannerman, 1 share; Alexander Simpson of Gallyhill, 4 shares (all merchants). Harry Leith, builder, 4 shares; James Morrice, shipmaster, 4 shares; James Grant, advocate, 6 shares; Alexander Webster,advocate, 4 shares; James Blaikie, advocate, 2 shares; Thomas Reid, baker, London, 4 shares.
17/03/1830: Owned by William Duthie.
21/03/1851: William Duthie transferred 16/64 to John Smith, public house keeper, Torry, 16/64 to William Beedie, ship carpenter, 16/64 to James Phillip, ship carpenter and 16/64 to John Rennie (or Mennie) shipmaster.
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))

Masters (Lloyd's underwriters):
1817-19: Master Garrioch
1820-24: Master C. Bothwell
1824-28: Master Robert Beverley
1834-40: Master A. Duthie
1830-33: Master A. Barclay
1841-46: Master J. Elliot
1851: Master Douglass (Post Office Aberdeen Directory)

Voyages (from Lloyd's underwriters):
1817: London - Haiti
1818-19: London - Rio de Janeiro
1820-21: Cork
1821-24: Plymouth transport
1825-33: Liverpool - Quebec
1834-46: Aberdeen - Quebec
1847-49: South Shields

General History:
'In two months time [April 1836] advertisments would announce that passengers wanting places on the BRILLIANT, the first ship of that year for Quebec, should apply to her owner, William Duthie or his brother Alexander, the ship's captain. She often was the first to sail and in some years her passengers were amongst the first arrivals at Quebec. Ice and storms posed a considerable threat in early Spring, but Alexander Duthie may have been less nervous about crossing the Atlantic than most ship masters. The BRILLIANT, a frmer whaler, had exceptional strength and was well-protected against the hazards of sailing through ice. After all she had been built to withstand to extremes of climate to be found in the Arctic. And, with "her Height between decks being six feet" she could offer more spacious accomodation in steerage than would be available on most other vessels... She carried a total of 1,343 emegrants from Aberdeen to Quebec over a fifteen year period.'
(Lucille H. Campey (2002), "'Fast Sailing and Copper-Bottomed': Aberdeen Sailing Ships and the Emigrant Scots they carried to Canada 1774-1855" (Natural Heritage Books, Toronto), pp. 49-51.)

Note: Cost at construction, £5029, or £15 10s. per ton.