Minstrel Biography of a Sailing Ship
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The Glaven Historian No.8 3 Minstrel Biography of a Sailing Ship by Jonathan Hooton Synopsis: The Minstrel traded during the second half of the 19th century and into the next, visiting Blakeney and other ports along the North Norfolk coast. Here the wealth of information about the schooner is reviewed, from voyages along the coast and overseas to the people who built, owned and sailed her. mong the photographs of Blakeney quay time that the Countess of Leicester was being that survive from the end of the 19th cen- launched and she must be the vessel shown in Atury, there are several that include the the model under construction next to the topsail schooner Minstrel. In addition a photo- Countess of Leicester. She is shown stern on graph of a ship painting of her and a two dimen- with the hull ready for planking.3 To have such sional image of her being constructed also sur- a representation is very rare and this coupled vive. The existence of a good photographic with the photographs of Minstrel towards the record, plus the fact that she traded from all of end of her career, make her pictorially, very well the North Norfolk ports for more than 50 years documented for a small coasting vessel. made the Minstrel a suitable subject for further Charles Claxton was the surveying officer at research. Wells in 1847 when the Minstrel was registered She was built at Wells and although in the on 4th September. She was the seventeenth ves- 1840s and 50s, there was a trend to invest in sel registered that year, bearing in mind that the bigger vessels, intended for the deep-sea trade, figure also included vessels registered at Cley. the majority of vessels built were sloops and Eight of these were small fishing craft built at schooners of between 50 and 100 tons. The Sheringham, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Minstrel was typically one of these vessels that Ludham; four were larger vessels built else- formed the backbone of the trade of Wells. Built where, bought second hand and re-registered at in 1847, she was able to partake in the height of Wells, and four had been built at Wells that year. the 19th century trade, and, lasting until 1904, In addition to the 151 ton Countess of Leicester, she also saw the decline. Tyrrell had also built and launched the 95 ton schooner Teazer also registered in April 1847. Early History During the same period John Lubbock had built the schooners Sydney Claude (84 tons, regis- here were two shipyards in Wells at that tered in February) and Edward Coke (87 tons, time, John Lubbock’s and Henry Tyrrell’s registered in August) indicating a prosperous and the Minstrel was built at the latter’s period for the Wells shipbuilders. T The Minstrel was registered at 59 tons, had yard at the East End, just past Jolly Sailor’s Yard. The launch was recorded by the Norfolk two masts and her measurements were; length Chronicle, which stated “Yesterday afternoon 57.3 feet, breadth 15.3 feet and depth 8.4 feet. (25th August) at six o’clock, a very pretty She had a graceful square stern, was carvel schooner called the Minstrel was launched from built (i.e. the planking was laid flush and not Mr H T Tyrrell’s shipyard. She is the property of overlapping) and had a scroll rather than a fig- T T Mack Esq. of Burnham.”1 A few months ear- urehead. She was entirely owned by Thomas 4 lier, in April 1847, Tyrrell had launched the Thirtle Mack of Burnham Thorpe. Her master, Countess of Leicester, the largest vessel to be Henry Howell, also came from Burnham Thorpe. built at Wells to that date and described as “a Thomas Mack was described as a ship owner in splendid brig” and “the finest specimen of ship- the registers, which he was, but in previous building ever constructed at Wells.”2 The event entries he had just been described as a mer- was also recorded, probably by Tyrrell himself, chant. He obviously knew and trusted Henry in a two dimensional ‘model’, consisting of a Tyrrell, since, along with John Savory and series of cut-outs mounted on a square base- James Smith of Burnham Overy, he had invest- board. The relevance of this to the Minstrel is ed in a third (21 shares) of another of Tyrrell’s that her construction was well underway by the ships, the 51 ton sloop Hopewell, built a year 4 The Glaven Historian No.8 Photograph 1. The Countess of Leicester about to be launched in 1847 with Minstrel under construction at Tyrrell’s shipyard from a model owned by Tom Dack of Wells. earlier. He was obviously happy with his invest- was no exception. Most of the photographs of ment, for as well as financing the whole of the the vessels were taken in port and the advan- Minstrel, he also took eight shares in the tage that the ship portraits have is that they Countess of Leicester. show the vessel under sail. By looking at the Burnham had long been a creek of Wells and painting of Minstrel on page 6, the two square under its jurisdiction. The vessels traded from sails on her mainmast show that she was a top- Burnham Overy Staithe. Although never as sail schooner. Two crewmen are shown on deck. important as Wells there was a steady trade dur- However, the shipping registers, record that she ing the first half of the 19th century. White’s was crewed by four men, a fact confirmed by the Directory of 1845 describes Overy Creek as crew agreements. Strangely, her code flag hoist, “navigable for vessels of 60 or 80 tons up to the used to identify the vessel, which was given as Staith, where the spring-tides rise 9 or 10 feet, NFKL by the Mercantile Navy List for 1867, does and where a considerable trade in Coal and corn not agree with the flags shown in the painting. is carried on, as well as in oysters, of which She was a fine looking vessel, and the scroll fig- there is an excellent bed in the offing, where 5 urehead and her elegant stern are clearly dis- boats and 15 fishermen are regularly played. employed.”5 Mack and Wiseman were corn and coal merchants based at Burnham Overy and it Trading - Overseas is likely that both the Hopewell (which was part owned by John Savory, miller & maltster in lthough primarily involved in the coasting Burnham Overy and later owner of the Minstrel) trade, the Minstrel did occasionally go and the Minstrel were built in order to control Aoverseas as the Crew Agreement for 1863 the shipping of their produce. Although the indicates. On 2nd May of that year she left Minstrel was primarily involved in trading from Hartlepool for Hamburg leaving that port on the Burnham there was a constant interplay 18th to return to Burnham. Later that year she between Wells and all of the north Norfolk har- sailed from Hartlepool to Memel (Klaipeda, in bours and the Minstrel would have taken car- present day Lithuania) arriving on 20th June goes to and from Wells when not needed at and departing for Britain (probably Blakeney) Burnham. ten days later. Although no British destination Throughout the eighteenth century it was was given, the crew was discharged at Blakeney commonplace for proud masters or owners to on 7th August. The Blakeney Harbour Account purchase a painting of their vessel from one of Book for August 1863 records the Minstrel as the artists in the major ports who earned a liv- paying harbour dues of 7s 3d. Since this was ing by faithfully reproducing ships. The Minstrel charged at a pennyha’penny a ton, this indicates Minstrel – Biography of a Sailing Ship 5 Photograph 2. The Minstrel at Blakeney Quay c1900. 6 The Glaven Historian No.8 Photograph 3. Photograph of a ship painting of Minstrel, also in ‘The Glaven Ports’ J J Hooton 1996 p 208. the vessel was 58 tons, thereby confirming it to ond trip it was Wells. At the end of the year the be the Minstrel. Also recorded were import dues crew agreement states that all four men were of 2s 4d. In September, she repeated the trip continuing with the vessel and the completed arriving in Memel on 16th September and again Agreement was delivered to Wells on the 12th staying ten days before returning probably to January 1864.7 Wells, where the crew were discharged on 22nd 6 October. Changing Ownership and Registration Crew uring 1864 the ownership of the Minstrel changed hands, although it little affected he crew were all from Burnham. They Dthe crew or the trading pattern. On 23rd were, Henry Howell, master, 44 years of August, the owner, Thomas Thirtle Mack, sold Tage, William Smith, mate, 26 years of age, 32 shares to his fellow Burnham merchant, Joseph Scoles, seaman, 23 years of age and John Savory, and 32 shares to Henry Howell, Henry Howell jnr., cook, who was just 21. Their the master.8 Howell was 45 at this time and wages for the foreign voyages are recorded and when the next transaction took place in 1891, are as follows. William Smith, the mate, received when he relinquished his shares he would have £3-10s and Joseph Scoles, seaman got £2-15s. been 72. However, they may have passed to his The new apprentice, Henry Howell jnr. only son, also Henry Howell. In the same year, the received £1-15s, although he must have dis- Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Minstrel is charged his duties creditably because on the recorded arriving at Newcastle from Wells on second trip to Memel his wages rose by twenty 24th January.