Page 1 of 1

Lady Hannah Ellice

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:55 pm
by john sefton
In July 1997 St.Lucia issued a set of four stamps featuring ships which met misfortune at, or just off, the island. The harbour of Castries was devastated after the dreadful hurricane of October 21st,1817, and this is scene depicted on the $ 2.50 value. According to one account eighteen vessels were driven ashore during the hurricane; nine of these, it states, were small vessels belonging to the island'--- they were totally lost; the other nine vessels were,it seems, all refloated; four of these were the JAMES, the LARK, the JOHN & MARY, and the YOUNG WILLIAM, all four belonging to Halifax, N.S. The only other vessel mentioned by name is the ship LADY HANNAH ELLICE ( sometimes spelt LADY HANNAH ELLIS) , of London; evidently she was the largest vessel in port at the time, and it is my contention that it is this ship which is depicted on the stamp.
The LADY HANNAH ELLICE was built,as a West Indiaman, by Edward Adams at Buckler's Hard, Hampshire, where she was launched in 1812. In Lloyd's Register she is listed as a ship of 350 tons armed with 12 guns, which suggests she held a Letter of Marque. Her date of build is given as 1811, but this is probably the year in which the shipbuilder declared she was built; evidently towards the end of 1811,seeing as she was launched in 1812 ( she was sheathed and coppered in 1811). N.B. Some vessels remained on the stocks for weeks before being launched --- in many river ports it was often necessary to wait for a spring tide in order to launch a vessel.
Her owner in 1814 was a person named Chalmers, and her intended voyage was from London to Martinique. It appears that her first voyage was from Southampton to Dominica, where she arrived on June 6th,1812. Chalmers still the owner in 1816.
The LADY HANNAH ELLICE was refloated after having been driven ashore, or aground; without, it seems, having suffered much damage. She was repaired in 1818 ( evidently at London, which means that she was only patched up at St.Lucia. In Lloyd's Register of 1816 her listed master is Captain R. Garrick, and her listed voyage London to St.Lucia. It was,evidently, in 1818 that this ship was acquired by a person named Joad ( perhaps the principal owner of a partnership). Her listed voyage in the register of 1819 is London to Jamaica. By 1822 she had been sold to a person named Domet. In the 1822 register (Shipowners version) she is registered as being 343 tons (n.b. this would be the same tonnage given when she was first entered in this version of Lloyd's Register).
Before 1833 ( probably in 1829) the ship was sold again --- to a person named M'Farlane. In the register of 1837 M'Farlane is still the owner, but the vessel had been reduced to barque rig; it states that she was coppered, and had some repairs in 1837, that she belonged to the port of Alloa, Scotland, and at the time she was surveyed, in March 1837, she was at Liverpool. The LADY HANNAH ELLICE disappears from Lloyd's Register before 1840.
It may be coincidental, but the name M'Farlane, the Scottish connection, and the period, i.e. 1837, suits the supposition that it may have been the same M'Farlane as the Captain Malcolm M 'Farlane who had the barque MALCOLM built for him here in Flint, Flintshire, in May 1840; he registered this barque at Stranraer.
By E. J. Holden Log Book November 1997.
St Lucia SG1170

Re: Lady Hannah Ellice

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:39 am
by paulagaubert
It makes sense that the ship would disappear from the registers by 1840 : she went down in 1839 There is a blurb in Sailors Magasine, May 1839 page 294, that reads as follows :

"Br. Barque, Lady Hannah Ellice, from Honduras to Liverpool, was totally lost, August 27, on the Tangles. "

I found this blurb on google books. My interest in the Lady Hannah Ellice stems from having discovered a passenger manifest on ancestry.com showing that my great-great-great-grandmother (Rachel Bland) sailed with 13 other members of her family from Liverpool to Virgina in 1833 on the "Barque Lady Hannah Ellice". They mostly all returned to England by 1836, presumably on the same boat, but I cannot find a manifest for the return voyage. I'm pretty excited to see a possible image of this boat on the stamp you posted.

Re: Lady Hannah Ellice

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:14 pm
by john sefton
Thanks for your interest in the site, I'm pleased you have found it useful.