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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Cork => Topic started by: RobbityBob on Sunday 06 December 20 23:59 GMT (UK)
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I'm looking for some information about my Woolley ancestors who emigrated from England to Australia in 1852 aboard Prins Hendrik and stayed a short time in Passage/Queenstown along the way. I've been able to verify most of the info from an old family story - but nothing about the short stop in Ireland.
- The Prins Hendrik departed Liverpool September 1852 and arrived Port Phillip April 1853.
- On the 12th October 1852 the Prins Hendrik collided with the Russian ship “Hiima” in the Irish Sea. The Hiima sank, the crew were rescued and taken aboard the Prins Hendrik. Hiima was on a voyage from Cádiz to Helsinki. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_October_1852 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_October_1852))
- According to the family story, the Prins Hendrik "returned to Ireland for repairs, stayed at Passage, Queenstown Harbour for six weeks then started to sea again". This seems verified by the Melbourne shipping arrivals notice in the Empire (Sydney, Aust) 14 April 1853, where it states the ship came "from Liverpool via Cork 29th November 1852". (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61323355 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61323355))
I'm not too familiar with Irish geography although I've discovered that Queenstown (Cobh), Passage and Cork town are closeby. Also not certain where to start looking, but I'd like to locate a record of the PH ship repairs or where the family might have stayed.
Any suggestions are welcomed.
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Liverpool Mail of 23rd October 1852 reports that the Prins Hendrik put into Queenstown (modern Cobh) on October 17th with loss of cutwater, jibboom, sails etc and leaky, having been in contact with the Russian barque Helma from Liverpool for Cadiz with salt (?) which sank the following morning. Crew saved by the Prins Hendrik.
Shipping & Mercantile Gazette 23rd October 1852 reports that J. Goedkoop, Captain of the Prins Hendrik, of Amsterdam, en route from Liverpool to Port Philip, had lodged a deposition under the Wreck & Salvage Act.
Glasgow Herald of 25th October 1852 describes the collision in some detail. The 2 ships remained entangled with each other for about 4 hours. Finally the Russian vessel was cut free whereupon it promptly sank. 60 passengers on the Prins Hendrik including children. The Russian crew were landed at Queenstown and the Russian Consul arranged for their repatriation. The Dutch consul boarded the Prins Hendrik and offered his assistance. The damage was so considerable that the cargo had to be discharged and the vessel go into dock for repairs. No lives were lost but the scene of confusion and terror at the time of the collision was described as most terrible.
I would infer that the passengers were put into a hotel or other lodgings in Queenstown whilst the ship was repaired. The cost being borne by the shipping company or their insurers?
Doesn’t tell you who repaired the ship though but you might be able to find a list of ship repair yards in Queenstown. It was a big port. It’s where todays cruise ships call (or used to, pre-Covid).
1846 Slaters Directory gives you some details of businesses in Cove (Queenstown):
https://www.failteromhat.com/slater/0068.pdf
https://www.failteromhat.com/slater/0069.pdf
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Thank you Elwyn - thats excellent and aligns with some other facts I have (eg: the salt ship reference).
I'm not sure how to access those 3 articles? I have an ancestry.uk account and various other subscriptions. Could you please reply with links to those 3 sources and I'll see if I can access.
In the meantime I'll follow up the info in Slaters. Do you think I should look for shipbuilders located in Passage and Cork (town) - or would they all be in Cove/Queenstown/Cobh?
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The information came from a newspaper subscription site, so I can’t give you links as they won’t work if you are not a subscriber. But if you send me a pm with your e-mail address, I’ll see what I can do to help.
With regard to where the ship was repaired, it’s hard to say. It was obviously in Cove at first. Whether they would have moved it to Passage or Cork, I don’t really know. Passage was certainly a notable ship building and repair port. Indeed that was the main business of the town. But if the ship was taking in water, maybe they would have felt it safer to repair it in Cove. Hard to say.
I did search the newspaper site for mention of it’s departure from Ireland but did not see anything.
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Thanks Elwyn for all your help and suggestions, I'll send a PM now.
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Left Queenstown around 17th Nov 1852
https://www.marhisdata.nl/schip?id=10101
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Thankyou Dathai - that is a great find that fills in some gaps on dates, the ships appearance, name change etc.
GoogleTranslate has done a reasonable job but I might get a dutch friend to translate some parts where the meaning is a bit unclear.
Regards
Rob