the sinking of H.M.S Brazen near Newhaven

[brisall]

I am trying to trace info on the Captain of this vessel.James Hanson who drowned with the sinking of this ship on Jan 26 1800,does anyone know where he was born,who his parents were and he married a Louisa in 1799,does anyone know where they married!

[lizdb]

Bit of a tall order, all that!

The Sussex Record Office may have something if the ship sailed from Newhaven, or elsewhere in Sussex. They have a few records from ships, though not many survive. If you are lucky you may find something e.g a ships return with his age on. you never know, they may have something about the shipwreck.
The Maritime Museum at Greenwich also have some of Lloyds shipping records. My brother and I went there some years ago (cant remember if we had to make an appointment or just turned up) and we found the report of a ship's incident in which an ancestor drowned.

Where did you get this info about his death? If you can follow that up to find whereabouts in the country he sailed from, you can start looking there for the marriage. Again, where did you get the info that he married in 1799?
As his birth/ marriage are pre 1837 (i.e before civil registration began) it will be a case of trying the IGI, and searching through parish registers, but you need to know what area to search in.

Will be a long haul - but you may be lucky, just depends if there IS anything still out there about him for you to find!

All the best

[Valda]

Since he was a captain in her majesty's navy there will be some records on his service at The National Archives
see their research guides

http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=287

I only say some because his death was in 1800 so the earlier records to do not give such good coverage. There also seems to be some records on the ship itself.

You could try an index such as for 'The Times' which is likely to have had a newspaper report on the sinking.

Or you could make it easy on yourself and do a Google search for him and find

http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/jcr/~vancouver2.html#James%20Hanson

which gives the following information

James Hanson
James Hanson was born in London. His older brother, John Hanson, was a lawyer, who was known as the solictor and business agent of George, Lord Byron, the poet. While the poet was still a boy, he would stay with the Hanson family in Earls Court, London and he was well-known to James Hanson.
Hanson was selected for the expedition to the Northwest Coast of America. On 17 November 1790, Hanson became a lieutenant and joined the Chatham on 28 December 1790 in that rank as second-in-command to William Broughton, the ship's commander. After the storeship Daedalus arrived at Nootka and Vancouver learned of the death of its commander, Richard Hergest, Hanson was appointed as the replacement agent (or commander) in his place on 29 August 1792. No log for Hanson has been located. Hanson Island in Queen Charlotte Sound is named for him.

Hanson was promoted to commander on 24 July 1795 and in 1800 he was in command of HMS Brazen. The Brazen had been a French privateer l'Invincible General Bounaparte that had been captured the previous April. Operating in the English Channel, Hanson took a prize off the Isle of Wight and sent it into Portsmouth. The following morning, 26 January 1800, Brazen was driven by a gale on to the Ave Rocks near Newhaven and was destroyed. Only one man survived and Hanson was among the dead. He left no will.

At some time after Vancouver's voyage Hanson had married. His widow, who was in an advanced state of pregnancy, offered a reward for the recovery of the captain's body. Hanson's arm was marked with an anchor picked out in gunpowder.

Whidbey called the southern point of Gray's Harbor on the Washington coast Point Hanson but the name was not retained and it is now known as Point Chehalis. However, an island deep in Queen Charlotte Sound, north of Vancouver Island, is still known as Hanson Island.

Regards
Valda

[mnmilt]

Hi,
As Valda points out, the Hansons were well acquainted with Lord Byron.  There is a book (The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and
Journals, Vol. 1, by Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero) available through Project Gutenberg that contains many mentions of the Hansons, including James(http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8blj110.txt). 
It also contains the following fascinating fact.

Captain James Hanson, R.N., was the brother of John Hanson
to whom the letter is written. Byron was born with a caul, prized by
sailors as a preservative from drowning. The caul was sold by Mrs.
Mills, the nurse who attended Mrs. Byron in January, 1788, to Captain
Hanson.

I haven't look at the whole book but I don't think that it mentions the information that you are looking for.

If I had to hazard a guess as to the parents, I would suggest that James' father was Hargreaves Hanson (see http://www.geocities.com/hanson_allen/hansonfamilytree.html#Hanson%20of%20Halifax,%20County%20York,%20England).  If this is correct, then James has quite a lineage.

Regards

Mark

[Valda]

A descent from Hargreaves Hanson would seem to contradict the information given that James Hanson was in fact born in London?

Regards

Valda

[mnmilt]

Valda,
I'm not sure whether that means that the statement that James Hanson was born in London is incorrect or not. 
I'm still pretty sure that James' father was Hargreaves Hanson since the book of Byron's letters mentions (on numerous occasions) a Hargreaves Hanson who was the son of John Hanson. 
It may be possible that the Hansons had many houses around the country and they happened to be in London when James was born. 

Regards

Mark

[Valda]

The IGI gives this baptism

JAMES HANSON 
Christening:  26 DEC 1767   All Saints, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland,
Father:  HARGRAVES HANSON 

Plus siblings
Lettis <Hanson>
Christening: 13 JUN 1760 Colne, Lancashire

John <Hanson>
Christening: 12 JAN 1762 Colne, Lancashire
 
ELIZABETH HANSON 
Christening: 24 FEB 1763 All Saints, Newcastle Upon Tyne

ELLEN HANSON
Christening: 22 MAR 1764 All Saints, Newcastle Upon Tyne
 
BRIDGET HANSON
Christening: 26 AUG 1766 All Saints, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Using the more interesting name - Lettis appears to have married in Newcastle - unless it is her mother remarrying.

LETTICE HANSON 
Spouse:  JOHN BROWN 
Marriage:  30 APR 1785   Saint John, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland

I can find no Prerogative Court of Canterbury will for Hargreaves so presume you would need to look in the Prerogative Court of York (which is unexpected if he held property in London).

This might be John's PCC will as he was a solicitor
Will of John Hanson of Vernlam Buildings in Grays Inn 08 November 1841 PROB 11/1953

Regards
Valda
 

 

[The Crated Brick]

There is a large amount of information in the local Maritime Museum here at Newhaven about the sinking of HMS Brazen together with many artefacts recovered from the scene of the wreck. Jeremiah HILL, the only survivor of the wreck was a non-swimmer. The widow Louisa Hanson was pregnant at the time of his death and gave birth at Dartford in Kent  on 5th May 1800 to James Hawsey HANSON. The son however died 17th May 1802. Louisa HANSON lived to the age of 103 and died at a municipal home in Bexley in Kent. Records show that in 1867 a conveyance was made to Louisa HANSON of two pieces of land and "Mari House" in Parkhill Road, Bexley, Kent. Mari House burned down in 1891. Louisa had only been married for 18 months when she was widowed at the age of 20, and she drew a Navy pension for over 80 years, believed to be the longest recorded pension in Naval history. The Brazen had sailed from Morwellham on the River Tamar in Cornwall on the 23rd January 1800,  and having captured a French Privateer the following morning, Captain Hanson placed a prize crew on board and sent it to Portsmouth while the Brazen then continued up Channel until running aground in a severe storm at about 6am on the 26th January. In the grounds of St Michaels Church at Newhaven, is a monument erected to the memory of the 105 men who died. Although many bodies were washed ashore from the wreck, the Body of Captain Hanson was never found.

[petmas]

Brian/Brisall , tried emailing  you  but not getting any repy, can you email me through the Newhaven Museum site info@......  I have some info that should interest you. Chers Pete