The Rosebud in question was ON 47974. Capt. Beynon's last voyage on her began Oct. 26, 1897, and terminated April 12, 1898 (without Capt. Beynon, obviously).
Theystarted out from Glasgow, going to St. John's via Greenock with a load of coal. After the death of Beynon, Captain Enon signed on a whole new local crew and carried on, taking the ship down to Brazil and Barbados (presumably with a load of dried fish), then back to St. John's, then again to Brazil and Trinidad, then back to London. They had a stowaway on the first trip down to Brazil, so Capt. Enon signed him on as a cabin boy for 1 shilling a week. He deserted in Barbados.
I have had some progress re the death of Capt. Beynon. A note written by his successor, Capt. Enon, made reference to a magistrate's inquiry into the affair. I had a look in the Newfoundland archives and found the proceedings of the magisterial inquiry into "the death or mysterious disappearance of George Beynon, Captain of the Brigantine Rosebud which occured on Monday Jan 11, 1897." It contains sworn statements from first mate Enon, Samuel Wilkinson the Boatswain, Richard Vogler, ordinary seaman, James Mann, agent for the owner, James Gearin, a pilot who had previously sailed with Beynon, and Dr. Fraser the attending physician.
The conclusion of the attending physician was that the captain was very ill from chronic alcoholism and probably fell overboard as a result. He was already very sick before they left England and had spent 3 days under doctor's care in Greenock. He contacted the owners in Greenock and asked to be relieved of command but was refused. On arrival in St. John's, he spent two weeks under doctor's care, staying at the agent's home, but then returned to his ship.
Capt. Enon and the boatswain tried very hard to avoid discussing Beynon's drinking, attributing his illness to other causes, and both spoke very highly of him. However after the testimony of Vogler, Gearin and the doctor, Enon was recalled and in his second statment admitted that yes, the captain had been drinking and the doctor had told Enon to take chare of the key for the store room so Beynon couldn't get any more.
Someother interesting notes from the statements - apparently Beynon's wife had sailed on most of the voyages, but on this voyage had left the ship at Greenock and gone home to Plymouth. There is even a mention that she sometimes operated the chronometer.
Finally, there is a rather gruesome account of two night watchmaen who found the body on May 29.
J.
