Earl Dalhousie sank with emigrants on board

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MUCH debate took place during court proceedings to settle an insurance claim on a Greenock-registered ship wrecked in 1821.

Built at Londonderry, Nova Scotia, in 1817, she was a two-masted sailing vessel first registered in Halifax, NS. In 1820, the ship was re-registered as the Earl Dalhousie of Greenock, but was more commonly referred to as the Earl of Dalhousie.

The co-owners were given as Captain Peter Scott, who was her master, and John Gifford, a teacher.

The Highland Clearances meant many evicted families had no option but to seek a new life in the colonies.

That is why the Earl of Dalhousie left Greenock on 4 July, 1821, for Fort William before sailing to Quebec with more than 140 emigrants on board.

On 16 September, the ship was wrecked after hitting a reef off Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Mercifully, all passengers and crew got ashore to the island. They were later transported to Quebec City.

The wreck was sold for £40 and the co-owners claimed for the vessel"s loss.

The subsequent legal wrangles went on for several years and ended up at the House of Lords in 1932.

The insurers found out that co-owner John Gifford was actually a stand-in for a Joseph Manchita, who was possibly an Italian glass blower in Greenock, in 1821.

Described in courts as an "alien", Manchita could not in law own or have an insurable interest in a British vessel.

The legal outcome was that Captain Peter Scott received £500 - half the insured amount.

The above information came to me from Cecil McPhee, of Montreal, Canada.

Cecil was a youngster in the late 1950s when a great aunt told him her Scottish great grandparents, the Murrays, had been shipwrecked off Anticosti Island. They lost everything apart from a pair of souvenir "mugs" given to their two little daughters when leaving Scotland. She did not know what had become of these items.

In the early 1970s Cecil brought up the subject while speaking to another relative. He mentioned the Murray "mugs" and his relative pointed to three ceramic objects which had belonged to the family. Two appeared to have been made later than the 1820s, but the third, a jug which has masonic symbols on its base, is thought to be one of the "mugs" referred to by Cecil"s great aunt.

Over the years Cecil has done much research into the Earl of Dalhousie and is considering writing a book.

He told me: 'I would be grateful to receive as much information as possible about the ship"s Greenock connection.'

Cecil would love to make contact with descendents of, or anyone with knowledge of, Captain Peter Scott, John Gifford, Joseph Manchita, agent John Munro, of East Quay Lane, Greenock, who took bookings for the voyage, and George Kerr and Sons, Greenock merchants and possible insurers of the Earl of Dalhousie.

He would also like to hear from anyone with information about the old mug, pictured, which has been authenticated as being made in Scotland around 1820.

Cecil McPhee can be contacted at Apt 16, 2168 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3H 1G7.

His email address is avoca@allstream.net

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 31 Mar 09

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