Arve Gallery

Built at Sunderland: Official No. 25734: Code Letters PHFN.

Owners: 1840-53 George Moon, Hartlepool, Margaret, Henry & Charles Strathmore Moon, Sunderland; 1854 William Merryweather, Thomas & John Gray (innkeepers) Hartlepool, Edward Waddingham (draper) Durham & John Richardson (miller, Stranton) Hartlepool; by 1866 Thomas Gray (shipowner) Edward Waddingham (draper) Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather (shipbroker) Hartlepool; April 1871Thomas Gray, Edward Waddingham, Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather &Thomas Trewhitt, Hartlepool; October 1871Thomas Gray, Edward Waddingham & Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather, Hartlepool.

Masters: 1847 Whitehead; 1848-52 Storey; 1854-56 Richard Sharp; 1857 R Barton; 1858-59 Sheddngnie; 1860-61 Ditchburn; 1862-69 W Hoare; 1870 Blacklaw; 1872 Youlden.

Voyages: 1854 Hartlepool for the Mediterranean; 1864 Hartlepool for France; January 1854 during a violent storm she struck on the Heugh rocks at Hartlepool & was under water; 15 April 1858 Lewis Davis, mate of Arve was charged at Liverpool with deserting the vessel. He was sentenced to 10 weeks hard labour & the Board of Trade cancelled his Certificate No.72361; from Hartlepool for Cronsadt with a cargo of coal she put into Copenhagen leaky on 21 September 1870.

Bound from Hartlepool for Gefle Arve was entirely disabled during a hurricane in the Baltic near the island of Njord on 14 November 1872. Her crew were compelled to take to the rigging where most of them suffered from frostbite. They were rescued at great risk by a boat from the Norwegian ship Arnon& landed at Elsinore on 17 November 1872. Grundesen, master of the Arnonwas awarded by public vote a binocular glass worth £6 6s & the two men who manned the boat, J.J. Olsen, mate & E. Samuelsen, seaman each received a silver medal.

A shipping company which was formed through a long connection of family shipowners which included William, Richard, Joseph Benjamin Lister and William Scott Merryweather. William Merryweather was an auctioneer and purchased shares in his first sailing vessel soon after the Victoria Dock opened in Hartlepool in 1840. His son, Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather formed a partnership with Robert Coverdale & Charles Scotson Todd in 1873. On 31 August 1878 the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent and Joseph and his son, William Scott, became partners. Their first ship was the Sarah Ann named after Joseph’s wife.  

William added ships to the company after his father’s death. The last ship was sold in 1915 and he carried on a business as a shipbroker.

Family History:

Richard Merryweather was born in 1815 at Welbury, Yorkshire to parents William and Elizabeth. He became an auctioneer and in the late 1850s and early 1860s had shares in sailing vessels. Richard was married to Elizabeth Mould at Buckingham in 1841. By 1851 the couple were living at Southgate, Hartlepool and by 1861 at Cleveland, House, High Street, Hartlepool with their five children.  Richard died on 3 October 1891 aged 76 at Hartlepool leaving effects of £72.

William Merryweather was born in April 1791 at Welbury, Yorkshire to parents Richard and Margaret (nee Snaith). He married Elizabeth (nee Lister) in October 1813 at Welbury. Elizabeth died in 1854. William was remarried in February 1860 to Eleanor Forster. He died in February 1866 and is buried in St Hilda’s Churchyard alongside his first wife. On his death his effects were less than £1,500.

William and Elizabeth’s first son, also William, was born at Welbury in 1815. He became a porter merchant and then a shipowner. In June 1844 he married Margaret Ann Hauxwell at Hartlepool. William died in July 1853 at Stockton-on-Tees.

Joseph Benjamin Lister Merryweather was born to William and Elizabeth in 1836 at Hartlepool. In June 1859 he married Sarah Ann Scott at Wakefield. By 1881 the family were living at Alverthorpe, Wakefield. Joseph died on 22 December 1902 at Welbury Grange near Northallerton leaving effects of £38,173.

William Scott Merryweather was born in January 1860 at Hartlepool to Joseph and Sarah. He married Emily Elizabeth Wattley in 1885. At this time he was living at ‘Ethelbert’, Victoria Road. He was a member of the Town Council for many years and a J.P. By 1911 he was living at ‘Wrenwood’, Park Avenue, West Hartlepool. William died in July 1930 at Welbury leaving just £40 to his widow.