Ardross Gallery

Owners: by 1867 Andrew Black (Andrew Street) Inverness; by 1868 George Black, Inverness; by 1877 Henry Crundall, Dover; by 1890 Henry Crundall junior, Dover; by 1892-99 Dixon Taylor Sharper (West Hartlepool) Dover.

Masters: 1870 Taylor; 1873 William Darmon; 1878 Paramor; 1878-1891 Minter; 1891-93 Francis Nossiter; 1894-99 Child.

October 1868 advertised for sale at Inverness while berthed at Ipswich.

The Ardross had sailed from Portsmouth on 5 November 1893 bound for Hartlepool with a cargo of chalk. The crew consisted of the Master, mate, one ordinary seaman & five apprentices. On 17 November 1893 she was in a collision with the fishing vessel Confidence of Hull in which the latter received considerable damage. In February 1894 an inquiry was held at Hull regarding the collision  The outcome was that the mate, Robert W. Northey, Francis Nossiter,  was found to be alone in default & was fined 15/-. Grave blame was also laid against the Master for taking the vessel to sea & the owner Dixon Sharper for allowing the vessel to sail with an inexperienced & inefficient crew of which only two had previous experience at sea. The Master had been told by the owner ‘to man the ship as reasonably as he could’. Sharper was ordered to pay 50/- to the Board of Trade toward the cost of the inquiry.

The crew consisted of apprentices John Wedgewood Harrison, Alfred Ernest Wright, John George Cotes, George Swailes & Edgar Williams.

Crew 1893:

Cotes, John George, apprentice, 20

Harrison, John Wedgewood, apprentice, 20 (entered on the articles as aged 17)

Mearills, Frederick, ordinary seaman, 18, Hartlepool

Northey, Robert W, mate

Nossiter, Francis, master, Hartlepool

Swailes, George, apprentice, 20 (entered on the articles as aged 17)

Williams, Edgar, apprentice 15

Wright, Alfred Ernest, apprentice, 19

Ardross left Hartlepool on 9 January 1899 bound for London with a cargo of coal & a crew of six. She was sighted off the coast on 12 January & then disappeared. At the time there were severe storms at sea & it was assumed that she had foundered. She was posted as missing on 16 February 1899. All the crew had been shipped at London. A subscription was set up for the widows & orphans of the master & the mate.