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Queen of Commerce - a general history

Official No. 27884; Code Letters PTDV.

Owners: George Blumer & Robert Brewis, Hartlepool; 1861 Robert Brewis, Hartlepool; 1872-77 Hamilton Brown (ships carpenter) Greenock; 1877-1882 Brown & Others, Greenock.

Masters: 1860-61 James Pottinger (C.N. 14566 1856); 1862-71 Wilkinson; 1872 McDougal; 1873-75 David Leamon Murdoch (b.1835 Ayrshire C.N. 17237 Glasgow 1863); August 1874 Hudson: March 1875 Kerr; 1877-82 Stevens.

Miscellaneous: 15 December 1873 John Rogers aged 23 & John McKinnin aged 18 were charged at the Old Bailey with stealing on the high seas two 20 dollar notes, the property of the master, David Murdoch. The verdict was that the prisoners were found not guilty.

4 January 1877 the estates of A & H Brown &Hamilton Brown were sequestrated by the Court of Session at the Tontine Hotel, Greenock.

Not registered in the UK as Queen of Commerce by 1878 but still registered on the American Register until 1882 as belonging to Brown & Others of Greenock.

Further information on the trial, her voyages and her crews can be found in the book Lost Ships of the Hartlepools.

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