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Charles Steels Technical Specification
| Length (feet) : | 230.0 |
| Breadth (feet) : | 32.5 |
| Depth (feet): | 14.1 |
| Gross Registered Tonnage (g.r.t.) : | 1,170 |
| Net Registered Tonnage (n.r.t.) : | |
| Engine Type : | 99hp T.3.Cy 16½, 27 & 44 -33 160lb 75lb |
| Engine Builder : |
Hutson & Corbett, Glasgow. |
| Additional Particulars : | well-deck steel screw. |
Related items :
Charles Steels - a general history
Completed January 1890: Official No. 97385: Code Letters LNHF.
Owners: 1890 J. Lilly, Wilson & Co, West Hartlepool; 1893 J. Lilly & Co, West Hartlepool.
Masters: 1890 T Sawyer; 1891-93 J Stewart; 1893 JW Howling; 1894-95 J Robinson; 1898 Thomas Peet (b. 1870 Hartlepool C.N. 24565 Sunderland 1895).
Charles Steels sailed from Leith on 16th October, 1898, bound for Hamburg with a cargo of coal and a crew of 18, and was not seen again. It was thought she had foundered in the severe gales that swept the coast from the 17th to the 20th October. A boat bearing the words ‘Charles Steels’ washed ashore at Buckhaven, Fifeshire which was assumed to have come from the missing vessel.
Lives lost:
Beal, James, 2nd Mate, Rodney Street, West Hartlepool; Grimwood, C., steward, Middlesbrough; Mitchell, Joseph, 30, fireman, b. Lochee, resided Hull; Peet, Thomas, Master, Scarborough Street, West Hartlepool; Penterman, F., Chief Mate, Straker Street West Hartlepool; Smith, Arthur, 2nd Engineer, Church Street, West Hartlepool; Walker, John T., Chief Engineer, Catherine Street West Hartlepool.
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, Thursday, October 27th, 1898:
THE MISSING WEST HARTLEPOOL STEAMER. HOPE ABANDONED. A West Hartlepool telegram states that no hope is now entertained of the safety of the West Hartlepool steamer Charles Steels, which left Leith for Hamburg October 16th, and encountered the whole force the recent storm. The crew were signed on under the coasting clause, so that owing to changes a complete list cannot be got. The vessel was commanded by Capt. Peet, of West Hartlepool, and the chief officers, first and second engineers, and two petty officers also belonged to the same town. The steamer carried 18 hands.
The following biographical information on Mr. Charles Steels, the gentleman whose company built the SS Charles Steels, has been kindly given to us by a member of the public.
MR.CHARLES STEELS
Charles was born 2nd Feb. 1852 and died 22nd Mar.1896 age 44
He never married so no children.
He was born in Chapmangate in Pocklington the son of Richard and Mary Steels.
He is found in the 1861 census as a scholar aged 8 years old.
He was later sent out to learn the trade of a grocer before returning to Pocklington to start his own business as a grocer which he did very successfully.
In the 1881 census he is shown as living above the shop (19 Market Place) with his sister Mary who is shown as a grocer’s assistant and a Laura Sessions a general servant.
He must have been a popular man as in 1893 there was an election for newly constituted Local Board for Pocklington.
He was one of the successful candidates but his brother William did not receive enough votes.
Charles was involved in the setting up of the Pocklington Steamship Company along with other investers.
They had two ships, one was named the SS Pocklington after the town and the second was named the SS Charles Steels named after himself.
It was commissioned in 1890 and was built in Hartlepool Yorkshire. It was approximately 1600 tons.
The company had mixed results for the two ships, the SS Pocklington
Being the more profitable.
This came to a head at a shareholders meeting and resulted in Charles having to go to court to defend a libel case against him.
After various incidents including saving another ship in a big storm after two other ships failed after their hawsers (Ropes) snapped and they had to leave her. The SS Charles Steels stood by until morning and took it in tow, again the hawser snapped but the managed to get it back under tow and get it safely into port.
In another incident the SS Charles Steels was sailing from Catania when sulphur took fire after reaching Oporto. The fire took days too finally to put out.
The ships last voyage was when it set sail from Leith going to Hamburg with a load of coal but a storm blew up and the ship was reported missing with all hands (18-20).
After six years a bottle was found containing a message from one of the crew saying that they had collided with an unknown ketch and was sinking fast.
Charles died in 1896 leaving around £8000 a lot of money in those days.
The will caused a rift in the family ending up with George and William going to court.
On the base of Charles headstone it says erected by George Steels and his sisters which I assume was snub to William. Perhaps this is what the argument was about, the cost of the headstone.
Still it all seems to have been sorted and William took over running the grocers shop and George later attended William’s funeral.
Lilly Shipping Co. Ltd.
Jesse Lilly & James Wilson operated eight ships from 1883 under Lilly, Wilson & Co., until their partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on 31 July 1891. Jesse Lilly continued operating ships under J. Lilly & Co., which then became Lilly Shipping Co. Ltd. In 1907 the London Gazette of January 18th, 1907, ran the following article:
LOBELIA STEAM SHIP CO. Limited. At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at the registered office of the Company, No. 61, Church-street, West Hartlepool, in the county of Durham, on the 24th day of December, 1906, the following Special Resolutions were duly passed; and at a subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the said Company, also duly convened, and held at the same place, on the 9th day of January, 1907, the following Special Resolutions were duly confirmed :— (1.) That the Lobelia Steam Ship Company Limited be voluntarily wound up with a view to its amalgamation with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, and that Mr. Jesse Lilly, of West Hartlepool aforesaid, Shipowner, be and he is hereby appointed Liquidator of the Company for the purposes of such winding up. (2.) That the said Liquidator be and he is hereby authorized, pursuant to section 161 of the Companies Act, 1862, to enter into an arrangement with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited for the sale to it of the whole of the business assets and liabilities of the Company in consideration of the allotment of shares in the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, upon the terms' of the scheme which has been submitted to the Meeting, and is, for the purpose of identification, signed by the Chairman of this Meeting. 093 J. LILLY, Chairman.
PETUNIA STEAM SHIP CO. Limited. At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at the registered office of the Company, No. 61, Church-street, West Hartlepool, in the county of Durham, on the 24th day of December, 1906, the following; Special Resolutions was duly passed; and at a subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the said Company, also duly convened, and held at the same place, on the 9th day of January, 1907, the following Special Resolutions was duly confirmed :— (J.) That the Petunia Steam Ship Company Limited be voluntarily wound up with a view to its amalgamation with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, and that Mr. Jesse Lilly, of West Hartlepool aforesaid, Shipowner, be and he is hereby appointed Liquidator of the Company for the purposes of such winding up. (2.) That the said Liquidator be and he is hereby authorized, pursuant to section 161 of the Companies Act, 1862, to enter into an arrangement with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited for the sale to it of the whole of the business assets and liabilities of this Company in consideration of the allotment of shares in the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, upon the terms of the scheme which has been submitted to the Meeting, and is, for the purpose of identification, signed by the Chairman of this Meeting. J. LILLY, Chairman.
POCKLINGTON STEAM SHIP CO. Limited. At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at the registered office of the Company, No. 61, Church-street, West Hartlepool, in the county of Durham, on the 24th day of December, 1906, the following Special Resolutions were duly passed; and at a subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the said Company, also duly convened, and held at the same place, on the 9th day of January, 1907, the following Special Resolutions were duly confirmed : (1.) That the Pocklington Steam Ship Company Limited be voluntarily wound up with a view to its amalgamation with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, and that Mr. Jesse Lilly, of West Hartlepool aforesaid, Shipowner, be and he is hereby appointed Liquidator of the Company for the purposes of such winding up. (2.) That the said Liquidator be and be is hereby authorized, pursuant to section 1GI of the Companies Act, 1862, to enter into an arrangement with the Lilly No. 27987. D Shipping Company Limited for the sale to it of the whole of the business assets and liabilities of this Company in consideration of the allotment of shares in the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, upon the terms of the scheme which has been submitted to the Meeting, and is, for the purpose of identification, signed by the Chairman of this Meeting. J. LILLY, Chairman.
VERBENA STEAM SHIP CO. Limited. At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at the registered office of the Company, No. 61, Church-street, West Hartlepool, in the county of Durham, on the 24th day of December, 1906, the following Special Resolutions were duly passed; and at a subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the said Company, also duly convened, and held at the same place, on the 9th day of January, 1907, the following Special Resolutions were duly confirmed:— (1.) That the Verbena Steam Ship Company Limited be voluntarily wound up with a view to its amalgamation with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, and that Mr. Jesse Lilly, of West Hartlepool aforesaid, Shipowner, be and he is hereby appointed Liquidator of the Company for the purposes of such winding up. (2.) That the said Liquidator be and he is hereby authorised, pursuant to section 161 of the Companies Act, 1862, to enter into an arrangement with the Lilly Shipping Company Limited for the sale to it of the whole of the business assets and liabilities of this Company in consideration of the allotment of shares in the Lilly Shipping Company Limited, upon the terms of the scheme which has been submitted to the Meeting, and is, for the purpose of identification, signed by the Chairman of this Meeting. 096 J. LILLY, Chairman.
Family History:
Jesse Lilly was born in April 1847 at Croft, Lincolnshire. He was married at Hartlepool to Elizabeth Ann Fleetham in October 1872 and, by 1873 were living at Musgrave Street, West Hartlepool. By 1901 the family were living at Billingham Hall.
In 1871 he was awarded his second mate's certificate and in 1873 his master's certificate having sailed firstly on the Agenoria of Boston aged 15 as a boy. He then went on to sail on the Florist, Levant and numerous other vessels.
Jesse died aged 60 at Billingham on 25th July 1907 at Stockton-on-Tees leaving effects of £30,678.
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