Preston - a general history

Masters: 1882 H Osborne; 1883-85 David Bowden Rooke.

Miscellaneous: returning from her first voyage to New York with a cargo of provisions on 13 October 1882 she stranded eight miles south of Berwick. Most of the cargo, which included flour, was thrown overboard in an effort to lighten her. She was eventually floated with the assistance of four tugs but had lost her rudder, her anchors & her boats & was making water. In heavy seas & with the vessel in an extremely precarious state she eventually reached the Tyne with 12 feet of water in her.

Crew between 1882 & 1884: Barke, Oscar, chief officer; Coulter, J, able seaman; Muir, chief officer; Nurse, James, seaman; Todd Robert, 3rd engineer.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Tuesday, , February 24^th, 1885:
The Missing Local Steamers. Nothing has yet been heard of Messrs. Ropner's boat, the Preston. The following members of the crew belong to the Hartlepools: Capt. J. Bowden Rooke, jun., West Hartlepool, master; Jas. Baillie, Hartlepool, first engineer; J. Strugnel, West Hartlepool, steward; and J. Neil, Hartlepool, boatswain. Some were married and have families. The Preston left New York on the 20th of last month, and should have arrived at Hartlepool on the 7th, inst. Her net register was 1,641 tons.

Lives lost February 1885: Anderson, AJ, fireman; Bell, Robert, 3rd engineer, West Hartlepool; Clark, Francis, fireman; Daley, William, fireman; Donnough, Thomas, fireman; Elliott, Thomas, 2nd engineer, West Hartlepool; Graham, George, engineer’s boy; Hayes, J, fireman; James Baillie, 1st engineer, Hartlepool; Kearney, Robert, fireman; Kintz, Jacob, fireman; Liveney, Edward, able seaman; McColl, John, donkeyman, West Hartlepool; Naylor, George, able seaman; Neil, J, boatswain, Hartlepool; Newmarket, George, fireman; Orpin, Daniel, mate, Liverpool; Owen, RJ, 2nd mate; Petersen, Oscar, able seaman; Rawl, John, able seaman; Rooke, David Bowden (junior), master, West Hartlepool; Strugnell, J, 4th engineer, West Hartlepool; T Usher, steward, Hartlepool.

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