These are a collection of photographs that were found in a leather suitcase that had been under four feet of water for several days when my parent’s house was flooded in 1993. They were dried out but, needless to say, they are in not in their original state. I have put them together in small galleries for those who are interested in the history of the Westcountry trading ketches and also the history of Bude.
They were collected by my grandfather and, I believe, some he inherited from his father, during his years as master of the Ceres, a Westcountry trading ketch. I have no record of whether he took any of these photographs himself but I note that most of them are of ships in ports that Ceres would have visited. The captions are copies of the notes on the back of the photographs – I have added the punctuation.
Links: Merchant sailing vessels 1, Merchant sailing vessels 2.
(Click on image to enlarge)
‘Pommern’, Finnish four-masted barque in dry-dock at Birkenhead, March 1928
‘Queen of the West’ of Milford, built 1849 by Vivien at Salcombe, about 105 tons registered, this vessel draws 13 feet aft when fully loaded
Reading from left to right: ‘Mary Ann’ of Guernsey, ‘Forest Weel’ of Dublin, ‘Brackley’ of Liverpool
‘Salisbury’ of Rauma, discharging timber at Garston
‘Salisbury’ of Rauma, Finnish schooner, 579 tons gross, built 1903 by Kelly Spear and Co. at Bath, USA
‘Snowflake’ of Runcorn, built 1880 by Bundril of Runcorn
‘Tarragona’ of Whitehaven, formerly a barquentine
‘Uncle Ned’ of Dublin, built 1867 by Robertson, Ipswich. The small schooner alongside is ‘Brackley’ of Liverpool, 68 tons. She (‘Brackley’) went ashore at St Patrick’s Bridge, Kilmore and became a total wreck as recently as September 30th (no year given)
The E.R. Sterling was a American six-masted barquentine, built 1883 at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, as the four-masted ship Lord Wolseley. Lord Wolseley delivered to Irish Shipowners Co. (T. Dixon & Sons), Belfast. 1898 sold to J.C. Tidemann & Co., Bremen, was reduced to barque rig and renamed Columbia. 1904 sold to C.E. Peabody, Vancouver, was remasted and rerigged to a six-masted barkentine and renamed Everett G. Griggs. 1910 sold to E.R. Stirling, Blaine, WA, and was renamed E.R. Sterling. Broken up at Sunderland in 1928. (My gratitude to Bob for identifying the ship – details from commons.wikimpedia.org)
Unidentified
Unnamed ketch
‘Via’ of Brixham, built 1864 by Upham, Brixham
‘Volant’ of Kirkwall, built 1867 by Geddie, Banff, was damaged by fire 1923 at the tail of The Bank when on passage from Dublin to Belfast. Still running.
Beyond Steeple Point 
“Unidentified” 5 master has 6 masts and the name is on the picture – E. R. Sterling
Thank you, Bob.
Apart from my inability to count, I had assumed E R Sterling was the signature of the sender of the photograph.
Never assume!
Thanks again, Bill
Suspect that the ‘unnamed ketch’ is a Brixham trawler and may be Leader, which is still in commission and operates from Brixham for sail training and charters. She was – is! – a big example of a Brixham trawler, and you may be able to decipher her registration number on the port side. If you can, I could identify her.