Thomas Ismay and the Charlotte, lost at sea
Mention the name Ismay to anyone who is very familiar with the tragedy of one particular ship, and they will likely recognise it.
But some 82 years before the Titanic made her ill-fated maiden voyage, another Ismay-owned ship was lost with very little publicity.
And an Ismay went down with it.
Thomas Ismay
Thomas Ismay was born on December 23, 1800 and baptised in February 1801, in the Scottish Presbyterian Chapel, in Maryport. His parents were Henry Ismay and Charlotte, née Middleton.
Henry is listed in an 1829 directory and on the 1841 census as a grocer, in Maryport High Street. But in 1851, aged 73, he is described as a retired master mariner. And there’s an 1815 death notice for widowed Elizabeth Ismay, ‘mother of Captain Henry Ismay’.
Meaning at some point between 1815 and 1829, Henry decided to give up the sea for a new trade – and a life with his family at home.
Thomas Ismay’s early life can only be guessed at, but growing up in Maryport and with his father’s background, it’s not surprising he became a mariner. He’d have started as an apprentice, then worked his way up through the ranks until he qualified for his Master’s certificate and the right to captain ships.
And his ambitions didn’t end there. For by 1830, he was not only the master of a newly built ship, but also its primary owner.
The Charlotte
Records in Carlisle Archives show that The Charlotte was built and registered in Maryport. It’s a fair guess that she was named after Thomas Ismay’ mother.
The Charlotte was a brig. She had one deck, two masts, and a woman’s bust as her figurehead.
She was 71 feet six inches long and 19 feet 7 inches wide and had a square stern.
Her burthen (cargo capacity) was just over 119 imperial tons.
Piecing together various sources, brigs served as small merchant vessels and warships. Eventually, schooners replaced them.
Although they were fast and manoeuvrable, they required a large crew to manage their sails.
Owners of The Charlotte
Her ‘subscribing owners’ were:
- Thomas Ismay of Maryport; Joseph Wilson, miller, of Aspatria, and; Robert Thompson, yeoman, of Catterlen.
- ‘Other owners’ were: Isaac Middleton & Co, Maryport (made up of Isaac Middleton, Daniel Middleton, Richard Yeoward, and John Brocklehurt).
- Along with: John Ritson; Wilfred Smith; Edward Tyson; Joseph Ismay of Maryport; Richard Yeoward (as an individual); Daniel Middleton (ditto); David Fletcher; James Brown; James Bell; Joseph Ismay of Whitehaven; Joseph Brigg, and; Mary Westmorland, widow.
The maiden voyage
We can follow The Charlotte’s ill-fated voyage through the shipping notices in various newspapers. And it all started so full of hope.
Gore’s Liverpool General Advertiser. 11/3/1830
For PORT-AU-PRINCE, The new Brig CHARLOTTE, Thos. Ismay, Master ; In the Salthouse Dock.
For freight etc, apply Thomas Barber, Drury Lane.
Nine days later, The Charlotte appears again:
March 20, 1830. Vessels entered for loading at Liverpool
West Indies
G Wilkinson* 119 Charlotte, Ismay, St Domingo
*this is a column of company names.
And then in April, she finally left the UK, bound for Haiti:
April 15, 1830
Liverpool. Cleared outwards. Charlotte, Ismay, for Port-au-Prince
The crossing wasn’t a quick one for a sailing ship.
Nor did news travel fast.
The Charlotte reached Port-au-Prince on June 1, 1830. But this wasn’t reported in Lloyd’s List until July 23.
Reading that must have been reassuring for the families of her master and crew. But it was old news, and had been overtaken by terrible events.
Also given false reassurance was the report:
Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser Aug 16, 1830
Sailed: Charlotte, Ismay, for Aux Cayes (Haiti).
A fatal short journey
In fact, The Charlotte had left Port-au-Prince on July 11 – before her arrival had been announced, let alone her departure.
No one ever heard from The Charlotte again.
Bell’s Weekly Messenger – Monday 15 November 1830
The Charlotte, Ismay, sailed from Port-au-Prince on the 11th of July, for Cowes, and has not since been heard of.
By November, surely the families back home must have realised something terrible had happened. And remember, The Charlotte was a brig, and brigs ‘required a large crew to manage their sails’.
The 1841 census doesn’t record marital status, but rough-searching 1851 for the terms ‘Maryport’ and ‘widow’ pulls up 18 results. Several have the addition ‘pauper’
Also remember that the tragedy of a lost ship could reach beyond that.
If you were a ship owner, or someone with cargo on board, and didn’t have insurance, the financial hit from a lost vessel could be ruinous.
For instance, in 1733, John Pears of the City of Carlisle sought a certificate to enable him to seek subscriptions for his relief. He had lost £300 of cargo in a shipwreck, and £60 of barley and malt when another ship was abandoned by her crew on a voyage to Whitehaven. That’s maybe £84,000 in today’s values.
There never was any solid news of what befell The Charlotte. For on June 29, 1840, that Joseph Ismay (of Maryport) registered her loss formally as:
‘Lost on or about the 1st of August 1830’.
He affirmed that she’d sailed from ‘Aux Cayes in St Domingo,’ heading for Cowes. But was:
‘totally lost, with register, licence and all her crew.’
Thomas Ismay
The uncertainty over the fate of The Charlotte, her master/owner Thomas Ismay, and the unnamed crew didn’t end there.
In St Mary’s Churchyard, Maryport, can be found an Ismay family gravestone. You can see a photo of it on FindaGrave
Among the names on it:
THOMAS (Ismay) born 23rd of Decr. 1800 and Supposed to be Lost at sea in August 1830 on his passage from Aux Cayes in St Domingo.
The White Star Line
I can’t write about Ismays and ships without a few lines to explain the connections.
The White Star Line was founded in 1845 by Henry Threlfall Wilson and John Pilkington.
In 1867, they defaulted on a loan which forced them into liquidation in 1869.
Thomas Henry Ismay bought the name, flags and goodwill of the WSL for just £1,000.
Thomas Henry Ismay was born in 1837, in Maryport, to Joseph Ismay and Mary (Sealby).
That means that Thomas Ismay, who’d been lost at sea captaining The Charlotte, was an uncle he’d never known.
Thomas Henry Ismay had a son (Joseph) Bruce Ismay, who took over the White Star Line after his father died in 1900
And J Bruce Ismay is the Ismay who was demonised by the American Press for surviving the Titanic disaster in 1912.
You can read more about that on the Titanic Historical Society website.