Denbigh (ship)

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For the town in Wales, see Denbigh. For the former town in Virginia, USA, see Denbigh, Virginia.

The Denbigh was a paddle steamer constructed in 1860 at the shipyard of John Laird, Son, and Company at Birkenhead, England at a cost of £10,150. She was a fast ship for her time, recording 13.7 knots in her proving trials. She was delivered to her owner, Robert Gardner of Manchester, on 26 September 1860, after which she operated the route between Liverpool and Rhyl, north Wales for the next three years.

In September 1863 the Denbigh was purchased by the European Trading Company – a partnership between the H.O. Brewer Company, a trading company of Mobile, Alabama, Confederate States of America, Emile Erlanger & Co., bankers from Paris, France, and J. H. Schröder & Co., bankers of Manchester. The company bought ships to run the United States' naval blockade of Southern ports.

The United States Consul in Liverpool, Thomas Dudley, immediately noted the Denbigh and sent a report to the State Department which included the description:

Schooner rigged, side wheel steamer "Denbigh" of Liverpool -- 162 tons. Captain McNevin Carriers -- Northe Dock for Bermuda & Havannah. Mose & Co. Cosignees. The following is her present description, subject to alteration:

Built of Iron. Marked draft of water -- 7 feet fore & aft. Hull painted black. Artificial quarter galleries. Elliptic stern. Straight stem. Name at the bows gilt, on a blue ground. Wheel; binnacle. House with skylight on top. Boat painted white in iron swing davits on port quarter. Boats painted white, abreast of mainmast. House athwartships between paddle boxes, with binacle on top. Funnell or smokestack painted black, with bright copper steam pipe after part of same. Side houses. Hurricane deck; foremast, through same. Masts bright; mast heads, top caps, crosstrees, bowsprit and gaff painted white. Inside of bulwarks & c. painted cream color. On her trial trip she attained the speed of 10 1/2 knots.

Godfrey, late coal agent for the Confederates in Cardiff, is said to be the owner of the Denbigh. His wife and himself are going out in her. Kragan & Davis, two of the late crew of the "Florida," met and spoke to him in Cardiff; he knew Davis directly he saw him, both having been well acquainted. Her crew consists of Captain, two mates, two engineers, six seamen, seven firemen, cook and steward.

Sailed Monday Oct. 19, 1863

1 Some members of Denbighs' crew
2 External link

[edit] Some members of Denbighs' crew

[edit] Abner M. Godfrey

Captain of the Denbigh. Born in Maine in 1825 or 1826, he moved to Mobile, Alabama before 1859. He travelled to Great Britain shortly before the Union started to blockade Mobile, to work as the Confederates' agent there. In mid-1863 he was living in Cardiff with his wife, purchasing Welsh coal for the blockade runners. In October 1863 he went to Liverpool to take the Denbigh on her voyage to Havana, Cuba.

The captain of a blockade runner would earn several thousand dollars in gold for each successful trip, therefore it is reasonable to think that Captain Godfrey was quite wealthy after the successful career of the Denbigh. After the Civil War he bought the hotel in Mobile in which he had rented a room before the war. He died of natural causes in Mobile on 14 October 1869.

[edit] Robert Railton

Engineer of the Denbigh. Born in Manchester on 11 December 1830. He emigrated to the United States in the 1840s, working in many factories including the Hinkly Locomotive Works in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal railway works in the US. In 1848 he moved to Galveston, Texas to work in Hiram Close's foundry, the only foundry in the town, until the outbreak of the Civil War. On New Years' Day 1863, at the Battle of Galveston the Union gunboat Westfield was blown up by her own crew to prevent her falling into Confederate hands; Railton was responsible for superintending the recovery of the Westfields' paddle wheel shafts and reboring them as 5.75" guns. He joined the Denbigh in August 1864 on her first voyage into Galveston. The engineer received between $1000 and $2000 in gold for each successful trip. After the Civil War he married Emma Juliff in Galveston in 1868. He was killed in an unfortunate accident -- on 27 December 1898 an argument broke out between workers on Galveston quay, and one started shooting. Railton was hit in the back by a stray shot and died the next day.

[edit] Robert A. Horlock

Cabin boy on the Denbigh. Born in 1849, he joined the Denbigh at Galveston when he was fifteen years old. It appears that he obtained his position through his father knowing Captain Godfrey. A cabin boy's job was similar to a naval midshipman, learning the work of a ships' officer. Robert Horlock died in 1926.

[edit] William Young

A guard on the Denbigh, he was a member of Company B, First Texas Heavy Artillery before transferring to the Texas Marine Department, and joined the Denbigh on 30 August 1864. He died on 1 May 1901.