Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 11 Falconer

James Falconer
Captain of the Ealing Grove

In all likelihood William Falconer served his apprenticeship (from 1828-1832) on his father James Falconer’s ship the Ealing Grove, 383 tons, built at London in 1792. The Ealing Grove was sheathed with copper over boards, the copper being repaired in 1829.

She covered many sea miles, trading until the mid-1830s between that city and places such as Demerara - a colony in the Guianas on the north coast of South America, famous for its sugar. 

The experience gained by the young Falconer during these years under his father’s guidance would have been invaluable. It was through no fault of William’s that his barque Johanna, 275 tons, lying at Algoa Bay, was driven on to the rocks when her cables parted on 5 April 1848. A comparatively new ship, built in 1843, she had been to Algoa Bay without mishap the year before under Falconer’s command and he had had 19 years’ sailing as a merchant mariner. She became another victim of the infamous south-east gales at this Cape port. Johanna was a total wreck but no lives were lost. The Spectator (London), reported on 10 June 1848 that Falconer’s Johanna was not alone in her disaster: the Martha under Capt W Woolley, from London, was wrecked in the same gale at Algoa Bay; her crew was saved.  

Alexandrina: Ship's Bell

At this date (1848) the Falconers had left the Colony and were residing at Wapping: William had returned to his area of origin. We can track his upward mobility by his subsequent changes of address: in 1851 he was of 34, Albert Sq., Ratcliff, Stepney; between 1853 and 1858 the family had moved to King Edward’s Villas, Hackney. William was by then a successful Ship Insurance Broker and Ship's Agent, with offices in Leadenhall Street in the City, operating under the name Falconer and Mercer. 

On 30 October 1856 William Falconer was granted the Freedom of the City of London.* 

William and Ann had fourteen children. For further details about this family see: 

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=haydencowan&id=I1339

Alexandrina: another painting of William Falconer's ship
By kind permission of Michael Cocks

Acknowledgement:

Lorna Cowan

Michael Cocks


*London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925
Ancestry.com. London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Freedom admissions papers, 1681 – 1925. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. COL/CHD/FR/02. 

William Falconer item: London Metropolitan Archive; Reference Number: COL/CHD/FR/02/1904-1905.

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 9 Falconer

Among the coterie of Master Mariners known to Bell was William Falconer, who is recorded in 1838 as captain of the schooner Velox, carrying a cargo of sundries from Ceylon via Mauritius to Table Bay, the voyage taking from 5 July to 22 August.

St George in the East, Stepney

Falconer’s story provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of a 19^thc merchant mariner. Born 29 July 1812 in Stepney - a place of strong maritime character - and baptized at St George in the East, William served his apprenticeship under his mariner father, James Falconer, between 1828 and 1832. Under the terms of this contract, James agreed to pay his son thirty pounds of lawful money of Great Britain over a period of four years as well as teach him and supply him with sufficient meat, drink and lodging. 

Part of William’s indenture would have been served at sea, gaining practical knowledge in ‘working’ a ship, from the basic skills of splicing and knotting to keeping a reckoning of a course, making observations and learning about winds and tides. After completing his apprenticeship William would enter a long and successful career, acquiring a Trinity House certificate of competency in 1848 and his Master Mariner’s ticket in 1851.

For two years and four months he was master of the Alexandrina, a 294 ton barque employed in the Foreign Trade and built by the firm of Alexander Duthie. The vessel was registered in London in 1849, when Falconer is recorded as both owner and master. Duthie’s yard built several famous Aberdeen clipper barques, including the Ocean Queen, 349 tons, which Alexandrina resembled.

In the painting below Alexandrina shows quite a sharply raked ‘Aberdeen bow’. She has three masts, square rigged on the fore and main masts, fore and aft rigged on the mizzen. There is only one jib-sail set (she probably has three), the fore mast has course, top-sail and topgallant-sail set but no royal, likewise the main mast although the course is probably in the process of being set. The mizzen mast only carries a spanker (a top-sail is not set) with the Red Ensign (Red Duster) flying from the gaff. There are no stay-sails or gaff-sails set fore and aft between pairs of masts. She isn't under a great press of canvas, and she is apparently off the Dover coast.

William Falconer's barque, Alexandrina

To be continued ...

Acknowledgements:

Lorna Cowan
Arthur Hayden

Derek Ellwood