The schooner British Queen (1863)

1. General

Port of Picton Registry, Number : 10

Name: BRITISH QUEEN	Type: Schooner
Official Number:	Tons (Reg.) 117
Tons (gross):	Tons (net):
Where Built: Smith's May, Marysburg (Waupoos)	Port of Registry / Hail: Picton
Build Year: 1863	Value:
Builder’s Name & Date of Certification: R. Morgan, September 8, 1863
Master’s Name:	Subscribing Owners: John and Lewis Palen
Length; 90 feet & 5 inches	Breadth; 25 feet & 10 inches
Depth of Hold: 7 feet & 10 inches	Masts: Two
Stern: Square	Bowsprit: Standing
How Built: Carvel	How Rigged: Schooner
Figure-head: None	Decks: One

See also the entry for the schooner British Queen in our ships Database.

NOTATIONS:

British Queen Click for enlargement.

2. Subscribing owners: John Langmuir a Picton merchant sole owner, sold vessel in 1864 and after many sales and part owners the vessel was owned by Noah Phelps & O.J. Phelps of St.Catharines in 1882; re-registered 1884-05-21, #7 at St. Catherines..
3. NEW CERTIFICATE ISSUED MAY 12, I882, 0WNER HAVING DECLARED ORIGINAL WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. I HAVE FROM INQUIRIES MADE, RELIABLE INFORMATION THAT THIS VESSEL IS LOST, DESTROYED OR BROKEN-UP. REGISTER NOTED & CLOSED DEC. 31, 1897 -- register of shipping

History:

1863, September 8 : Registered Picton, Ontario, to John and Lewis Palen.
1864, June 9 : owned by Wm. Abercrombie, Picton.
1865 : owned by J. Palen & Son, Picton.
1866 : owned by Wm. Abercrombie, Picton.
1867, February 4 : owned by Chas. S. Wilson, Picton.
1870, March 1 : owned by Henry Braund, Port Hope.
1871 : sold at Picton.
1872 : owned by N. and O.J. Phelps, St. Catharines; rebuilt
1897, December 31 : Registration closed; "lost, destroyed or broken up".

Newspaper and other transcriptions

4. Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), 3 Oct 1863 p.3 K.C. & M. - new schooner British Queen built at South Bay. -Presentation of Colors - to yacht Gorilla.
5. Cobourg Sentinel November 11, 1865 The schooner BRITISH QUEEN, which was ashore at Wellington, was towed into this port yesterday.
6. Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), 26 Oct 1870 p.3 Got Off - sch. British Queen at Garden Island.
7. Marine Disasters on the Western Lakes during 1871, Capt. J.W. Hall Schooner BRITISH QUEEN, cargo lumber, waterlogged in Lake Ontario.
8. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser Thursday, September 21, 1871 WATERLOGGED. - The schooner BRITISH QUEEN, from Port Hope, lumber laden, arrived at Oswego Tuesday, in a water-logged condition.
9. Daily News (Kingston, ON), Oct. 12, 1878 p.3 The Shipyard - The recent storm has given a considerable amount of work to the shipyard, and the men are at present quite busy. This morning the schooner British Queen, laden with starch, arrived from Edwardsburg in a sinking condition, and was hauled out for repairs.
10. Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), Dec. 4, 1879 p.2 Belleville - The schrs. M. Elgin, D. Andrews, British Queen, Mary Foster and John Wesley in addition to some small crafts, are laid up here. Navigation is about closed. p.3 The schr. Dominion, ashore at Ford's shoals, is so badly strained and broken that she will prove a total loss. She has been stripped and the rigging taken to Oswego.
11. British Whig (Kingston, ON), March 25, 1880 p.2 Belleville - The schooners Ontario, Mary Foster, Florence, and British Queen are loaded with ice. The traders Jno. Wesley, Fannie, and Belle are being repaired.
12. British Whig (Kingston, ON), Dec. 23, 1887 p.8 The schr. British Queen, at Toronto, is for sale. Capt. Robertson says he cleared $1,055 with her during the past season. Capt. Ostrander, of Picton, and Capt. O'Hagan, late master of the schr. Hannah Butler, are in the city. It is said that they intend purchasing a schooner.
13. References to the schooner Picton appear in C.H.J Snider's work:
    Schooner Days DCVI (606), 4 September 1943 Gone Port Chronicles – Callers of Long Ago,
    

References and source notes

(4-12) Many of the contemporary newspaper cuttings can be found at Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Newspaper Transcriptons
(13) C.H.J. Snider Schooner Days index, Naval Marine Archive.