The schooner Mary Gormley (1863)

General

Port of Picton Registry, Number 11 of 1863

NOTATIONS: Formerly DANIEL WILLIAMS (1849); formerly ALEXANDER (19-28 September 1863, ten days pending sale.)

See also the entry for the schooner Mary Gormley in our ships Database.

1. Length: 78 feet & 10 inches. Breadth: 18 feet & 6 inches. Depth of Hold: 6 feet & 7 inches. Masts: Two. Stern: Square. Bowspirit: Standing. How Built: Carvel. How Rigged: Schooner. Figure-Head: None. Decks: One Subscribing Owners: John Tait, ships carpenter of Picton, sold to John & James Gormley of Amherst Island dated Sept 28, 1863, who sold to D.D. Bogart, a lumberman of Belleville dated July 21, 1870 who sold to Charles Bell of Belleville dated March 6, 1875.
2. Underwriters Register of the Ships on the Lakes and River St. Lawrence, 1864 : Schooner; ALEXANDER: [C] Tonnage; 88: Build Location; Clayton: When Built; 1849: Owner; John Tait: Port of Hail; Picton: Class; B: Value; $2,000: Remarks; Scow, formerly DAN WILLIAMS, rebuilt 1863.
3. Register of the Ships on the Lakes and River St. Lawrence 1864 : SCHOONER MARY GORMLEY: [C] Tonnage; 88: Build Location; Clayton, N.Y: When Built; 1846 (sic): Built By; Cook: Owners; James & John Gormley: Registered at Picton: Class; B: Value; $2,200 Remarks; Formerly; DAN WILLIAMS
4. Association of Canadian Lake Underwriters, Lake Vessel Register, Page 16, 1866. : SCHOONER MARY GORMERLY: American Tonnage; 150: Built By; Cook: Build Year; 1849: Built At; Clayton: Supposed Owners; Gormerly: Port Belonging To; Montreal: Value; $2,300: Class; B1 [Note sp. Gormley; also Montreal is suspect.]
5. Association of Canadian Lake Underwriters, Lake Vessel Register 1869. Page 12 :SCHOONER MARY GORMERLY (sic) American Tonnage; 150: By Whom; Cook: Built Where; Clayton: Built When; 1849: Supposed Owners; Gormerly(sic) Port Belonging To; Montreal: Value; $3,700: Class B1
6. Classification of Lake Vessel and Barges, Adopted by a Board of Marine Inspectors, April 1, 1871 Page 45 : SCHOONER MARY GORMLEY (C) New Tonnage () Where Built, Picton: By Whom, John Tait: Built Date; Aug 63: Owners; (): Port of Hail; Picton: Value (): Class (): Remarks; Bottom of DAN WILLIAMS

Newspaper transcriptions

7. Toronto Globe, Oct 11, 1862 : Schooner, DAN WILLIAMS, Capt. Higgins, who was also the owner, bound from Napanee to Oswego with a cargo of 5,000 hop poles, was caught in a gale and abandoned. The vessel was washed into South Bay the following day upside-down. She was a total loss, with the loss of one life, September 20th, 1862
8. Daily British Whig (Kingston, ON), 11 Oct 1862 : Loss of a Schooner - The schooner Dan Williams, which left Oswego on the 29th ult. with a cargo of hop-poles for Napanee was caught in a heavy gale and ran for South Bay, but on passing the gap she was swamped by a heavy sea rolling over her. A young man named Vanalstine who was asleep in the hold was drowned. The remainder of the crew, 5 in number, clung to the vessel till she drifted near shore when they let down the yawl and landed in safety. The schooner is a total loss.
9. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, Jan 26th, 1863, from the Casualty List of 1862 : WILLIAMS, DANIEL, Schooner, cargo of hop poles, capsized in the Bay of Quinte, one man drowned. Hull, $600: Cargo, $200: Rebuilt as ALEXANDER.
10. Daily News (Kingston, Ont) 16 April 1867, p.2 : Vessels Leaving and Arriving - Schooner MARY GORMLEY came in from Amherst Island, light.
11. Daily News, 18 Oct 1870 p.2 : HEAVY GALE – DAMAGE to VESSELS in the HARBOUR. A very heavy gale from the southwest by west, set in on Tuesday morning about 3 o’clock, and continued to blow with such violence up to 7 o’clock, as to affect damage, particularly to the shipping... Towards noon, the weather became calmer and efforts were made at once set on foot to repair property that had been seriously damaged... LATER – Telegrams received this afternoon state the following vessels to have to run ashore during the gale of this morning: At Napanee, schooners ... GORMLEY, ...
12. Daily News, 3 Aug 1872, p.3 : Marine News. Custom Imports, Schr. M. GORMLEY, Oswego, S. Muckleston & Co., 15 bbls w lime.
13. Daily News, 22 Nov 1872, p.2 : Marine News. The schooner MARY GORMLEY, which traded to this port during the season, is now laid up for the winter at Amherst Island.
14. Daily News, 11 Aug 1873, p.1 : Marine News. Custom Imports, August 8 - Schr. MARY GORMLEY, Oswego, P. Conroy, 60 bags, 200 sacks b meal.
15. Daily News, 25 Sep 1873, p.2 : Marine News. James Swift & Co’s Wharf ... and the MARY GORMLEY, from Oswego, with 50 tons LeHigh coal.
16. Daily News, 23 May 1876, p.2 : John Gormley was charged with assaulting George Staley, It appears that the parties are sailors and defendant assaulted prosecutor, threatening to kick him off the cross-trees and kill him. The more serious charge was withdrawn, and the other charge of common assault was withdrawn on payment of costs.
17. Picton Gazette, 1878 : The MARY GORMALLY [sic] reported to be “in harbor."
18. Many references to the schooner Picton appear in C.H.J Snider's work:
    Schooner Days CCVII (208) "Flame-Light In Olivia’s Life-Log, 5 Oct 1935."

References and source notes

(11) Online resource “The Great Lakes Shipwreck file" By David D. Swayze, Lake Isabella. MI
(12-21, 23-39, 41) Many of the contemporary newspaper cuttings can be found at Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Newspaper Transcriptons
(42) C.H.J. Snider Schooner Days index, Naval Marine Archive.