RICHARD MORSE (1851)
The U.S. ship RICHARD MORSE, 872 tons, built at Bath, Maine, in 1851, either by or (more probably) for Richard Morse & Sons.
- 1853
- Dinsmore, master, advertised as sailing in Tapscott's Line of packets between New York and Liverpool.
- 1858
- Dinsmore, master, advertised as sailing in the Merchants Line of packets between Boston and Liverpool.
- 1859
- T. [or F.] Oliver, master, advertised as sailing in the Line of Liverpool Packets between Philadelphia and Liverpool.
Sources: William Armstrong Fairburn, Merchant Sail (Center Lovell, Maine: Fairburn Marine Educational Foundation, [1945-55]), V.3205; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), pp. 374, 388, and 406.
Voyages:
[09 May 1999]
RIO GRANDE (1846)
GELLERT [1856]
The U.S. ship RIO GRANDE was built at Bath, Maine, by [Freeman] Clark & [William D.] Sewall, in 1846 [registered Bath 14 September 1846]. 541 tons; 135 ft 10 in x 29 ft 6 in x 14 ft 9 in (length x beam x depth of hold). I know little about the voyages of the RIO GRANDE except that in 1852, D. F. Ryan, master, she was advertised as sailing in the Baldwin-Browne line of packets between Philadelphia and Liverpool.
On 4 March 1856, the RIO GRANDE was sold by Clark, of Phippsburg, for $21,000, to the Hamburg shipper Robert M. Sloman, who renamed her GELLERT, after Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715-1769), the poet and moralist. Measurements (Hamburg): 263 Commerzlasten; 140.6 x 29.6 x 23.11 Hamburger Füße (1 Hamburger Fuß = .28657 meter), length x beam x depth of hold, zwischen den Steven.
Masters: 1856-1858 - H. D. Boysen 1859-1863 - J. Terry Voyages: 1856/57 - from New York/Chincha Islands, Peru 1858-1859 - Quebec/Sunderland (2 x) 1859/60 - New Orleans 1860 - San Jose, Guatemala/Quebec/Sunderland 1860/61 - New York 1861/62 - Quebec/Bristol 1862 - Quebec/Bremerhaven 1862/63 - Dona Francisca/Bahia/Bremerhaven
On 1 July 1863, the GELLERT ex RIO GRANDE was sold to Norwegian interests (Capt. Ambjornsen). Her later history and ultimate fate are not known.
Sources: William Armstrong Fairburn, Merchant Sail (Center Lovell, Maine: Fairburn Marine Educational Foundation, [1945-55]), V.3195, 3196, and 3261; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), p. 405; Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 2, p. 211; Ernst Hieke, Rob. M. Sloman Jr., errichtet 1793, Veröffentlichungen der Wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Forschungsstelle e.V., Hamburg, 30 (Hamburg: Verlag Hanseatischer Merkur, 1968), p. 273.
[02 May 1999]
Argentine steamship RIO SANTA CRUZ [1896] - See: OHIO (1868)