Lady Elizabeth

Lady Elizabeth is a wrecked iron barque of 1,155 tons built by Robert Thompson Jr. of Southwick, Sunderland and launched on 4 June 1879. Robert Thompson Jr. was one of the sons of Robert Thompson Sr. who owned and operated the family ran shipyard J. L. Thompson & Sons. Thompson Jr. eventually left the family business in 1854 to start his own shipbuilding business in Southwick, Sunderland. The ship was built for John Wilson as a replacement for the 658-ton, 1869-built barque which sank off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 1878. History The builders of the second Lady Elizabeth had also built the first ship. The ship had three masts and was just under average size compared to barques built by Robert Thompson. However, the later Lady Elizabeth was still the seventh largest ship the firm built. John Wilson remained the owner of Lady Elizabeth and was captained by Alexander Findley from Montrose until 15 March 1884 when he took out several loans from G. Oliver and also with the bank. Eventually, John Wilson declared bankruptcy and all of his ships, including Lady Elizabeth were sold off. The new owner was George Christian Karran who purchased the ship a few months later. Karrans' family owned several ships but this was George Christian Karrans' first ship. George Christian Karran also captained the ship for a few years. After owning the ship for a few years, George's elder brother Robert Gick Karran died leading George to take command of Manx King. However, he remained the owner of Lady Elizabeth until 1906. In 1906 Lady Elizabeth was purchased by the Norwegian company Skibasaktieselskabet for £3,250. The company was managed by L. Lydersen and Lady Elizabeth was captained by Peter Julius Hoegh.