William Miles (1816 ship)
# William Miles (1816 ship)

William Miles was launched at Bristol in 1816 as a West Indiaman. She remained a West Indiaman until 1846, though she did make some voyages to Archangel and to the Baltic. New owners from 1846 sailed her to Quebec and North America. She underwent lengthening in 1854. Thereafter, a sequence of owners sailed her to India and the Mediterranean. She was wrecked on 9 August 1883.

## Career

William Miles first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1816.

| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1816 | [Richard] Williams | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Jamaica | LR |
| 1822 | Williams R[ees] Waters | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Jamaica | LR |
| 1823 | R. Waters J[ohn] Escott | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Jamaica | LR |
| 1830 | Escott [Isaac] Reynolds | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Jamaica | LR |
| 1838 | [James] Pike | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Jamaica | LR: large repairs 1833 & 1835 |
| 1843 | [James] Cook[e] | Miles & Co. | Bristol–Trinidad Bristol–Jamaica | LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843 |
| 1845 | Crow Rowe | Miles & Co. Howell & Son | Bristol–Jamaica Bristol–Quebec | LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843 |
| 1846 | [Thomas] Rowe | Howell & Son | Bristol–Quebec Bristol–America | LR; large repairs 1833 & 1835, & some repairs 1842 & 1843 |
| 1850 | [James] Ayre | Howell & Co. | | LR |

Between 1851 and 1853, William Miles was not listed. In 1854 she reappeared, having undergone lengthening that under the pre-1836 method of calculation doubled her burthen.

| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1854 | T.Creighton | J.DeWolf | Liverpool–Calcutta | LR; lengthened 1854 |
| 1860 | Silver | M.I.Wilson | London–India | LR; lengthened 1854 |

William Miles received sheathing with yellow metal.

| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1864 | | W.N.de Mattos | Liverpool | LR; lengthened 1854 |
| 1865 | H.Hills | G.& J.Robinson | Liverpool London–Mediterranean | LR; lengthened 1854 |
| 1869 | H.Hills | G.& J.Robinson | London–Mediterranean | LR; lengthened 1854 |
| 1883–1884 | R.Williams | G.&J.Robinson | London | LR; lengthened 1854 |

## Fate

William Miles stranded near Porthcawl in the Bristol Channel on 9 Aug 1883. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat Chafyn Grove rescued all twelve people on board. William Miles was on a voyage from Havre de Grâce to Swansea. The lifeboat first took off the mate's wife and a seaman; the rest of the crew refused to leave. When the winds increased the lifeboat came back and took off the remaining crew.

Her entry in Lloyd's Register for 1883 carried the annotation "Lost".

## Citations

* 1 2 3 Farr (1971), p. 5.
* 1 2 3 Farr (1950), pp. 62–63.
* ↑ LR (1808), Supple. pages "W", Seq.non.W63.
* ↑ Tovey, Ron. "A Chronology of Bristol Channel Shipwrecks" (PDF). Swansea Docks. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
* ↑ "Board of Trade Inquiry". The Times. No. 30914. London. 1 September 1883. col B, p. 7.
* ↑ "THE LIFE-BOAT JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION". (1885) VOL XII: p.205.
* ↑ LR (1883–1884), Seq.no.W322.
