frederick charles mallandaine + bessie blower
Fred was born in Quevert, France on 30 December 1840, the son of John West Mallandaine and his third wife Cecilia Hawkes. He was interested in boats from an early age and when he finished school, he chose to pursue a career as a ship’s captain.
His mother commented on his career in a letter to her sister in August 1856:
We were very glad to see Fred so much grown, and so strong, he is delighted with his profession and his ship an iron one of 2500 tons he thinks incomparable. Next voyage is to Australia about this time next year.
By nineteen, Fred had passed his examinations and received his Certificate of Competency as a Second Mate on 27 February 1860. The following year he received his certificate as a First Mate and by 1866, he achieved his Master’s certificate which allowed him to command ships. He continued to appear in shipping lists travelling the globe but appears to have settled in Liverpool where so many ships departed from the nearby port.
Fred married Bessie Blower at St Michael in the City, Liverpool on 11 September 1870. According to later census records, Bessie was born in Liverpool about 1850 but nothing else is known about her or her family. One year after their marriage, Bessie travelled to Yaxley in Suffolk to visit Fred’s sister, Sarah Edith, and her family and appears with them in the 1871 Census. Fred has not been found in the 1871 Census but on 18 August, he was admitted to the Liverpool Freemason’s Lodge.
In 1874, Fred was in command of the ship the The Royal Family, a wooden ship built in 1869 and owned by Mssrs William Wright and others, based in Liverpool. The ship left the port at Cardiff on 6 April with a crew of 23 and loaded with 1800 tonnes of coal destined for the British Colony of Aden, now a port city in Yemen but on 11 July it ran aground just south of the Cape of Guardafui in present day Somalia. The captain and crew escaped in life boats and were picked up the next day by the steamship Glencarn of Glasgow before being transferred to the British Empire and safely landing at Aden.
The Board of Trade ordered a Court of Enquiry to investigate the loss of The Royal Family and on 4 September, the Court found the Fred at fault for the loss of the ship. In their decision, they felt he was was negligent when:
‘with the wind falling light and finding himself closing with land, he did not haul his ship right off while there was wind to enable him to do so. The Court thought it probable that the master had been misled in his estimate of the distance from the shore by the great height of the land but knowing this it should have made him more careful, and he should have taken every precaution for the safety of his ship.’
The Court suspended Fred’s master’s certificate for six calendar months from the date of the court hearing and he was forced to take work as a ship’s mate at a lower rate of pay. On 13 March 1875, Fred was once again granted his Certificate of Competency as a Master and within weeks he was appointed as Master of the Oneota. Despite losing The Royal Family, his skills as a Master Mariner were still respected as he was later asked to serve as a Nautical Assessor on a Court of Enquiry when the British ship the Adriatic was stranded off Gravelines near Dunkirk.
In 1891, Fred and Bessie were living at 21 Well Lane in Tranmere and Fred was working still working as a Master Mariner.
He died as a result of an accident on a ship in Runcorn on 27 January 1894 and was buried at Birkenhead. Fred and Bessie were living at 10 Green Lawn in Rock Ferry, Cheshire at the time and he left his entire estate, valued at £1650, to Bessie. Four years later, Bessie was living at 43 Green Bank Road in Tranmere when she married Hugh Miller at the local parish church dedicated to St Catherine. Hugh was a 40 year old widower with six children, ranging from 4 to 14 years, and lived in Hoole near Chester.
In 1901, Bessie was living at 66 Hough Green in Chester with Hugh, his six children and two domestic servants. When they married, Hugh was working as a Commercial Traveller but when the census was taken, his occupation was listed as a Ladies Tailor and an employer. His eldest son, Samuel, was working as a Commercial Traveller and may have been selling his father’s tailored goods.
Bessie died at her home at 2 St John’s Road in Chester on 2 November 1905. Probate was granted on her estate, valued at £1600, to her husband Hugh.