Capt Griffith Jones, Pwllheli, Master of the Langdale

List of Testimonials and Statement of Sea Time

(14-4-1880 to 12-7-1889)

Ships Name

Rig

Tons

Port of Registry

Cap

From

Remarks

Elizabeth Beck	Sch	75	Caernarvon	Boy	14-4-80	17-7-80
Fishguard Lass	Smack	44	"	"	-2-81	-4-81
Slater	Sch	80	"	O.S.	-5-81	-8-81
Mary Owens	Sch	128	"	"	8-10-81	24-10-81
Rebecca Mary	Sch	67	"	"	-2-82	-4-82
Eliza Hannah	Sch	70	"	"	-5-82	-8-82
George Casson	Brig	144	"	"	-9-82	-2-83
Arabella	Brig'n	135	"	"	19-3-83	8-6-83
Miss Beck	Sch	99	"	A.B.	13-6-83	3-5-84
Cambrian Queen	Ship	1300	Liverpool	"	28-5-84	28-7-85	Disserted at San Francisco *
Pengwern	Ship	1573	"	"	4-3-86	21-7-86
Sarah Bridget	Brig'n	105	Caernarvon	"	24-9-86	23-3-87
Pursuit	Sch	78	"	"	18-4-87	27-8-87
Lady Penryn	Barque	815	Liverpool	"	10-9-87	2-7-88
Queen of Cambria	Barque	865	Caernarvon	"	18-8-88	12-7-89

(Total Sea Time 6 years 10 months 17 days)

*His desertion was caused by (as usual) being kept on shore by "Crimps" These were men that persuaded seamen to desert from a ship, in order to sell them to another.

**********

Notes by Capt Ifor Owen, (New Zealand)

He was known as ‘Guto Pegasus’ as his father was master of the Pegasus.

Griffith Jones first went to sea in April 1880, aged 13 as a ‘Boy’ on the 75 ton schooner ‘Elizabeth Beck’ After a year he was an Ordinary Seaman and in June 1883 he became an Able Bodied Seaman. Until May 1884, Griffith Jones served on smaller vessels such as schooners and smacks.

In July 1882 he left the ‘Cambrian Queen’ in San Francisco and was reported as a deserter but exonerated by the examiners. It would appear that he served on various vessels around the American coast for about eight months.

His next ship recorded is the ‘Pengwern’ which he joined in March 1886.

By July 1889 he had enough sea time to sit for his 2^nd Mates certificate. He presented his papers on the 20^th July 1889, and was examined and passed in Dublin on the 14^th August 1889 and his certificate issued at Beaumaris on the 22^nd of August 1889 Certificate 021466. This number was retained for all his certificates. His application form shows him as being 5ft 8ins tall, brown complexion, dark hair and grey eyes.

On the 3^rd of October he was 2^nd mate of the ‘Portia’ 1414 tons. He made two voyages one of 1yr 3mths 13 days and the other 1yr 7mths 12 days. This gave him sufficient sea time to qualify for his 1^st mate’s cert. He paid 10/- (shillings) on the 2^nd of December 1892 when he presented his papers. His address was 18 Prussia Street, off Hall Street, Liverpool, this would have been a boarding house while he was attending a Nautical School, he passed his exam on the 15^th of December and his certificate was issued on December 21^st 1892.

In January 1893 he joined the ‘Bass Rock’ a barque of 1014 tons as 1^st Mate, where he did two voyages, 10mths 11days and 1yr 7mths 15days, leaving her on the 1^st of July 1895. His next vessel was the ‘Gantock Rock’ a ship of 1555 tons, which he joined 6^th November 1895 as 1^st Mate and left on the 14^th of October 1897 after a voyage of 1yr 11mths 8 days.

He had sufficient sea time to sit for his Master’s Certificate. Papers were presented on the 6^th September 1897* and a fee of £2 was paid (*standing by vessel in Liverpool)

The examination took place in Liverpool on the 15^th November 1897 and his address while at School was 72 Upper Pitt Street. The certificate was issued in Beaumaris 27^th November 1897.

By the 5^th of December he was Chief Officer of the Lismore, in 1899 The Caernarvon Bay and in 1903 the Croydon.

In February 1904 he joined the Langdale as Master and served on her until he joined the Grenanda in December 1910.

The Grenada sailed from London in ballast for Le Havre and New York, when attacked and sunk by a U boat 32 miles SW of Beachy Head. No lives were lost and crew arrived at Eastbourne pier at 1.30 am 23 – 11 – 1916.

When he was an AB on the Lady Penryn from September 1887 to July 1888, the Captain was Capt William Jones, son of Cyll y Felin, Aberdaron

There is no record of him in the Merchant Navy RNR or RNVR and it can only be assumed that he joined the Brazilian company sometime in 1917.

He was Chief Officer of the three masted fully rigged ship “Lismore” which he joined soon after passing his Master’s, in November 1897. She was built in 1885 by Charles Connell & Co. at Glasgow, had a tonnage of 1676grt, length of 255ft, and a beam of 39ft. She had been completed in September 1885 for James Gardiner & Co. and sold to James Cornfoot & Co. of Glasgow in 1890.

In 1904 he took his first command of the ‘Langdale’, of Liverpool, again a three masted, full rigged ship, and in July 1905 his wife Ellen joined him at Antwerp before they sailed around Cape Horn for San Francisco. This was the first of several voyages that his wife would accompany him on, and she rounded Cape Horn herself no less than six times.