The Clio was a three-masted barque (1838-1866) built of black birch, pine and oak at Granville,

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, (weight: 473 tons). She was registered at

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

on completion. For many years she crossed back and forth over the Atlantic, bringing timber from Quebec, Canada which was then sailed to Padstow, Cornwall. In Cornwall she was loaded with passengers who then sailed back to Canada. Many of these passengers were

Cornish people The Cornish people or Cornish ( kw, Kernowyon, ang, Cornƿīelisċ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons w ...

emigrating to the United States.

History

First, she was sold to Avery, the well-established Padstow merchant house. As a brand new deep water square rigger owned by Padstow, a full

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surveying port, trading from Padstow to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

and other North American ports taking substantial numbers of emigrants and returning with prime timber for Padstow's expanding shipyards in some ways she marks the zenith of Padstow shipping. At least two diaries exist describing the transatlantic journeys Rawle and Easthorpe (master) took over from Avery and Brown (master) in 1845, until 185- when the problem of passing the

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persuaded them that she was too big for Padstow. She carried on as a Quebec trader, sailing from Falmouth and

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and even from

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. In 1865 J. Moore of Stonehouse, Devon was her owner, and her record ends with the note "Abandoned at Sea 3 July 1866".

Side information

In April/May 1855, the Clio sailed for Quebec. Her sister ships were the ''John'', ''Siam'' and ''Oriental''. The Captain of ''Clio'' was William Symons, the others being Edward Rawle (John), Charles Rawle (Siam) and Henry Tom (Oriental). The Rawles originated from Boscastle, the others from Padstow. The Rawles were a ship-owning family. Joint owners (certainly of the John) were; Thomas Ham, 10 Prospect Street, Plymouth; William Williams, draper, of Padstow; Robert Williams Avery, ship owner, 3 Charles Place, Plymouth; Philip Rawle the Younger, ship owner, 37 Gibbon Street, Plymouth; Philip Rawle the Elder of Boscastle, ship owner, 2 Gibbon Street, Plymouth; James Moore, merchant clerk of Richmond Walk, Plymouth. The 'John' sank in 1855 after it struck the Manacles Rock, off

St Keverne St Keverne ( kw, Pluw Aghevran (parish), Lannaghevran (village)) is a civil parish and village on The Lizard in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. In addition to the parish, an electoral ward exists called ''St Keverne and Meneage''. This stre ...

, on the coast of Cornwall, and more than one hundred and ninety passengers were drowned.THE SINKING OF THE BARQUE "JOHN" Thursday 3 May 1855
An advertisement dated 11 August 1848 reads ''The ship "Clio", Robert EASTHOPE, Commander, now at Padstow, will leave that place for Quebec with passengers the 15th inst. Apply to: The agent for Mevagissey, Mr. Joseph KITTO; For St. Austell, Mr. CHAPMAN, Porthpean; or at Mr. AVERY's Offices, Boscastle and Padstow.''

Known sailings

The dates below were supplied, by Captain George Hogg of the

National Maritime Museum Cornwall The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall, England. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The ...

. The dates of Clio sailings from Padstow are as follows.... (WB) West Briton other dates from... (BPP) British Parliamentary Papers. *20 March 1840 (WB) *19 June 1840 (WB) *16 April 1841 (WB) *25 June 1841 (WB) *7 August 1841 *22 April 1842 (WB) *24 June 1842 (WB) *12 August 1842 *1 April 1843 *1 June 1843 *11 August 1843 (WB) *5 April 1844 from Malpas, Truro. (WB) *23 April 1847 (WB) *3 April 1848 (see diary of Thomas Rundell) *11 August 1848 (WB) *4 April 1849 arrived Quebec May 1849 *15 February 1850 (approx. from Malpas, Truro.) (WB) *?? Jun 1850 from Malpas, Truro. (WB) *15 April 1853 (Falmouth,

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Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) (RCG)

References

*Bartlett, John (1996) ''Ships of North Cornwall''. Padstow. {{ISBN, 1-873951-03-5

External links

The above information comes fro

with permission.
Immigrants to Canada
Water transport in Cornwall Barques Individual sailing vessels Tall ships of the United Kingdom Cornish shipwrecks 1838 ships