George Pyman

Official No. 49810: Code Letters HFVL.

Owners: 1865 George Pyman & Co, West Hartlepool.

Masters: 1865-1867 TA Pyman: 1868 I Luty: 1868-72 J Danby: 1872 Pinner.

Bound from Middlesbrough for Hamburg with a cargo of pig-iron George Pyman foundered near Dogger Bank in heavy weather on 9 April 1872 when the cargo shifted. No lives were lost.

Durham Herald 13 April 1872:

‘On Thursday intelligence was received at West Hartlepool by Messrs George Pyman & Co from Captain Pinner, then at Grimsby, that their screw-steamer, named the George Pyman, after the head of the firm, had foundered on the Dogger Bank on Tuesday morning & that all hands were saved. The vessel, which was one of the oldest belonging to the firm, left Middlesbrough for Hamburg with a cargo of pig-iron on the 8^th inst. On Tuesday when she was about 130 miles out the weather became very bad & about 8.30am, Richard Appleton, the mate, who was then in charge of the watch, noticed that the cargo was shifting. He immediately called up Captain Pinner who lost no time in coming on deck & giving the necessary orders, but the vessel quickly canted over on to her broadside, &, in a very short time the fires were put out. Part of the crew got off in the jolly boat, & the remainder of them in a boat which leaked very much indeed, but fortunately a couple of smacks were close by & all hands were saved. The crew had a narrow escape for their lives, their vessel going down soon after they abandoned her, as it was they lost everything but what they wore. They were landed at Grimsby.’ South

Crew 1872:

Appleton, Richard, mate

George Pyman was born in May 1822 in Sandsend, North Yorkshire. He went to sea as an apprentice and by 1843 he was Master of the vessel Nameless.

He married Elizabeth English in 1843 and they had two daughters and seven sons.

In 1850 he left the sea and the family settled in West Hartlepool where he went into partnership with his brother-in-law Francis English, as grocers and ship chandlers. In about 1854 he changed direction and went into partnership with Thomas Scurr as shipbrokers for the local collieries. They owned shares in a number of sailing vessels. Other shareholders included Francis English, John Smurthwaite, Thomas Wood & Ralph Ward Jackson.

Thomas Scurr died in 1861 and George then formed his own company as George Pyman & Co. In 1865 he purchased his first steamship, the George Pyman, and gradually shares in the brigs were sold off. Eventually the company became the largest owners of steamships in the north of the U.K.

In 1873 Thomas Bell of Newcastle joined as a partner in the firm. From 1879 the company opened branches in Hull, Grimsby, Immingham and Glasgow. When George retired in 1882 the Bell family took over the running of the company.

Pyman, Watson & Co. was set up in Cardiff in 1874 by John, one of George’s sons along with Thomas Edward Watson and Francis and Frederick, another two of his sons, set up Pyman Bros. in London in 1903. Some of these companies ships were registered in West Hartlepool.

George was elected a Poor Law Guardian in 1861, an Improvement Commissioner in 1868, and was sitting on the Durham County Bench from 1872. In 1879 he was appointed Vice Consul for Belgium and in 1888 was elected the second Mayor of West Hartlepool. In 1895 he received the honour of being made a Freeman of the Borough. George died in November 1900 at his home, Raithwaite Hall.

There is a wealth of further information in Peter Hogg’s book ‘The Pyman Story’.