The Masters

   
The Owners and Masters

            Mediterranean Pass annexed to cert of registry (this was government pass issued to Med traders which gave them govt protection against the North African pirates)

Initial owners included William Cox, Gorran fish curer.  John Pearce younger, Mevagissey merchant John Cox, Gorran mariner. Master John Cox, succeeded by Thomas Ley.
1st February 1847 Thomas Ley buys up a large portion of the shares and becomes the main owner.
He is described as Mevagissey Master Mariner. Other shares are owned by the Lelean family. From this time it looks as if there are other masters used on the ship as Thomas possibly retires to shore to run the business of the ship he owns.

RE funding. Some money undoubtedly came from smuggling in the early 19th cent which everyone in Mevagissey was employed in up to 1805. An article of mine on this is appearing in Maritime Life and Traditions in their June issue.
See www.maritime-life.net

Secondly the pilchard business was lucrative at times if you were an owner rather than a worker. Thirdly a master mariner was a middle class occupation and they earned well in the boom years of trade in the 1830s and onwards.

Helen Doe   Centre for Maritime Historical Studies  University of Exeter

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