Early Owners and Masters

A list of known Shamrock's owners and masters from before the 1970's restoration.
This information was originally researched and compiled by Alan Viner of the National Maritime Museum.

Date	Owner(s)	Shares	Master
1899 4th September	Tom Williams Lighterman of Torpoint	64	Tom Williams
1907 27th May	Tom Williams Fred Williams Lighterman of Torpoint	32 32	Fred Williams
First Registry of vessel closed July 14th 1919. – Registered anew after structural alterations and the addition of a motor as a sailing vessel with an auxiliary motor.
1919 3rd October	William Betty Merchant Saltash William Betty Merchant St Germans Robert Telford Merchant Saltash	Joint 64 owners	James Garland
1920 20th January	William Betty Robert Telford	Joint 64 owners	James Garland
1926 15th February	Ethel Steed Widow of St Germans	64	Richard Hoskins
1928 4th May	Steed Bros. Notter River Quarries	64	Richard Hoskins
1932 23 June	Charles Dunn Company Secretary Saltash Arthur Russell Accountant of Bodmin Ethel Steed Widow of Plympton	21 22 21	William Trebilcock
1936 1st November	West of England Road Metal Company	64	William Trebilcock
1962 17th July	E. Richardson Horticulturist Falmouth	64
21st July	Costal Prospecting Co London	64	Ernest Stephens
Second registry of vessel closed 6th August 1963. – After the installation of two diesel engines registered anew as a twin screw motor ship.
1966 2 May	Richard Curnow Engineer of Helston	64
1973 28th April	Robert Fildew Driver of Plymouth	64
1974 11th February	The National Trust Westminster London	64

For the purposes of registration, a ship is divided into 64 shares; most maritime nations (the United States being an exception) follow this custom.

Why 64 Shares?
As normal there appears to be more than one explanation.
The three that follow seem to be the most popular.

1. The fact that ships traditionally had 64 ribs

2. Under Queen Victoria ship owners were taxed 36% and left with the remaining 64%.

3. Or maybe it's part of the easy maths way to divide up a unit
1
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/16
1/32
1/64
Originating in the earliest trading days when the owner wanted to split the risks of voyaging between his financial friends. No decimal or % business in them there days!
All the "sixty-fourth" shares were sold off and could be split again by the new purchasers, but so long as all the fractions added up to 1, the risks were properly shared out.

On a lighter note

This week has seen the arrival in the boat shed of one of Rob Roy sailing canoe's direct descendants.