John George Spencer, Master Mariner, 1853-1914.

This collection contains account books, abstract logs and letterbooks belonging to John Spencer.

See item level records for further details.

Administrative / biographical background
John George Spencer was born at Liverpool in 1853. Early in his career he was second mate of the ADA IREDALE when this vessel was abandoned in the South Pacific after her cargo of coal caught fire. Spencer qualified as master mariner in 1880 (certificate numbers 99503 and 03886). He was engaged as master of the POLYNESIAN and then the LARGIEMORE, both owned by Thomson, Dickie & Co of Glasgow (the Maiden City Line). The LARGIEMORE was a steel full-rigged ship built by Russell & Co at Port Glasgow. Spencer was her master throughout the period between her completion in 1892 and sale to Norwegian owners in 1910. The ship gained an impressive reputation for speed. In 1897 her passage of 43 days from Rio de Janeiro to Adelaide was considered a record. In 1901 Spencer received a telescope from the French government, awarded in recognition of his services in rescuing surviving crew members from the French barque PSYCHE, abandoned off Cape Horn. He married Sarah Kerr (nee Blacklock) in 1883 and he lived in Fazakerley, Liverpool.