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My ancestor travelled from Hong Kong to England in 1845 on a ship called the Tory. It was a 608-ton freetrader and there is a picture of it in the Illustrated London News at St Catherine's Dock.
The trouble is, there was more than one ship called the Tory at the time and I have a suspicion that the artist just found a picture of what he thought was the ship and added a background to it. The picture looks more like a naval ship to me, with gun ports along the side.
I've found another picture of the Tory on the National Maritime Museum website (attached) and it looks identical to the one in the paper - and it flies the Red Ensign, denoting it's a merchantman. So... can anybody tell me what sort of ship this is - and are they gun ports on the side?
The trouble is, there was more than one ship called the Tory at the time and I have a suspicion that the artist just found a picture of what he thought was the ship and added a background to it. The picture looks more like a naval ship to me, with gun ports along the side.
I've found another picture of the Tory on the National Maritime Museum website (attached) and it looks identical to the one in the paper - and it flies the Red Ensign, denoting it's a merchantman. So... can anybody tell me what sort of ship this is - and are they gun ports on the side?
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