Page 20 - Captain William Strike of Porthleven

4: The Sea-going Strikes

Six sea-going sons

It was hardly surprising that William Strike found a career at sea. William’s father,
Hannibal, was a Porthleven fisherman and it seems likely that the young William
would have amassed a lot of sea-going experience from an early age. Eventually all
six of William Strike’s sons were to follow in their father’s footsteps. By the age of 15,
one son, Samson, was serving as an Ordinary Seaman with his father as Master of
the ‘Ready Rhino’ in a voyage down to the Rio Grande. Another son – John – was
serving as Mate on the same ship in the mid 1860s at the age of 26. A logbook
shows for example that John Strike was aboard for a voyage from Cardiff down to
Spain and in particular, Marin, Seville and Huelva, for which he was paid just over
£16. John had obviously graduated because, again on the ‘Ready Rhino’, he had
been listed as an Able Seaman in 1861 when the ship called at Holyhead. An older
brother referred to already, Hannibal, was serving as Mate on this occasion.

Hannibal was the oldest son, born at Porthleven in 1837 and led a colourful life. By
the late 1860s Hannibal was himself a ship owner with half the 64 shares in the St
Malo built, three-masted, 119 ton schooner ‘Brothers’. Previously, Hannibal had
served as master of the Porthleven-owned schooner ‘Wideawake’. Eventually Hannibal
was part owner and master of the Rye-built schooner ‘Cambria’, of 108 tons: it has
been seen already that the majority owner was Solomon Rowe of Porthleven. While
docked in Queen’s Dock in Hull early in 1866 Hannibal had engaged a 15 year old
cabin boy on the ‘Cambria’. On returning from chapel on a Sunday evening it was
discovered that the new cabin boy had left the ship. Later the lad was arrested near
Hull, in possession of a double-barrelled shotgun, which he confessed to having stolen
from Captain Strike’s cabin. The cabin boy was sentenced to fourteen days’ hard labour
by the magistrates’ court. These proceedings were reported by the Hull Packet
newspaper on February 9, 1866.

An indication of the sorts of trades that Hannibal was involved in are to be found in
Fox’s (Falmouth) Register of Arrivals and Sailings, and the Port Entry Logs. On July
31 1878 the ‘Brothers’ arrived from the Rio Grande, en route for Exeter. On May 30,
1882 the ‘Brothers’ again under Hannibal’s command arrived, en route to Hamburg,
with a cargo of hides from Pelotas in Brazil. These are but two of a number of
reported voyages, to and from South America. Significantly the ‘Brothers’ was sold to
interests at Buenos Aires in the mid-1880s. At about this time Hannibal, his wife and
family moved away from Cornwall, to Stapleton near Bristol. The Royal Cornwall
Journal on October 11, 1888 reported the marriage, at All Saints’ Bristol of Captain
Edward Strike - Hannibal’s youngest son – to Emily Symons, the second daughter of
another Porthleven shipowner mentioned previously, Captain Solomon Symons. Just a
year before, in July 1887, it was reported that the Bristol Police Court had authorized
the transfer of the licence for the public house in Bristol known as Narrow Quay to
Hannibal Strike. At the age of 50 Hannibal was perhaps considering a retirement from
sea-going. That this was not necessarily the case is seen in the columns of the
Gloucester Journal and the Gloucester Chronicle in October 1896 when Hannibal was
aged 59. It was reported that Hannibal Strike was to stand trial at the Gloucestershire
Quarter Sessions on charges of indecent assault against two young girls, the offences
allegedly committed at Stapleton. In the meantime Strike was bailed, surety being
provided by one William Court. On the day of the trial it was reported to the court that
Strike had apparently absconded, it being believed that he had sailed for some foreign
port. In the meantime a warrant for the defendant’s arrest was issued though it appears
that Strike was never brought before the court subsequently.
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