In the April of 1909 an auction of Sailing Vessels was held at Connah's Quay North Wales. The schooner fleet of Mr Ashburner of Barrow was for sale and among them was the James Postlethwaite she was built at Barrow in 1881, and named after a local ship-owner, she was 99 feet long and could carry 190 tons of cargo. Purchased for 995 pounds by George Kearon and Job Hall and Edward Hall, Job's boy was her Captain. She was plied to the trade in the coasting and north European trades but this ended on August 3rd 1914 when she was captured in Hamburg as World War 1 began. Her masts removed and she was used as a barge on the Elbe. Captain Ned Hall and his crew were removed to a prison camp established at Rublehen racecourse Berlin. There these men lived for four years - six to a room in the stables under the grand stand. Also in this camp was one Captain George Tyndall he himself having been removed from the Palgrave Murphy steamer "City of Belfast". A week before the war ended, the two Arklow Captains were among a group of sick prisoners released into neutral Holland, but Captain George Tyndall seriously ill died 10 days later. The James Postlethwaite was eventually liberated towed across the North Sea to South Shields and their under the loving hands of Captain Edward ( Ned) Hall, she resumed trading in 1920. January 1929 saw Captain Hall retire, and Captain Daniel Breslin of Meadows Lane replaced him until April 1929, when Captain William Hagan of Upper Main Street, stepped in as the Captain of the ship. William was born in 1884 at 17 Fair Green Arklow son of Patrick Hagan a lightship man. One of five sailor brothers, he went to sea in a variety of schooners, from 1903-1906 and then went on to Steamships. He gained his Mate Certificate in 1913 whilst working at the Irish Lights he left there in 1916 and joined as Mate the "Braegrove" owned by Coal importers Thomas Collier/ 1918 he passed for Master then he joined a Dublin firm named Michael Murphy Ltd., trading to France. 1928 he joined the O'Toole steamer "Deansgate". A year later he returned to the "James Postlethwaite " and became her master having purchased shares in her. But on the 11/5/1929 the James Postlethwaite was rammed in bad weather by the J.J.Moncks and she sunk. Without loss of life. Captain William Hagan Mate-Patrick Byrne of Gusset Lane Engineer - Myles Donovan of Probys Row A.B.- Laurence Donovan of Probys Row OS -Laurence Byrne Boy- William Canterbury The wrecked ship was raised and in 1930 was trading yet again. Captain Hagan died in Upper Main Street in the August of 1935 aged 51 years. His shares in the ship being left to his wife Julia *Trivia In June 1954 the James Postlethwaite was towed to Youghal by Kearon' ship George Emelie to star in the film "Moby DIck" starring Gregory Peck. Sad to say at the end of filming, she was damaged in a gale and she lay beached and derelict in Youghal until she was destroyed by Fire on 7/10/1957