I have a stack of approx 2″ of background information including:

Picture of, and a bio on, the Orient’s builder, George Raynes.

A list of the ships that Raynes built, including the Orient.

Pictures of similar-sized, three-masted, packet ships (no picture so far of the Orient).

Picture of the George Raynes’ ship yard in Portsmouth, with a packet ship hull (no masts) on the weighs.

Article from the San Francisco newspaper (Mom and I retrieved from the archives in Sacramento Cal.) that details the arrival date in San Francisco of several ships on a particular day (including the Orient) that matches and authenticates the Prudence journal (including reference to the Captain) and the departure date for Calleo (Peru) to pick up the load of Guano.

Sketches of typical rigging (mast sizes, sail sizes, etc.) of typical packet ships of that era) with incredible detail.

A two-page (written at the time of launch of the Orient in very flowery language of the period ) very detailed description of the Orient. Likely enough detail to have a model built.

Several pages describing typical packet ships (of which Orient was one) crossing dates (arrival; departure, tonnages); name of the Captain (Hill); comparisons of the fastest and the slowest crossings from New York to England.

An account of the fact that the packet ships were also used to transport new immigrants to America including the range of the number of passengers.

Excerpt from the Society of Marine Captains (Hill was a member in New York) that describes George Strible Hill and his Mariner’s Certification number and his involvement in the society, all hand written by a recording secretary.

Date of birth and death (where he is buried in a New York cemetery c/w address of Cemetery ) of Captain Hill and the date of death of Prudence.

If in New York, it would be rather interesting to go to his grave and take a picture. It would be

interesting also to drop into Portsmouth to see what we could find on the location (street address

mentioned in article) of the George Raynes shipyard and dig a little deeper into trying to find a picture of the Orient.

A picture of the owner of the Orient during its Packet ship period.

A picture of the company flag that Orient flew.

An early advertisement in a trade journal that highlights the features and benefits of guano (bird crap) as a fertilizer. That was the load (guano) that the Orient picked up in Calleo, Peru to transport back to Holland where the journal ends.

An account of the amount of money that the Orient received for hauling a particular cargo to England from New York ($50,000.00).

An account of the fact that Capt. Hill was of such stature (in the shipping business) that he was allowed to take his wife (Prudence) with him on the crossings.

An account of the Orient running aground off the coast of France (due to the “stupidity” of the French pilot). and the fact the Capt. Hill was able to patch the broken hull back together enough to get the damaged packet ship hauled (by tugs) back to England for repair and that they were able to put the ship back on the run to New York.

A full account of the final months, weeks and down to the day (including the date and time) that the Orient was destroyed in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico off New Orleans. Tragically, five people were lost at sea trying to save the ship (which, by that time in its long service was chopped down (sails and cabins removed) to serve as a towed coal barge).

I would say we have enough material to flesh out a rather interesting, online, book. It will take some time to put all the articles together since some of them have started to fade (done in 96-97) and may have to be recopied at the libraries that I sourced the material from.

Regards

Dad
Hugh Parkinson to Dana Parkinson and Gail Parkinson

Tags: archives, california, calleo, capt, cemetery, flag, france, george raynes, guano, gulf of mexico, holland, new orleans, newspaper, packet ship, peru, portsmouth, sacramento, san francisco, shipyard, the orient