Captain Isaac Richard Pillidge #3 (1807....1853)

Isaac's Sextant & Useage Manual

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If this symbol is present .H . click on their christian name to go to their own history page.

Children :

1 . H . Isaac . Richard . Pillidge . ( b.1834...b.19/5/1921) m 11/10/1856 H . Mary . Ann Priscilla . Johnson . (b.1840...d.23/6/1920 )

2 . Allen Pillage :( b: 1839.....d 1847)

3 . Philip Henry Pillidge : born 1841.....b) unknown, believe he died between the 1851 & 1861 census, he never appears on any census records after 1851

4 . H . Elizabeth . Ann Pillage ( b.1843.. ..d.29/9/1882 ) m 23/4/1861 John . Wills . ( Mariner )...(b.....d.)

5 . H . George . Warley Pillidge ( b.1846....d) m Sarah Ann Taylor (b.1848...d.) . George was registered as

Pillidge

6 . H . Caleb . Pillage :( d.1848....d ) Ann Pillage (nee) ? (b.1850....d.)

7 . H . Henry . Pillage ( b.1853....d. )m Sarah Warrett (b.1854...d.)

"NOTE" the difference in spelling Pillidge & Pillage the names were as they were registered

History & Achievements :

Isaac Pillidge baptised 24/12/1809 died..abt 1861 Parents: Philip Pillage & Elizabeth

Trencher. Philip, his father was married to an Elizabeth Hanaford . This Elizabeth died and his father, Isaac re married to Elizabeth Trencher who was a widow. Isaac is a son of the second marriage.

Isaac's Royal Naval Career

Isaac ( Pillage) Pillidge served in the Royal Navy from age 17 and was listed as serving on Her Majesties ship "Queen's Arms" for a period of about 3 years. He appears on the register of students at the Naval College, Plymouth as a study student of Navigation in 1832, he moves through the ranks and reaches the rank of Navigator. Isaac is registered as attaining the rank of Lieutenant on 6/7/1840 whilst serving on Her Majesties ship "H.M.S. Esperance" . He is logged as serving a four-year term on board this vessel at various times. On H.M.S."Plymstock" Isaac is listed as Lieutenant Navigator, and as captain aboard "H.M.S. Hawk's Ridge" , a 45. Gunner patrolling the coast of Britain from 1845 to 1848.

Isaac appears to have retired from the Royal Navy around 1849/1850 and is then shown as a Captain in the

Merchant Navy for a short time. He was listed as Captain on board the Mary Jane which ran aground off the coast of Wales in 1861, foundered and sank with the loss of 32 lives.

Two of the ship's Capt. Isaac Pillidge served on, HMS "HAWK'S RIDGE" & HMS "ESPERANCE" are

listed by the Royal Navy as coastal protection ships. However from information obtained, these two vessels were both 45-gun vessels and as such were considered to be rather large vessels for the time to be used only to patrol the coast. Many of the more heavily armed ships were actually captured French or Spanish vessels following the Battle of Trafalgar and used as defensive ships against the French. One of these ships, the Spanish Frigate " San Ildefonso" was a British prize ship. She was returned (towed) to Plymouth, where records show, she was stripped of her large guns and her colours were burnt. She spent several years in moth balls awaiting re-fit. She was then fitted with 45 guns of medium range to allow her the speed she needed to pursue any ship that was too close to British shipping lanes.

Upon completion of refit in 1829-1830, she was re named "Hawk Ridge ",over the term of her service she

was called "Hawk's Ridge" and that name has stuck as both names appear in records. For many years she was recorded as being used as a training and patrol vessel. During the years 1845 to 1848 a few references are made to her activities, but as usual, as she was in a word, a legal pirate ship, in other words operated outside Royal Navy charter, not much was ever recorded about her. The Royal Navy could deny her activities and her existence, thus avoiding any political conflicts between governments. There are a few references to her during those years, mostly mundane patrol reports with the exception of three items totally different from the other records. 12/3/1846 P,E,D ".Preut " 1/1/1847.P,E,C "Nativid "..BP. 3/8/1847.P,E,D.. San Torramo.

P= Pursue . E= Engaged . D= Destroyed (sank) . C= Captured . BP= British prize ship .

 

Within 12 days of each date she put into port for extensive repairs. On the few occasions she was listed, her

officer in charge was Isaac Pillage. (also spelt Pillege, Pillidge , ) mostly written by the harbour masters who logged the ship into port. A record of her voyages would be almost impossible to find due to the type of ship she was. No logbooks would have been kept, for in the event of capture the French or Spanish would have hanged all for piracy. Even though they were members of the Royal Navy, the Navy would have most certainly denied their and the ship's existence.

Captain Isaac Pillidge . It has been recorded on the Marriage & Death certificate of his son Isaac Richard

Pillidge that his father Isaac Richard Pillidge was a Master Mariner. This has been confirmed by the presence in Australia of three items obviously handed down through the years. They were first given to Isaac Richard Pillidge the Captain's son, all items can be seen by clicking the link below Isaac's title . Firstly there is a spittoon . This item is made of brass about 10" round ,it has been hand made with all the joints sweeted not solder welded. The base is engraved with the following . "PresenTed To CaPTain PillidGe aT Elsineur 1850" (this is as it appears) The reason for the capitals in the centre of the inscription is probably illiteracy of the one who engraved it . The engraving has been done with a nail or similar sharp item, hit to make the engraving . The letters are not straight and are not fluid in their lines .

The second item is a sextant,issued by the Royal Navy as the merchant navy could not have afforded such an expensive item.This item is made of brass with all the glass mirrors still in tact .All of its graduations are still readable. The only person on board ships in those times who navigated were the ships navigator. Isaac Jnr would have had no use for such an item . He sailed up and down the coast between Newcastle and Sydney . Latitude and Longitude were never needed as these ships never lost sight of land. The sextant is housed in a wooden case with the letters "I P" burnt on the out side.

The third item is a Seaman's Book. This book describes how to navigate using the sextant . The maps inside the book are of that time . They show the east coast of Australia between Brisbane and Cairns as being straight and the West Coast between Broome and Darwin as also being straight , these areas had not been fully charted at that time. Inside the front cover the writing is in the old English style of quill writing . It reads the following " February 2 1853 Isaac Richard Pillidge his book Oreston near Plymouth Devon " second writing " Isaac Richard Pillidge was born November 4th 1856" (note ) the word born was crossed out to possibly hide the illegitimacy of his son . It was replaced with the word "Here" .

 

Some information kindly supplied by ; Bob Andersly RNM,Faulklands Royal Navy Maritime Historian,

Trafalgar (the information came from very old record books, and as such are under close scrutiny by the Museum's Historical Society and as such are not available for public viewing)

Some Naval information above was kindly supplied by: Roland J. Walsh Cmdr. Royal Navy Ret. DSO.

OBE. Marine Historian

 

 

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© Copyright B & M Chapman (QLD) Australia

Last revised: December 01, 2000.