Leonis Technical Specification

Edmund Ebdy started his business at George Street, Hartlepool in 1873 as a produce merchant, dealing primarily in flour. In 1881 he went into partnership with Richard Blacklin as steamship owners under the company name of Ebdy, Blacklin & Co. Ebdy was the commercial partner and Blacklin attended to the practical and other details of the company. They contracted Raylton, Dixon & Co. to build the steamship Aurora at a cost of £27.400. At the time their company had only £1,600 capital. They secured promises of 39 shares being taken in the steamer which still left £7,633 owing. They also contracted with William Gray & Co. to purchase the Atalanta for £19,200 when the all their money was already tied up in the Aurora.  They only managed to sell 14 shares in the Atalanta leaving them responsible for the remaining shares. When the Aurora was wrecked in 1885 it was found that Ebdy had under-insured her.

After Ebdy transferred his merchant’s business and other assets to his wife in 1886 both men filed a petition for bankruptcy. After many Bankruptcy Court appearances with Ebdy accused of rash and hazardous speculation the petition was granted in 1887.

R.J. Blacklin became commodore of the Rotterdam Lloyd Line and later the Atlantic Transport Line. By 1890 he was mangaer of the Hudson Shipping Co. In 1896 and 1903 he was manager of the Leonis Shipping Co. Ltd.

Family History:

Richard James Blacklin was born in 1841 at Athlone, Westmeath, Ireland to parents Richard James and Margaret Ann (nee Anderson) Blacklin. In 1851 he was a boarder with Thomas Dickinson, a teacher, at Heighington, County Durham. Richard married Mary Ann Agnes Downey at St Hilda’s Church, Hartlepool on 24^th March 1863. In 1865, living at 115 Scarborough Street, Hartlepool he passed his master’s certificate in steam, certificate no. 24.069. On the 1871 census the family was living at Slough, Buckinghamshire with Richard’s widowed mother. Mary Ann, his wife, died in 1872. Richard’s second marriage was at Manchester on 7^th August 1873 to Ellen Marion Downey. On the 1881 census the family were living at 51 Milton Street, Hartlepool and Richard was listed as a navy captain. From 1891 the family were living at Dinsdale House, Brougham Terrace Hartlepool. Ellen died at Darlington in 1905.

Richard died aged 74 on 23^rd August 1915 at Heighington leaving effects of £2,387. He was interred in the North Cemetery, Raby Road, West Hartlepool.  

Edmund John Battensby Ebdy was born in 1849 at St. Giles, Durham to parents Edmund (roper, dealer and grocer) and Anne Battensby (nee Clarke) Ebdy. His mother died in 1860 and his father was remarried to Mary Taylor in the same year. Edmund married Mary Pape in 1872 at Darlington. On the 1881 census Edmund was staying at Hall Quay, Great Yarmouth as a boarder. His wife was living at Brougham Terrace, Hartlepool.

In 1886 a petition was filed with Edmund named as co-respondent in a divorce having committed adultery with May, the wife of Jacob K. M. Hessler. The case was proven in April of 1887 with Edmund ordered to pay costs.

Edmund and his wife sailed on the ship Austral arriving in Australia in May 1887. He travelled back again on the Arcadia arriving in London in 1897 and must have then returned to Australia. Mary, his wife, sailed back to Britain in 1913 on the ship Osterley.

Edmund died in 1919 at New South Wales, Australia

This section will, in time, contain the stories of more than 450 merchant ships built or owned in the Hartlepools, and which were lost during the First World War. As an illustration of the truly global nature of shipbuilding, these ships were owned by companies from 22 different countries, including more than 30 sailing under the German flag at the outbreak of war.