"Brilliant Star"

The "Brilliant Star" was a launched in 1893 and rigged as a sloop. She carried cargos mainly of cattle cake from BOCM between Hull, Kings Lynn, Wells, Spalding and Snettisham. Her Captain in 1900 was George Hardy from East Hull. He carried a mate and a cook-cum-deckhand.
In 1905 she was purchased by J.W.Eastwood and used mainly in the Humber, Ouse and Trent. In 1933 a diesel engine replaced the sails and she is shown on the left while moored in Selby canal. In 1971 she was lengthened by 20ft to 95 ft, increasing her capacity from 130 to 200 tons of cargo. Cargos were varied, including imported foodstuffs and stone and, in winter, sugar-beet loaded from the river-bank.

The original owner, Captain Nettleton, commissioned a painting of the ship, showing her in full sail with him at the tiller. Following the death of the captain, his widow covered his image with paint, and the painting eventually passed to the new owner. However, the skipper, Captain Eastwood had to promise never to remove the spot of paint obscuring the previous owner. He kept his promise and so did his son, T W Eastwood, who inherited the "Brilliant" in 1943.
More recently, the painting suffered damage when it fell off the wall, hitting Mrs T Eastwood on the head. Mrs Eastwood was not injured but the painting was ‘holed’. Mr S Eastwood, son of T.W.Eastwood, and the last Eastwood to own the ship, then commissioned a restorer to repair and clean the painting. Fortunately (or perhaps not) the restorer had no knowledge of the original agreement and his expert attentions revealed the original captain at the tiller. A photograph of the painting is shown to the left.

To my knowledge, no photograph exists of the "Brilliant" under sail but as the painting shows she was rigged as a humber sloop similar to the "Jane Ann" pictured below. This photo taken from Barmby, dates from c.1890 and shows Captain Joseph Eastwood and his family on board. His son Joseph William, aged about 12 years, the future captain of the "Brilliant", is standing on the hatch covers to his father's left.

Updated 26/5/03