Nicholas, Llewellyn, Master

Items related to Llewellyn Nicholas's service in the merchant navy. See item level records for further details.

Administrative / biographical background
Nicholas was born in 1868 in Bow, Middlesex, the eldest son of Llewellyn Nicholas, a superintendent at London docks, and his wife Isabel Nicholas née Papineau. Between 1884 and 1888 he was an apprentice on the DOUNE CASTLE (1869) and then the BRODICK CASTLE (1875), both sailing ships belonging to Thomas Skinner & Co. of Glasgow. He qualified as master in 1894 (certificate number 020430). Nicholas was master of the passenger/cargo steamer JIQUILISCO (1911), when this vessel caught fire and foundered off the west coast of central America in 1914. During the First World War he was engaged as master of the EUPION (1913) and then the MAPLELEAF (1898). The latter tanker was under Admiralty control as part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and employed in transporting oil from refineries in the USA. In December 1919 Nicholas and his crew came to the aid of the crippled WAR ZEPHYR (1918), towing her to Plymouth from a position about 1,000 miles west of the Lizard. Nicholas died on the passenger liner OLYMPIC (1911), after receiving medical treatment in New York, in 1921.