Adelaide (shipwrecked 1850)

[1] An illustration of the plan of the ship is shown as folio 90 in Hilhouse Draughts,[2] in 1950 in the possession of Charles Hill & Sons,[3] shipbuilders at Bristol.

The ship was built in 1830 for owners James Cunningham and Henry Robley, merchants at Bristol.

She had 2 decks and a raised quarterdeck, 3 masts, was ship rigged, with a square stern, quarter galleries, and bust head.

[2] A source for the details of the shipwreck is a marble mural monument by John Thomas (1813–1862) of Bristol, erected by Captain William Dovell, sole survivor of the wreck, in the parish church of Molland in Devon, England, inscribed as follows: Captain William Dovell was born in the parish of Parracombe in Devon on 30 October 1806.

[4] The Dovell family had been tenants in Molland since at least 1701, as the following deed dated 12 May 1701 is summarised:[6] Later Courtenay/Paston/Throckmorton Molland deeds in Warwickshire archives[7] show the Dovell family as resident in High Bray (1734), West Anstey (1761), Dolworthy (sic, should be Holworthy) in the parish of Parracombe (1801), Martinhoe (1808) and Countisbury (1814), all in North Devon.

Mural monument by John Thomas (1813–1862) of Bristol, in Molland Church, Devon, erected by Capt. William Dovell, master and owner of the Adelaide , and sole survivor of the shipwreck in which his wife, born in Molland, and only son, drowned