Captain Peter White was born in New Ross (Rosbercon) in 1816.

He first went to sea around 1831, obtained his Masters Certificate of Service (No. 48.536) on 1 February 1851 at Gloucester and worked for the William Graves & Sons, shipping company of New Ross, Waterford and Liverpool.

In the midst of the famine era he was in charge of the barque Bolivar. (built 1826 in PEI, Canada, she was 355 tons and is listed on Lloyds as in the ownership of Carigan of Waterford in 1842). In 1952 he was in charge of the brig Velocity, (built 1819 in Chester and registered in Waterford tonnage – 166) and finished his career aboard the ship Woodstock (built 1850 in Quebec) which was registered in Liverpool to Samuel R Graves (official number 26815, registered tonnage 875). In 1862 he was discovered dead while at sea, with another crew man and 14 others were ill with scurvy.

According to The Sailing Ships of Wexford the Woodstock was owned by Graves & Sons in 1855 and was skippered at the time by John Williams. 1865 – Samuel Graves of Liverpool. Brian Cleare and the late Jack O’Leary stated that she was 151.7×31.5×21.8ft in dimensions and was 967 tons. (p.351).

This is just a pencil sketch of his career and the travels he undertook for more and a lot further details, check out Kathleen Moore Walsh and her blog on The Cursed Ship Woodstock.