Description: Alan Barker, whose father was the landlord of the Bridge Inn on Awsworth Road, was the second mate of the 'Moresby' ship which was wrecked on Christmas Eve 1895 at Dungarvan Bay near Waterford, Ireland.
Built by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Co, for J. Dodd and Co. of Liverpool in 1882, the ship was loaded with coal and bound for Pisagua in South America when she ran into difficulty by Dungarvan.
There were two other seaman from Ilkeston also on this ship: a 17 year old called Henry Blount from Vicarage Street, Cotmanhay, whose father was a blacksmith and Charles Gregory, also 17, whose father, Charles Hiram Gregory, was the proprietor of the Wine Vaults in East Street.
Henry was saved but Charles was drowned, along with Alan Barker and 16 other of the crew members. Of the 23 crew and two passengers, only 5 were saved.
You can read Henry Blount's recounting of the disaster at:http://www.waterfordcountymuseum.org/exhibit/web/Display/article/2.