Maritime records show that in 1862 David Guest bought a £3,000 half share in a three masted wood barque sailing ship the Robert Mills. Two years earlier she had been declared a ‘total wreck’ after dragging anchors in a storm off Holyhead. She lost her topsail, mainsail and spanker. One crew member drowned. Built in New York in 1852, she sailed out of Liverpool and Falmouth to Galveston and Rio De Janeiro, Cape Town, Odessa and Leghorn. The boat was put up for auction in Gloucester in 1864.