(_Wood and Composite Ships_).
With tallow casks all dunnaged tight, with tiers on tiers of bales,
With cargo crammed from hatch to hatch, she’s racing for the sales;
A clipper barque, a model ship, a “flyer” through and through,
O skipper bluff! O skipper brave! I would I went with you!
—G. J. BRADY.
The Carriers of the Golden Fleece.
If it was the discovery of gold that founded Australia’s fortune, the
Golden Fleece and the Wheat Sheaf have set it upon a rock.
It was the gold fever that swept the great tide of emigration in the
direction of the Southern Cross and carried the star of the Liverpool
shipowners upon its flood, but that star began to set as soon as the
output of alluvial gold began to diminish, as soon, indeed, as the
great soft-wood clippers of the Black Ball and White Star began to
grow water-soaked and strained, for their prosperity may be said to
have ended with the sixties and had scarcely a longer run than the
classification of their ships. But the percentage of emigrants landed
by these ships, who stuck for any time to the elusive hunt for gold,
was very small; and the greater number of the gold seeking emigrants
eventually settled and worked on the homesteads and great runs of the
interior, with the natural result that there was a large and steady
increase in the output of wool, hides, tallow, wheat and other land
products.
The huge Liverpool emigrant ships, however, were not fitted for the
economical transport of these products to their central market in
London. They were too big for one thing, for, in those early days,
wool and tallow dribbled into the big ports in small amounts; also the
repair bills of these soft-wood clippers were an ever increasing item
to put against their freight receipts.
Thus it came about that the wonderful American-built ships dropped out
of the running. But their London rivals, the beautiful British-built
hard-wood ships of half their size, having no heavy repair bills, being
splendidly built of that imperishable wood teak, and being able to fill
up their small holds quickly, continued to carry passengers outward and
wool homeward until supplanted in their turn by the magnificent iron
clippers of the Clyde, Liverpool and Aberdeen.
=The London Wool Sales.=
These were the days when great races home from Australia took place—not
only did ship race against ship, but it was the aim and object of
every skipper to get his ship home in time for the first wool sales in
London. And in the wool trade, unlike the custom in the tea trade, the
fastest ships were loaded last—the pride of place—that of being the
last ship to leave an Australasian port for the London wool sales being
reserved for that which was considered the fastest ship in the trade.
In the eighties, when the tea trade was entirely in the hands of the
steamers, this pride of place in Sydney was always kept for Willis’
famous clipper, _Cutty Sark_, no other ship, either wood or iron built,
being able to rival her passages both out and home in the wool trade.
The London wool sales took place in January, February and March, and
the lists of the first sales were closed as soon as a sufficient
number of cargoes had arrived or been reported in the Channel. Thus
it was the aim of every skipper to get reported as soon as possible
after reaching the Channel, as the cargoes of ships reported in the
Channel by noon on the opening day of the sales were included in the
sale lists. Whereas if a captain missed the sales, his cargo would
have to be warehoused for perhaps two or three months until the next
sales, thus involving extra expenses such as warehouse charges, loss of
interest, etc., not to speak of the possibility of a fall in the price
of wool.
In those days signal stations were not as numerous on our coasts as
they are now, and so wool clippers on arriving in the Channel kept a
specially sharp look-out for fishing smacks or pilot cutters to take
their reports on shore. Occasionally the captains of the late-starting,
crack ships were promised substantial cheques if they caught the sales
and truly it was money well earned.
=The Lost Art of the Stevedore.=
In the present days of steam, steel and water ballast, stevedoring is
no longer the fine art which it used to be in the days of masts and
yards, clipper keels and oak frames.
As every sailor knows, no two ships are alike, even when built from
the same moulds; and though this is the case with every water-borne
vessel, it is specially noticeable with that almost living thing—the
sailing ship. Not only does every sailing ship have its own character
as regards its stability, but its character often changes with age,
etc., and no tables can give the exact way in which its cargo should be
loaded as regards weights and trim. The hand books on the subject give
rough, general rules, but the captain of a ship, from his own first
hand knowledge of his ship’s peculiarities, would always give careful
instructions to the stevedore as to how he wanted the weights of the
cargo placed or distributed.
So first of all the old time stevedore had to load his ship in
accordance with her own particular character and the wishes of her
captain. Next he had to be an expert packer, especially with a wooden
ship with a hold cut up by big oak frames and knees. No space was
wasted. There is an old story told of a stevedore loading the little
Tasmanian barque _Harriet McGregor_, who sang out to his mate on the
wharf, “Sling us down a box of pickles, Bill!” Then the stevedore had
all sorts of goods in a general cargo, some of which could not be
stowed near each other, such as soda, which melts at sea and destroys
cottons, etc. Also washed wool, leather, flour or wheat would be
damaged if stowed with tallow and greasy wool. Other goods could only
be stowed in the hatches, such as cases of glass, whilst wine and
spirits had to be stowed aft to be out of the way of the crew.
Instances have been known also of ships coming home from Australia with
their iron masts packed full of bullocks’ horns, shank and knuckle
bones, which were more generally used for broken stowage.
An amusing case with regard to bullocks’ horns and knuckle bones
happened on one of Carmichael’s ships, through the mate signing the
bills of lading without examining them. He signed for so many horns,
so many shank bones and so many knuckle bones loose. On arrival in
London the consignee sent a lighter for the horns, and intimated that
he wanted the shank bones delivered entirely separate from the knuckle
bones. Carmichael’s got out of it by some very plain speaking, the
mate’s receipts proving that a fraud had been attempted.
Bags of pearl shell were generally used in Sydney to fill up cargo near
the hatches; and I find in July, 1868, that the _Jerusalem_, (Captain
Largie) shipped 9 tons of mother-of-pearl shell at Melbourne in small
casks and 3-foot cases.
Below are specimens of early cargoes home from Australia in the
sixties, with port charges, pilotage dues, etc.
The ship _Omar Pasha_, Captain Thomas Henry, belonging to Messrs. G.
Thompson, Sons & Co., of
Aberdeen, took in at Melbourne, in October, 1864:—
3550 bales of wool,
14,000 hides,
80 casks of tallow,
20 tons spelter,
4000 ounces of gold
and 12 cabin passengers. With the above she drew 19 ft. aft and 18 ft.
9 in. forward, her best trim at sea. The ballast of stones, spelter
and hides was estimated at 430 tons. The wool was screwed in; and the
dunnage, stones and horns, was 12 inches thick in the bottom and 15
inches in the bilges. Port charges were 1s. per ton; pilotage in £28
18s. 6d.; out £28 18s. 6d.
The ship _Transatlantic_, Captain Philip, belonging to Messrs. G.
Thompson, Junr., & Co., of London, took in at Sydney, June, 1864:—
1360 bales of wool,
135 casks of tallow,
5300 hides,
300 bags and 40 cases Kauri gum,
50 tons of iron bark timber.
She had no ballast. Dunnage wood in the bottom 9 inches, bilges 12
inches, one treenail between the wool and the sides. So laden, she drew
14½ ft. aft, 14 ft. forward. Her best sea trim was 6 inches by the
stern. Port charges at Sydney, customs entry and shipping office £4
4s.; pilotage out 4d. per ton; the same in.
The ship _Queen of Nations_, Captain Thomas Mitchell, belonging to
Messrs. G. Thompson & Co., left Sydney on 21st September, 1865, loaded
with:—
484 bales of wool,
44 bales of cotton,
1037 casks of cocoanut oil,
219 casks of tallow,
2602 ingots and plates of copper,
62 tons of gum,
9452 hides.
For ballast she had 30 tons of kentledge; dunnage, treenails and bones,
12 inches in the bottom, 18 in the bilges and 6 in the sides. The hides
were laid from two beams abaft the foremast to the mizen mast; oil on
the hides, with a tier of tallow between; the wool, cotton, gum, etc.,
in the ’tween decks. Her best trim was 9 inches by the stern. So laden
she drew 18 ft. forward and 18½ ft. aft. Pilotage in £14 2s.; out £14
2s.
The _Murray_, under the command of Captain J. Legoe, belonging to
Anderson’s Orient Line, left Adelaide in December, 1863, loaded with:—
3182 bales of wool,
19,522 ingots of copper,
1590 bags of silver lead ore,
473 bags of copper ore,
35 boxes silver lead ore,
15 bales of leather,
277 calf skins,
1150 horns,
16 cases and 10 casks of wine.
She had a full complement of passengers, who occupied 250 tons of cargo
space. So laden she drew 15½ ft. forward and 16 ft. 2 in. aft, her
best draught for sailing being 15 ft. forward and 15 ft. 8 in. aft.
Port charges, harbour dues and light and tonnage dues £28 11s. 6d.;
pilotage in and out £17.
=Screwing Wool.=
As every sailorman knows, wool is screwed into a ship’s hold like
cotton; and a good captain in the old days would see that his ship
was jammed so tight with bales that one would think her seams would
open—indeed wood and composite ships always used to have their decks
and topsides well caulked before loading wool. As showing how much the
amount of wool loaded depended upon the captain, Captain Woodget used
to get 1000 bales more into the _Cutty Sark_ than his predecessor. He
made a habit of spending most of the day in the ship’s hold and thought
nothing of having a tier or half longer pulled down and restowed if he
was not satisfied with the number of bales got in.
You can dunnage casks o’ tallow; you can handle hides an’ horn;
You can carry frozen mutton; you can lumber sacks o’ corn;
But the queerest kind o’ cargo that you’ve got to haul and pull
Is Australia’s “staple product”—is her God-abandoned wool.
For it’s greasy an’ it’s stinkin’, an’ them awkward, ugly bales
Must be jammed as close as herrings in a ship afore she sails.
For it’s twist the screw and turn it,
And the bit you get you earn it;
You can take the tip from me, sir, that it’s anything but play
When you’re layin’ on the screw,
When you’re draggin’ on the screw,
In the summer, under hatches, in the middle o’ the day.
So sings the Australian sailor’s poet Brady.
In the sixties the bales of wool were pressed on shore by hydraulic
power, then lashed with manila or New Zealand hemp, or hoop iron, at
the ship’s expense. The bales were generally pressed on their flats,
but sometimes, for the sake of stowage, on their ends, when they were
called “dumps.” They had to be stowed immediately after being pressed,
as if left for any time, especially in the sun, the wool would swell
and carry away the lashings. There were from 8 to 12 lashings for
each package of Sydney wool, which were called single dumps, doubles,
trebles and fourbles, according to the number lashed together, trebles
being the most common.
[Illustration: House Flags.]
The actual loading of a wool cargo was a slowish process, and sometimes
attended with danger to the stowers if great care was not used, as
wool bales have great elasticity. A description of the uses of screws,
sampson posts, trunk planks, toms, shores, etc., would, I fear, be so
technical as to be wearisome.
One of the chief dangers in a wool cargo is spontaneous combustion.
This caused the end of several fine ships, such as the _Fiery Star_
and the new Orient liner _Aurora_. Spontaneous combustion was likely
to happen if the bales were wet or damp, either when loaded or through
contact with other damp cargo, dunnage, ballast or even sweating water
tanks. Often enough the wool got a wetting on its way to the ship, and
though possibly afterwards sun-dried on the outside of the bales, so
that to all appearances it was perfectly dry, was really damp inside
and very inflammable. Some Australian wool growers contended that the
practice of clipping sheep in the morning when the fleeces were heavy
with dew was a cause of spontaneous combustion.
Wool, of course, being a very light cargo, requires stiffening, but
hides, tallow, etc., were generally used as deadweight, also copper
ore. A ship with a wool cargo was reckoned to require two-thirds of the
ballast necessary when in ballast only. Wool freights in the early days
were 1d. per lb., and gradually fell to a farthing per lb.—this was for
washed wool: the freight for greasy wool, which had not been cleaned
and was therefore heavier than washed wool, being about 25% less.
The Aberdeen White Star Line.
Amongst the pioneers of the trade with the Colonies George Thompson,
of the Aberdeen Clipper Line, known to generations of Australians as
the Aberdeen White Star Line, holds a foremost place. The history
of this celebrated firm dates back to the year 1825, when its first
representative, a clipper brig of 116 tons named the _Childe Harold_,
was sent afloat.
It may safely be said that from that hour the Aberdeen White Star
Line has never looked back. From the first it earned a reputation for
enterprise and good management. Amongst its fleet were numbered some
of the earliest clipper ships built in the United Kingdom, ships whose
records were worthy to rank with those of the celebrated Black Ball and
White Star Lines; and which in their liberal upkeep had little to learn
from even such aristocrats of the sea as the Blackwall frigates.
Until the discovery of gold, the green clippers ran regularly to
Sydney, but when all the world began to take ship for Melbourne, the
port of the gold region, it was only natural that some of the Aberdeen
White Star ships should be put on the Melbourne run, and from that date
the little flyers from Aberdeen were as well known in Hobson’s Bay as
Sydney Cove.
The ships were all built in the yard of Walter Hood, of Aberdeen,
in whose business Messrs. Thompson held a large interest, and were
all designed by Walter Hood with the exception of the celebrated
_Thermopylae_.
George Thompson, who founded the line, was joined, in 1850, by his
son-in-law the late Sir William Henderson, and later on Mr. Thompson’s
sons, Stephen, George and Cornelius, came by turns into the partnership.
The following is a complete list of the wood and composite ships of the
Aberdeen White Star fleet, dating from 1842:—
List of the Wood and Composite Ships of the Aberdeen White Star Fleet.
1842 _Neptune,_ wood ship 343 tons.
1842 _Prince of Wales_ „ „ 582 „
1846 _Oliver Cromwell_ „ „ 530 „
1846 _Phoenician_ „ „ 530 „
1849 _John Bunyan_ „ „ 470 „
1850 _Centurion_ „ „ 639 „
1852 _Woolloomoolloo_ „ „ 627 „
1852 _Walter Hood_ „ „ 936 „
1853 _Maid of Judah_ „ „ 756 „
1854 _Omar Pasha_ „ „ 1124 „
1855 _Star of Peace_ „ „ 1113 „
1856 _Wave of Life_ „ „ 887 „
1857 _Damascus_ „ „ 964 „
1857 _Transatlantic_ „ „ 614 „
1858 _Moravian_ „ „ 996 „
1860 _Strathdon_ „ „ 1011 „
1861 _Queen of Nations_ „ „ 872 „
1862 _Kosciusko_ „ „ 1192 „
1864 _Nineveh_ „ „ 1174 „
1864 _Ethiopian_ „ „ 839 „
1865 _George Thompson_ „ „ 1128 „
1866 _Christiana Thompson_ „ „ 1079 „
1866 _Harlaw_ „ „ 894 „
1867 _Thyatira_ comp. ship 962 „
1867 _Jerusalem_ wood ship 901 „
1868 _Thermopylae_ comp. ship 948 „
1868 _Ascalon_ wood ship 938 „
1869 _Centurion_ comp. ship 965 „
1870 _Aviemore_ wood ship 1091 „
No ships that ever sailed the seas presented a finer appearance than
these little flyers. They were always beautifully kept and were easily
noticeable amongst other ships for their smartness: indeed, when lying
in Sydney Harbour or Hobson’s Bay with their yards squared to a nicety,
their green sides[B] with gilt streak and scroll work at bow and stern
glistening in the sun, their figure-heads, masts, spars and blocks all
painted white and every rope’s end flemish-coiled on snow-white decks,
they were the admiration of all who saw them.
There’s a jaunty White Star Liner, and her decks are scrubbed and
clean
And her tall white spars are spotless, and her hull is painted green.
Don’t you smell the smoky stingo? Ech! ye’ll ken the Gaelic lingo
Of the porridge-eating person who was shipped in Aberdeen.
—Brady.
From the first to the last they were hard-sailed ships, and some of the
fastest were often sent across to China for a home cargo of tea, though
the _Thermopylae_ was the only _bona-fide_ tea clipper in the fleet.
On the outward passage, whether to Sydney or Melbourne, they generally
carried a few first-class passengers, but it was only during the very
height of the gold rush that their ’tween decks were given up to a live
freight.
The “Phoenician.”
The first of the Aberdeen White Star fleet to make a reputation for
speed was the celebrated _Phoenician_, under the command of one of the
best known passage makers of the day, Captain Sproat.
Her dimensions were:—
Length of cut keel 122 feet.
Rake of stem 25 „
Rake of sternpost 7 „
Extreme breadth 27 feet 5 inches.
Depth of hold 19 „ 1 „
Registered tonnage (old) 526 tons.
„ „ (new) 478 „
Deadweight capacity 780 „
Her first three voyages were considered extraordinarily good for those
days.
1849-50 London to Sydney 90 days—Sydney to London 88 days.
1850-51 London to Sydney 96 days—Sydney to London 103 days.
1851-52 London to Sydney 90 days—Sydney to London 83 days.
The _John Bunyan_ in 1850 made the run home from Shanghai in 99 days,
which, even though she had a favourable monsoon, was a very fine
performance.
The _Walter Hood_ on her maiden voyage under the command of Captain
Sproat made the passage out to Australia in 80 days, and the account
given in the papers remarks:—“Her sailing qualities may be judged from
the fact of her having run during four several days 320 miles each 24
hours.”
The _Maid of Judah_ had the honour of taking out the Royal Mint to
Sydney in 1853. Her dimensions are interesting to compare with those of
the _Phoenician_, so I give them:—
Length of keel 160 feet.
Length over all 190 „
Beam 31 „
Depth of hold 19 „
The _Queen of Nations_, under Captain Donald, went from Plymouth to
Melbourne in 87 and 84 days; but the fastest of these earlier clippers
was the well-known _Star of Peace_, which made four consecutive
passages to Sydney of 77, 77, 79, and 79 days under the redoubtable
Captain Sproat.
I remember seeing a picture of this fine clipper, representing her off
the Eddystone when homeward bound. She was a very rakish looking craft
with long overhangs and carried a heavy press of sail, which included
double topsails, skysails, main and mizen sky staysails and also
three-cornered moonsails stretching to the truck of each mast.
The _Ethiopian_, on her first voyage to Melbourne, went out in 68
days under Captain William Edward. She sailed her last voyage under
the British flag in 1886. She was then rigged as a barque, and on
her passage home from Sydney had a remarkable race with the iron
_Orontes_, belonging to the same owners. The two vessels cast off
their tugs together outside Sydney Heads, sighted each other off the
Horn, were becalmed together in the doldrums, spoke the same ship off
the Western Isles; and when the chops of the Channel were reached,
the _Ethiopian_ was hove to taking soundings in a fog, when the
_Orontes_ came up under her stern within hailing distance. Finally
the _Ethiopian_ got into the East India Docks one tide ahead of the
_Orontes_, thus winning the race and a considerable sum in wagers.
The Lucky “Nineveh.”
The _Nineveh_, built the same year as the _Ethiopian_, was an extremely
lucky ship in her freights and passengers and made a great deal of
money. Old Stephen Thompson was so pleased that he gave Captain Barnet
a banquet at the Holborn Restaurant, and all through the dinner kept
toasting “the lucky _Nineveh_.”
The “Jerusalem.”
These wooden clippers were often very tender coming home with wool,
as the following reminiscence given by Coates in his _Good Old Days
of Shipping_ will show:—“Apropos of _Jerusalem_, I remember a most
exciting race with the large American ship _Iroquois_. We were homeward
bound from the Colonies, flying light and very crank, a not uncommon
condition with a wool cargo. The Yank was first sighted on our quarter,
the wind being quarterly, blowing moderately, though squally at times.
“Whilst the wind remained so the _Iroquois_ had no chance, but when
it freshened the _Jerusalem_ heeled over to such an extent that it
necessitated sail being taken in. Soon the American was ploughing
along to leeward carrying her three topgallant sails and whole mainsail
and going as steady as a die, whilst the _Jerusalem_ was flying along
with fore and main lower topgallants and reefed mainsail, but heeling
over to such a degree that one could barely stand upright, the water
roaring up through the lee scuppers, and during the squalls lipping in
over the rail.
“In a short time the topgallant sails and mainsail were handed and
preparations made to reef the fore topsail. By this time, however, the
_Iroquois_ had just passed the beam, when, apparently, her skipper,
satisfied to have passed us, snugged his ship down to three reefed
topsails and we shortly after lost sight of her in a blinding squall.”
And Coates goes on to say:—“To see this ship when moderately light was
a great pleasure, her lines were the perfection of symmetry. In one day
I remember 324 miles being got out of this ship; she was one of the
first to carry double topgallant yards.”
As a matter of fact, the _Jerusalem_ was generally considered the
fastest ship in the fleet next to _Thermopylae_. She made several very
good passages from China in the seventies of under 110 days. Captain
Crutchley, in his book _My Life at Sea_, gives an instance of her
speed, in describing how she raced ahead of the tea clipper _Omba_,
both ships being bound up the Channel with a strong beam wind. On this
occasion, however, it was the _Omba_ which was the tender ship, as she
could not carry her royals though the _Jerusalem_ had all plain sail
set.
The _Thyatira_, Thompson’s first composite ship, was also a very
ticklish vessel to handle when wool-laden. On her maiden voyage she
went out to Melbourne in 77 days, but took 96 days to get home, during
which passage she gave her officers much anxiety owing to her extreme
tenderness.
Captain Mark Breach’s First Encounter with his Owner.
Captain Mark Breach, one of the best known of the Aberdeen White Star
captains, entered the employ of the firm as second mate on the newly
launched _Thyatira_. The _Thyatira_ was on the berth for Melbourne
when he joined her. On his second day aboard he was superintending the
stowage of cargo in the hold, when old Stephen Thompson came down to
have a look round. The _Thyatira’s_ owner happened to be smoking a fine
meerschaum pipe, and young Breach, being completely ignorant of the
identity of the visitor, immediately went up to him and informed him
in no uncertain language that his lighted pipe was dead against all
rules and regulations. Mr. Thompson, without disclosing his identity,
at once apologised and returned his pipe to its case. Presently when
the visitor had departed, the mate asked Mr. Breach what he had been
talking to Mr. Thompson about. And one may well imagine that the new
second mate was somewhat scared when he learnt that it was his owner
to whom he had been laying down the law. However, the mate comforted
him by telling him that Stephen Thompson had been very pleased and
prophesied that he would be a good servant to the company.
Mark Breach afterwards served as mate of the _Miltiades_, then
commanded the _Jerusalem_, _Aviemore_, and finally the famous
_Patriarch_.
The _Thyatira_ was a very favourite ship and made some very good
passages. She and the _Jerusalem_ both loaded tea home from China on
more than one occasion, and made passages of under 110 days in the N.E.
monsoon.
The “Thermopylae.”
_Thermopylae’s_ career I have already dealt with fully in the _China
Clippers_. Her sail plan was cut down twice in her old age, thus taking
off a good deal of her speed in light weather, but even then there were
not many vessels which could give her the go-by, either in light or
heavy weather.
The “Centurion.”
The second _Centurion_ was launched in the spring of 1869, and
measured:—Length 208 ft.; beam 35 ft.; depth 21 ft. Captain Mitchell
overlooked her building and was her first commander. She was a very
fast ship and he always hoped to beat the _Thermopylae_ with her, but
never succeeded.
On her first voyage she went out to Sydney in 69 days. It was a light
weather passage and she never started the sheets of her main topgallant
sail the whole way. She is stated to have made 360, 348 and 356 miles
in three successive days running down her easting, but I have been
unable to verify these runs. Captain Mitchell died on her second voyage
just before reaching the Channel homeward bound. She also made some
creditable tea passages, but was mostly kept in the Sydney trade. In
1871 she went out in 77 days and in 1872 in 78 days.
The “Aviemore.”
The _Aviemore_ was the last of the wooden ships, and at the date of
her launch, the first iron ship built for Thompsons, the celebrated
_Patriarch_, had already proved herself such a success as to put all
idea of building any but iron ships in the future out of the question.
The Fate of the Early White Star Clippers.
The first _Centurion_ ended her days as a total loss in 1866.
The _Walter Hood_ was wrecked near Jervis Bay Lighthouse, New South
Wales, on 27th April, 1870, when bound from London to Sydney with
general cargo, her captain and 12 men being drowned.
The _Woolloomoolloo_ ended her days under the Spanish flag and was
wrecked in 1885.
The _Maid of Judah_ was sold to Cowlislaw Bros., of Sydney, in 1870. In
December, 1879, she left Sydney for Shanghai, coal-laden, with Captain
Webb in command, and the following June was condemned and broken up at
Amoy.
The _Omar Pasha_ was burnt at sea in 1869, when homeward bound from
Brisbane, wool-laden.
The celebrated _Star of Peace_, after being run for some years by
Burns, Philp & Co., of Sydney, was converted into a hulk at Thursday
Island, being only broken up in 1895.
The _Wave of Life_ was sold to Brazil, and sailed as the _Ida_ until
1891, when she was renamed _Henriquita_. Finally she was condemned and
broken up in March, 1897.
The _Damascus_ was bought by the Norwegians, who changed her name to
_Magnolia_. On 1st September, 1893, she stranded at Bersimis and became
a total loss.
The _Transatlantic_ was rebuilt in 1876; in 1878 she was owned by J. L.
Ugland, of Arendal; and on 15th October, 1899, when bound to Stettin
from Mobile, she foundered in the Atlantic.
The _Moravian_ was sold to J. E. Ives, of Sydney, and ended her days as
a hulk, being broken up at Sydney in March, 1895.
The _Strathdon_, under the name of _Zwerver_, did many years’ service
with the Peruvian flag at her gaff end. She was broken up in 1888.
The _Queen of Nations_ was wrecked near Woolloagong, New South Wales,
on 31st May, 1881, when bound out to Sydney. All hands were saved
except one.
The _Kosciusko_, like the _Maid of Judah_, was bought by Cowlislaw
Bros., being broken up at Canton in 1899.
The _Nineveh_ was bought by Goodlet & Smith, of Sydney. She was
abandoned in the North Pacific in February, 1896.
The _Ethiopian_ was sold to the Norwegians. In October, 1894, when
bound from St. Thomas to Cork, she was abandoned near the Western
Isles. She was afterwards picked up 15 miles from Fayal and towed into
St. Michael’s, where she was condemned.
The _George Thompson_ passed through the hands of A. Nicol & Co., of
Aberdeen, and J. Banfield, of Sydney, to the Chileans. On 13th June,
1902, she was wrecked at Carlemapu.
The _Christiana Thompson_ went to the Norwegians and was renamed
_Beatrice Lines_. She was wrecked near Umra in Norway on 7th October,
1899.
The _Harlaw_ was wrecked at Hongkong in 1878.
The _Jerusalem_, like many of the others, was converted into a
barque in her old age. In 1887 she was bought by the Norwegians. On
28th October, 1893, she left New Brunswick for London with a cargo
of pitch-pine and resin and never arrived, the usual end of timber
droghers on the stormy North Atlantic.
The _Thyatira_ was bought by J. W. Woodside & Co., of Belfast, in 1894.
In July, 1896, when bound from London to Rio with general cargo, she
was wrecked at Pontal da Barra.
The _Ascalon_ was bought by Trinder, Anderson & Co. in 1881. They ran
her for nine years and then sold her to the Norwegians. She was wrecked
on 7th February, 1907, at Annalong, when bound from Runcorn to Moss.
The second _Centurion_ left Sydney for Newcastle, N.S.W., on 17th
January, 1887; at 1.30 a.m. whilst off the Heads, the tug’s line
carried away: the ship drifted on to the North Head, struck and then
sank in 18 fathoms, barely giving her crew 15 minutes to get clear.
The _Aviemore_ was bought by the Norwegians. In October, 1910, she
left Sandejford for the South Shetland where she was converted into a
floating oil refinery. Later she was resold to the Norwegians, and I
have a snapshot of her taken in Bristol in 1915, rigged as a barque
with a stump bowsprit.
Duthie’s Ships.
Another well-known Aberdeen firm which was a pioneer in the Australian
trade was Duthies. They were builders as well as owners. The original
William Duthie started his shipbuilding business over 100 years ago.
Besides owning many of the ships he built, he was also a large timber
merchant, and kept some vessels in the North American timber trade.
He was also one of the first to send ships to the Chinchas and Peru
for guano. He eventually turned over his shipbuilding business to his
brothers John and Alexander, but retained his interest in some of the
ships.
The first of Duthie’s ships of which I have any record is the _Jane
Pirie_, of 427 tons, built in 1847 for the Calcutta trade and commanded
by a well-known skipper of those days, Captain James Booth.
The next vessel to be launched by Duthie was the _Brilliant_ in 1850.
She measured 555 tons, and, commanded by Captain Murray and sailing
under Duthie’s house-flag, she became a very popular passenger clipper
in the time of the gold rush. On her first outward passage she went
from London to Melbourne in 87 days, and this was about her average.
She generally loaded wool for the London market at Geelong, and made
the homeward run in under 90 days.
Few ships came home from the Antipodes in those days without gold dust
on board; and the _Brilliant_ on one occasion brought home 7 tons of
gold, giving Captain Murray an anxious time until he had it safely
handed over to the Bank of England. After a dozen years as a first
class passenger and wool clipper the _Brilliant_ was debased to the
guano and nitrate trades, being finally lost at sea when homeward bound
from Callao with a cargo of guano.
The next of Duthie’s ships was the _James Booth_, of 636 tons, named
after the celebrated captain. She was launched in 1851 for the Calcutta
trade.
In 1852 Duthie built the _Ballarat_, 713 tons, for the great shipowner
Duncan Dunbar. The _Ballarat_ distinguished herself by coming home from
Melbourne in 69 days in 1855. All these early ships had the famous
Aberdeen clipper bow and painted ports, and ably maintained the high
reputation of the Aberdeen clipper.
In the sixties Messrs. Duthie launched the following well-known wool
clippers, all called after various members of the family:—
1862 _William Duthie_ wood ship 968 tons.
1863 _Martha Birnie_ „ „ 832 „
1864 _John Duthie_ „ „ 1031 „
1867 _Alexander Duthie_ „ „ 1159 „
1868 _Ann Duthie_ „ „ 994 „
The ships were all three skysail yarders, and good passage makers; they
were kept almost entirely in the Sydney trade, and must have made good
dividends in those early days. The _John Duthie_ on one occasion made
£5000 freight for the wool passage home. Her commander at that time was
Captain Levi, a very well-known character, who always offered a glass
of Scotch and an apple to any visitor who came aboard his ship.
The next Duthie ship was the _Abergeldie_, of 1152 tons. She was their
first ship with iron in her composition, having iron beams. She was
launched in 1869, the same year as the _Windsor Castle_, a beautiful
little wood ship of 979 tons, which Duthie built for Donaldson Rose.
This _Windsor Castle_ must not be confused with Green’s Blackwall
frigate of the same name. For some years both ships were trading to
Sydney, and one year there was more than a little confusion owing
to the two _Windsor Castles_ arriving out on the same day. Duthie’s
_Windsor Castle_ made many fine passages both out and home, her best
known commander being Captain Fernie. After being sold her name was
changed to _Lumberman’s Lassie_, and under this name she was for many
years a well-known Colonial trader, and finally a coal hulk.
Passages of Aberdeen Ships to Sydney, 1872-1873.
The best passage made out to Sydney between these dates was that of the
iron tea clipper _Halloween_ on her maiden voyage. She left the Thames
on 1st July, 1872, crossed the line in 27° W. on the 20th, 19 days out,
crossed the meridian of the Cape on 10th August, 40 days out, ran her
easting down in 42° and arrived in Sydney on 8th September, 69 days out.
Another very famous Aberdeen ship, the _Star of Peace_, left London,
21st September, 1873, and arrived at Melbourne on 16th December, 86
days out.
This little table will perhaps give a good idea of the usual passages
made by the wood and composite built ships.
+-------------+--------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+----+
| | | | |Crossed | Ran | | |
| | |Crossed| in |Meridian|Easting| |D’ys|
| Ship |Sailed |Equator|Long.|of Cape | Down |Arrived|Out |
| | | | | |in Lat.| | |
+-------------+--------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+----+
| | 1872 | | ° | | ° | | |
|_Thyatira_ |Feb. 23|Mar. 20| 22 W|April 25| 42 S |May 23| 89 |
|_Ann Duthie_ |Mar. 5| „ 25| 27 | — | 48 | „ 24| 80 |
|_Ascalon_ | „ 5|April 2| 23 |April 30| 41 |June 7| 94 |
|_Maid of_ | „ 21| „ 18| 22 |May 21| — | „ 23| 94 |
| _Judah_ | | | | | | | |
|_Centurion_ |April 18|May 10| 22 |June 8| 39 |July 5| 78 |
|_John Duthie_|June 4|June 30| 27 |July 28| 42 |Aug. 29| 86 |
|_Strathdon_ |July 8|Aug. 14| 26 |Sept. 9| 45 |Oct. 25|109 |
|_William_ | „ 16| „ 17| 27 | „ 15| 44 | „ 31|107 |
| _Duthie_ | | | | | | | |
|_Ethiopian_ | „ 25| „ 29| 21 | — | — | „ 31| 98 |
| |1873 | | | | | | |
|_Harlaw_ |Feb. 5|Feb. 25| 23 |Mar. 22| 45 |April29| 83 |
|_Nineveh_ | „ 11|Mar. 8| 21 |April 3| 44 |May 1| 79 |
|_Aviemore_ |Mar. 14| „ 29| 23 |May 28| 45 |June 4| 82 |
|_Abergeldie_ |July 7| — | — |Sept. 1| 42 |Oct. 2| 87 |
+-------------+----------+-----+-----+--------+-------+-------+----+
The South Australian Trade.
During the sixties and seventies, when Sydney and Melbourne were
filling their harbours with the finest ships in the British Mercantile
Marine, Adelaide, in a smaller way, was carrying on an ever increasing
trade of her own, in which some very smart little clippers were making
very good money and putting up sailing records which could well bear
comparison with those made by the more powerful clippers sailing to
Hobson’s Bay and Port Jackson.
From the early fifties South Australia had been sending wool home in
exchange for general cargoes from London.
This trade was in the hands of two or three well-run firms, such as
the Orient, Devitt & Moore and Elder. These firms owned some beautiful
little composite ships, which up till now have received scant notice
in the annals of our Mercantile Marine. These little clippers, most of
them well under 1000 tons register, were driven as hard as any Black
Ball or White Star crack, and this without the incentive of publicity.
Their captains, however, were always in keen rivalry and put a high
value on their reputations as desperate sail carriers. They made little
of weather that would have scared men who commanded ships of three
times the tonnage of the little Adelaide clippers, and they were not
afraid of a little water on deck—indeed, when running down the easting,
their ships were more like half-tide rocks than merchant vessels, being
swept from end to end by every roaring sea; and even in only a fresh
breeze their decks were hidden by a curtain of spray.
It was a common saying that they took a dive on leaving the tropics,
came up to breathe at the Cape and did not reappear again till off Cape
Borda. A South Australian trader prided himself on carrying a main
topgallant sail when other ships were snugged down to reefed topsails;
and he considered that he had made a bad passage if he was not up
with Cape Borda in 70 days. Indeed he usually began to look for the
Australian coast about the 60th day out, and if he was at sea for much
longer than that without raising the land would begin to think that he
had overrun his distance and got into the Gulf of St. Vincent.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the crews of these vessels rarely
knew what it was to have a dry shirt on their backs, and usually had
had more than enough of it by the time they were off Kangaroo Island;
thus it was the general thing for them to run on arrival.
The late Mr. Barry wrote the following interesting account of the usual
homeward bound crew on a South Australian wool clipper:—“They loaded
some of the golden fleece at the Port and the rest perhaps at Port
Augusta at the head of Spencer’s Gulf. There one could see at times
quite a clump of pretty little clippers lying in the stream between
the mangrove-clad shores, waiting for the camel trains to come in from
Pekina and Coonatto and Mount Remarkable. Much rivalry there was too
between the ships, as to which should get her hatches battened down
first, complete her crew and clear away for the February wool sales.
And men in those days were not always easy to procure, for the long,
cold Cape Horn passage and the prospect of shipping again out of
London at 50s. per month were not very tempting experiences. Thus it
often happened crews ran in Port Adelaide and ‘runners’ or temporary
hands, just shipped for the trip, had to be engaged to take the vessel
round to Port Augusta. These returning by the _Penola_ or the _Royal
Shepherd_ or the _Aldinga_ left the shipmasters to trust in providence
for men to work the vessels home. But, now and again, bushmen coming
down country for a spree at ‘the Port’, a mere hamlet, consisting then
mainly of gnats, sand and galvanized iron, would be induced, once
their money was gone, to sign articles for the trip home. Men who had
never thought to use the sea again, bullock drovers, boundary riders,
shepherds and station hands of every description were thus often found
on board the clippers of the composite wool fleet. Many of them had
not been to sea for years; but before they had got the smell of ice in
their nostrils all the old tricks of the craft came back to them and
better crowds no skipper could wish for, if at times apt to be a little
intolerant and careless of discipline, with the liberal life of the
bush so close behind them.
“A hard experience, too, it generally proved for them, quite unprovided
as they (for the most part) were with a sea-going outfit of any
description and dependent on the often scantily supplied slop chest.
And many a time when washing along the decks in icy Cape Horn seas
or hoisting the frozen canvas aloft, while hail and rain pelted and
soaked them, poorly fed, poorly clad, the merest sport of the bitter
southern weather, they regretted with oaths deep and sincere their snug
bunks and ‘all night in’ of the far away bush stations, where tempests
troubled them not and the loud command of ‘all hands’ was unknown. Nor,
as a rule, London Town once reached, did they lose any time in looking
for a ship bound to some part of the country they had so foolishly
left.”
The Orient Line.
Of the firms which were chiefly instrumental in exploiting the South
Australian trade first mention should perhaps be made of the Orient
Line of clippers, the forerunners of the present Orient Line of
steamers.
The Orient Line was originally started by James Thompson & Co., who had
a number of small ships and barques trading to the West Indies, then
Mr. James Anderson joined the firm and eventually became head partner,
upon which the name was changed to Anderson, Anderson & Co.
The first of the firm’s Australian ships was the _Orient_ and this
vessel gave her name to the line.
The Orient Line were nothing if not enterprising. Most of their
vessels were built in the Nelson Docks, Rotherhithe, to the designs
of Mr. Bilbe. Mr. Bilbe was a designer of great ability and he and
Mr. Perry, an old shipmaster, were the working partners of the Nelson
Dock, which consisted of a dry dock and a building yard, owned by
Anderson, Anderson & Co. Mr. James Anderson had a wonderful knowledge
of everything pertaining to ships and their business, and like many
an old-fashioned shipowner took a practical interest in his ships,
and nothing either in their design, construction or management was
undertaken without his approval.
Messrs. Bilbe & Perry built one of the earliest composite clippers, the
_Red Riding Hood_. She was launched in 1857 some six years before the
first of the composite tea clippers. They also went in for iron ships
at an early date, their first iron ship, the _White Eagle_, being built
as far back as 1855. But owing chiefly to a very ill-advised strike of
shipwrights, the Thames builders found themselves unable to compete
with the North in iron shipbuilding and the Clyde took the trade which
should have belonged to the Thames. Thus 1866 saw the last of the
Thames composites to be built in the Nelson Dock when _Argonaut_ was
launched for the Adelaide trade.
However, Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co. meant to have the fastest
ships procurable, and gave Hall, of Aberdeen, Steele, of Greenock and
the Sunderland shipyards each a chance to turn them out a flyer.
=The “Orient.”=
The _Orient_, the pioneer of the line, was launched at Rotherhithe in
1853, and measured:—
Registered tonnage 1033 tons.
Length 184.4 feet.
Beam 31.7 „
Depth 21.1 „
She was built to participate in the gold boom to Melbourne, and was
fitted to carry passengers under a poop 61 feet long. However she
was not destined to start life on the Australian run, for she had
barely been launched before she was taken up by the Government for the
transport of troops to the Crimea. At the landing at Alma in September,
1854, she was transport No. 78, carrying the 88th Connaught Rangers.
She managed to ride out the gale of the 14th November, 1854, off
Balaclava, in which 34 of the Allied ships were wrecked and over 1000
lives lost. And in October, 1855, we find her acting as a hospital ship
during the expedition against Kinburn and Odessa. In 1856 she returned
to London and was then put on the berth for Adelaide. She sailed from
Plymouth under Captain A. Lawrence on the 5th July, 1856, with a full
passenger list, and hence forward was a favourite passenger ship in the
South Australian trade.
“Orient’s” Outward Passages.
The following table gives her time out for twenty-one voyages under the
Orient flag. She generally took about 95 days coming home _via_ the
Cape, calling in at Capetown and St. Helena, as it was the custom with
ships carrying passengers.
[Illustration: “ORIENT.”
Arriving at Gibraltar with Troops from the Crimea.
_From a lithograph._]
+-----+----------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----+
| | | Date Left| Date Left | Date Arrd.| |
|Date.| Captain. | London. | Plymouth. | Port | Days|
| | | | | Adelaide. | Out.|
+-----+----------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----+
|1856 | A. Lawrence | June 28 | July 5 | Sept. 24 | 81 |
|1857 | „ | „ 28 | „ 2 | „ 22 | 82 |
|1858 | „ | „ 28 | „ 4 | „ 18 | 76 |
|1859 | „ | „ 28 | „ 2 | „ 23 | 83 |
|1860 | „ | May 29 | June 5 | Aug. 24 | 80 |
|1861 | „ | „ 26 | „ 1 | „ 20 | 80 |
|1862 | Harris | „ 27 | „ 2 | „ 24 | 83 |
|1863 | „ | — | May 1 | July 12 | 73 |
|1864 | „ | May 29 | June 2 | Aug. 22 | 81 |
|1865 | „ | April 29 | May 4 | July 20 | 77 |
|1866 | „ | Sept. 10 | Sept. 16 | Nov. 27 | 72 |
|1868 | R. de Steiger | Oct. 31 | Nov. 6 | Jan. 26 | 81 |
|1869 | „ | Aug. 29 | Sept. 1 | Nov. 24 | 84 |
|1870 | „ | Sept. 17 | „ 22 | Dec. 17 | 86 |
|1871 | „ | Aug. 28 | „ 2 | Nov. 27 | 86 |
|1872 | W. H. Mitchell | Nov. 4 | Nov. 7 | Jan. 27 | 81 |
|1873 | „ | Sept. 28 | — | Dec. 16 | 79 |
|1874 | „ | July 25 | Downs 27 | Oct. 19 | 84 |
|1875 | „ | „ 22 | Downs 25 | „ 16 | 83 |
|1876 | M. Haffner | „ 23 | — | „ 11 | 80 |
|1877 | „ | Aug. 21 | — | Dec. 3 | 104 |
+-----+----------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----+
“Orient” Nearly Destroyed by Fire.
On 3rd November, 1861, the _Orient_ left Adelaide with 2600 bales of
wool, some copper ore and several passengers. Touching at the Cape she
left Table Bay on 18th December. On the morning of 2nd January, smoke
was observed to be rising from the fore hatch. Captain Lawrence at
once had the lower deck hatches lifted fore and aft, but there was no
smoke in the hold, which seemed to prove that the fire was confined
to the ’tween decks. The hands were turned to breaking out cargo, but
were driven from the fore hold after getting to the third beam aft of
the hatchway. The mainsail was then hauled up and the fore hatches put
on to prevent a current of air. The main hatchway was then opened and
an attempt made to break out the cargo from that hatch, but again
the crew were driven back. The hatches were next battened down and
every aperture closed. The carpenter was then ordered to bore holes
in the deck. He started in the galley and gradually worked forward
until he was over the seat of the fire. On this being found the fire
engine, condensing engine and every other means was brought into use
for pouring water below; and as fast as it went down it was sucked up
again by the ship’s pumps. The deck ports and scupper holes, also, were
closed and the deck itself kept some inches deep in water.
Whilst the crew fought the fire, the passengers, under the direction of
the bosun, provisioned and lowered the boats and streamed them astern.
At 5 p.m. dense smoke began to issue from the scuttle under the fore
chains, the woodwork was charred, and the glass bull’s-eye melted. The
scuttles were immediately plugged and the deck cut through at this
place. The result was startling. Smoke and flames burst out in volumes.
All night long the crew kept doggedly at the pumps and fire engine.
Next day the women passengers were all transferred to a Dutch ship
which stood by the burning _Orient_. At last the fire was smothered and
on the 5th January the _Orient_ arrived at Ascension, where a large
portion of the cargo was taken out and examined. She was temporarily
repaired and then proceeded, and arrived safely in the London River.
Twelve of her timbers were so charred that they had to be replaced,
together with the planking of the main deck as far aft as the main
hatch. The saving of this ship was a very fine performance and the
underwriters presented Captain Lawrence with a piece of plate worth
£100, and also £800 for himself, officers and crew. The steadiness and
discipline of both passengers and crew were worthy of all praise, and
undoubtedly saved the ship.
The “Orient” delivers her Carpenter’s Chest to the “Lammermuir” in
Mid-Ocean.
In 1872 the _Orient_ was diagonally sheathed, and Captain Mitchell took
command of her.
In 1873 the _Orient_ was just about to leave London for Adelaide, when
old John Willis, with his frock-coat flying open and his white hat on
the back of his head, came aboard and said to Captain Mitchell: “The
carpenter of my _Lammermuir_ has left his tool chest and tools behind;
will you take them out to Adelaide and deliver them to him.”
“No,” replied Captain Mitchell, who was a skipper of the good old sort,
“but I will take them and deliver them before I reach the line.”
The _Lammermuir_ had sailed some 10 days before on the 12th of
September to be exact. Old John Willis immediately offered to bet
Captain Mitchell £5 that he would not be as good as his word. The bet
was accepted and the _Orient_ sailed on 28th September. In 5° N. a ship
was sighted ahead and overhauled. It turned out to be the _Lammermuir_.
Signals were exchanged, and a boat put over with the chest on board,
and the _Lammermuir’s_ carpenter duly received his tools as Captain
Mitchell had promised. The two ships then parted company and the
_Orient_ eventually arrived at Adelaide on the 16th December, 79 days
out, the _Lammermuir_ arriving six days later.
It was a great triumph, and the apprentices of the _Orient_ composed
a pumping chanty to the tune of “Marching through Georgia” to
commemorate it, the first verse of which ran as follows:—
The _Lammermuir_ left London, boys,
A fortnight’s start she’d got,
She was bound to Adelaide,
Her passage to be short,
But the _Orient_ overhauled her
Before halfway she’d got
As we were sailing to Australia.
In 1879 the _Orient_ was sold to Cox Bros., of Waterford, and she was
still afloat quite recently as a coal hulk at Gibraltar.
The Little “Heather Bell.”
In 1855 Hall, of Aberdeen, built the little _Heather Bell_ for Brown &
Co., from whom the Orient Line bought her. Her measurements were:—
Registered tonnage 479 tons.
Length 155 feet.
Beam 28.5 „
Depth 17.5 „
She was not one of the South Australian traders, however, but ran
regularly to Sydney and Melbourne. She made herself famous by a
wonderful run home from Melbourne under Captain William Harmsworth. She
left Port Phillip Heads on 15th October, 1856, with a strong easterly
wind and took the route down the West Coast of Tasmania. In spite of
five days of easterly gales, she made the passage to the Horn in 26
days. The record for this run was made by the _Lightning_ in 1854,
being 19 days. _Heather Bell_ ran from the Horn to the line in 21 days.
This was a record, and considered such a remarkable performance that it
was pricked off on old South Atlantic charts. And so far as I know, it
has only been twice beaten, once by the _Cutty Sark_ and once by the
_Thomas Stephens_. _Heather_ _Bell_ made the land at Start Point 20
days from the line, thus making a passage of 67 days. Her best 24-hour
run was 330 miles, and her best week’s work was 1885 miles. Of course
she had great luck with her winds, but, even so, she proved herself a
very speedy little ship.
_Heather Bell_ had a long life of 39 years, and was finally broken up
at Balmain, Sydney, in 1894.
The “Murray.”
Another Adelaide passenger ship belonging to Anderson was the _Murray_.
She was built by Hall, of Aberdeen, in 1861, being the last Orient
liner to be built entirely of wood. Her measurements were:—
Registered tonnage 903 tons.
Length of keel 180 feet.
Beam 33.3 „
Depth 20.8 „
She had a long floor with sharp ends, and, whilst fitted with every
convenience for passengers, she carried a very large cargo on a very
small draught.
The _Murray_ was considered a fast ship, her best day’s run being 325
miles, but I can best show her capabilities as to speed by recalling a
race which she sailed with the well-known Blackwall frigate _Hotspur_.
The two ships, as was usual with passengers on board, had called in at
Capetown; and they left Table Bay together. Then with stunsails set
alow and aloft they were 11 days in company running down to St. Helena.
In 26° N. they again met and were six days in company, finally they
made the Channel within a day of each other, the _Hotspur_ leading.
Regarding this race, the late Captain Whall, who was on board the
_Hotspur_, says of the run to St. Helena: “The wind was steady, and
the two ships seemed so nearly matched that for hours together our
bearings did not alter.”
Under the well-known Captain Legoe, the _Murray_ made the following
fine passages out from Plymouth:—
1861 Left Plymouth, July 26, arrived Adelaide Oct. 16—82 days out.
1862 Left Plymouth, July 13, arrived Adelaide Sept. 30—79 days out.
1863 Left Plymouth, July 15, arrived Adelaide Sept. 26—73 days out.
(68 days to the Borda).
1864 Left Plymouth, Aug. 5, arrived Adelaide Oct. 21—77 days out.
The Orient Composite Clippers.
It was during the sixties that the Orient Line came to be known in
Australia for the remarkable speed of its beautiful little composite
clippers, consisting of:—
+------------+-----------+---------+-------------------+
| Date Built | Ship | Tonnage | Builders. |
+------------+-----------+---------+-------------------+
| 1863 | _Coonatto_| 633 | Bilbe, of London |
| 1864 | _Goolwa_ | 717 | Hall, of Aberdeen |
| 1864 | _Borealis_| 920 | Bilbe, of London |
| 1865 | _Darra_ | 999 | Hall, of Aberdeen |
| 1865 | _Yatala_ | 1127 | Bilbe, of London |
| 1866 | _Argonaut_| 1073 | „ „ |
+------------+-----------+---------+-------------------+
The _Coonatto’s_ measurements were—Length 160 ft. 2 in.; beam 29 ft.;
depth 18 ft. 7 in. She was an out and out clipper with very fine lines,
but like most of Bilbe’s ships—very wet. However this may in part be
put down to the hard-driving of her skipper, Begg, a Highlander, who
never spared her and made some very smart passages out and home. Her
best run to the Semaphore Lightship was 66 days, and she once did a
70-day passage out after broaching to off St. Paul’s Island and losing
both helmsmen and the wheel itself overboard. This famous little ship
stranded on Beachy Head in 1876.
[Illustration: “PEKINA” and “COONATTO,” at Port Adelaide, 1867.]
[Illustration: “JOHN DUTHIE,” at Circular Quay, Sydney.]
The _Darra_ also went out to Adelaide in under 70 days, on which
occasion her captain wrote home that she “dived off the Cape and came
up to blow off the Leeuwin.”
“Yatala.”
Probably the fastest of the six was the fine passenger clipper
_Yatala_, which the redoubtable Captain Legoe left the _Murray_ to
command. The record from London to Adelaide, pilot to pilot, 65 days,
was shared by the _Yatala_ and Devitt & Moore’s clipper _City of
Adelaide_ until the famous _Torrens_ beat it.
Unfortunately, _Yatala_ came to an early end, and the following are the
times of her outward passages during her short existence:—
+------+----------------+-------------------+-----------+
| Date.| Left Plymouth | Arrived Adelaide. | Days Out |
+------+----------------+-------------------+-----------+
| 1865 | Aug. 4 | Oct. 27 | 84 |
| 1866 | „ 2 | „ 14 | 73 |
| 1867 | „ 10 | „ 15 | 66 |
| 1868 | July 9 | Sept. 24 | 77 |
| 1869 | Aug. 7 | Oct. 23 | 77 |
| 1870 | „ 11 | „ 26 | 76 |
| 1871 | July 6 | „ 2 | 88 |
+------+----------------+-------------------+-----------+
On 18th December, 1871, _Yatala_ left Adelaide in company with the
Elder Line clipper, _Beltana_, which she led to the Horn by a day. The
_Beltana_ arrived safely after a tedious light weather run from the
line, but the _Yatala_ got ashore near Cape Gris-Nez on 27th March,
1872, when almost in sight of home. Her wool cargo was nearly all
saved, but the ship herself became a total loss.
Of the other Orient composites, the _Goolwa_ disappeared from the
Register in 1880, but _Borealis_ and _Argonaut_ lasted some years
longer.
The “Beltana,” and Captain Richard Angel.
The _Beltana_, which raced the _Yatala_ in 1871-2, was a composite
clipper, belonging to A. L. Elder & Co., a well-known firm in the
Adelaide trade and the agents for the celebrated _Torrens_. Built by
Laing, of Sunderland, in 1869, the _Beltana_ measured:—
Registered tonnage 734 tons.
Length 172.5 feet.
Beam 33.6 „
Depth 19.2 „
She was a beautiful little ship, a fine sea boat with a good turn of
speed. In 1872, when running her easting down, she did a day’s work
of 335 miles under foresail, three lower topsails and fore topmast
staysail. She made her reputation as a heeler under Captain Richard
Angel, a sail carrier of the most determined character, as the
following anecdote will prove.
The _Beltana_ was rounding the Horn, homeward bound and reeling along
before a heavy westerly gale under topgallant sails, when a vessel was
sighted ahead, head-reaching under three close-reefed topsails, though
bound the same way as the _Beltana_. Angel, to show his contempt of
such caution, immediately bore down on the stranger, and passing ahead
of him, put his helm down and brought his yards on the backstays.
As the _Beltana_ came up to the wind, she lay right down until the
amazed crew of the stranger could almost see her keel, and momentarily
expected to see her capsize or her masts go overboard. But the little
ship bore this harsh treatment in the bravest manner, and, though
her rail was fathoms deep in the scud to leeward, never stranded a
ropeyarn. Having crossed the stranger’s bows, Angel rounded to close
under her stern, then squared his yards and raced ahead again. This
manœuvre of “sailing round a vessel” was not one that most men would
care to attempt in Cape Horn weather.
[Illustration: “TORRENS.”]
[Illustration: “TORRENS” at Port Adelaide.]
Indeed, hardly was the _Beltana_ on her course again before Angel’s
trembling mate approached his captain with a request to be allowed to
shorten sail, only to be met by the scornful order of:—“Get the royals
on her; and then, if you can’t find anything else to set, go below and
ask Mrs. Angel to lend you her petticoat.” Such an order was worthy of
Bully Forbes himself.
Captain Richard Angel lost the command of the _Beltana_ on the voyage
that she raced the _Yatala_. On his passage out he ran the _Beltana_
ashore on Kangaroo Island, but got her off and did not report the
accident. He loaded wool at Port Augusta, but on getting to sea the
ship leaked so much that he had to take her in to Port Adelaide. Here
the wool was discharged, and the _Beltana_ hauled up on the slip and
repaired, whilst Angel got his dismissal and a Captain Blanch took his
place. _Beltana_ caught fire when loading wool in Port Lyttelton, and
her end was one of the biggest ship fires in New Zealand.
The Wonderful “Torrens.”
Of other ships managed by Elder & Co., the most noteworthy were the
_Glen Osmond_, _Collingrove_ and _Torrens_. Of these the _Torrens_
requires special mention, as she was without doubt one of the most
successful ships ever built, besides being one of the fastest, and for
many years she was the favourite passenger ship to Adelaide. She was
built in 1875 by James Laing, of Sunderland, and launched in October of
that year, her chief measurements being:—
Registered tonnage 1276 tons.
Length 222.1 feet.
Beam 38.1 „
Depth 21.5 „
She was composite built with teak planking and was specially designed
for carrying passengers, having a poop 80 feet long.
A beautifully modelled ship and a splendid sea boat, she was very
heavily sparred and crossed a main skysail yard. She was also one of
the last ships to hold on to fore topmast stunsails; indeed for years
she was the only ship with stunsail booms aloft in the Australian trade.