Omega (named Drumcliff until 1898) was a four-masted, steel-hulled barque built in Greenock, Scotland in 1887. In 1957 Omega became the last working cargo-carrying square-rigger afloat. She carried oil, guano, nitrate, wheat, and other goods. She sank in 1958, ending that age of sail.
Omega by the bowsDeck of OmegaDeck hatch of the Omega, the last square-rigged sailing cargo ship
Drumcliff was built at the shipyard of J. Russell & Co. in Greenock, Scotland, for Gillison & Chadwick, Liverpool, England. After her launching in 1887 she was placed under the command of Captain H. Davies. On 28 July 1898, Drumcliff was sold to the Hamburger Reederei AG, which renamed her Omega. From 1898 until 1905 she sailed under Captain H. Krause, who was in command for her first great trip around the world. In 1898 she left the Lizard in the south of England for Adelaide, Australia. The following year she sailed to Newcastle, Australia, putting in at the Chilean harbours of Tocopilla and Iquique, before returning to the Lizard.
From 1906 until 1907 she sailed under Captain M. Ratzsch, followed by Captain A. Schellhas from 1908 until 1920. Under his command the ship also made long passages between Europe, South America (Pisagua and Tocopilla in Chile), Africa (Port Nolloth in South Africa) and Australia (Newcastle). From 1910 until 1912, under Captain G. Oellrich, she sailed to harbors on the West Coast of the US (San Diego, Portland, Oregon), in Europe (Hamburg, Rotterdam), Australia (Sydney, Newcastle), and South America (Chile). From 1913 until 1914 Captain P. Hammer assumed command.
During the First World War, the ship was interned in Peru. In 1918, she became a sail training ship.
In 1920, Omega was released to Peru as a war reparation, and in 1926 she was transferred to the guano firm Compañia Administradora del Guano in Callao, Peru. From then on, the ship was used to transport guano from outlying islands to the Peruvian mainland.
Over the course of the following decades, as all the large sailing ships were gradually removed from service, in the wake of the sinking of Pamir and the end of service of Passat, Omega remained.
"The only commercial square-rigged sailing ships still operating anywhere in the world, in the year 1953, were the Peruvian guano barques: the three-masters Tellus and Maipo, and the four-master Omega'."[1]
In 1957 Omega became the last. On 26 June 1958 she embarked on a voyage from the Pachamac Islands to Huacho, both in the Lima region along the Peruvian coast, with a load of 3,000 tons of guano. She sprang a leak and sank, ending her era of sail. Her captain, Juan Anibal Escobar Hurtado from Callao, was charged with sinking the ship and had his license suspended. In spite of paying divers to photograph the wreck in order to show that Omega sank due to age and poor maintenance, he was never cleared and died six years after the sinking, on 16 August 1964.
Bruzelius, Lars (23 January 1999). "Sailing Ships: Drumcliff". The Maritime History Virtual Archives. Retrieved 15 November 2006. According to Bruzelius, there are discrepancies regarding the measurements of Drumcliff/Omega. 94.86 m × 13.15 m × 7.36 m (311'3 × 43'2 × 24'2 in feet), with another source indicating 90.96 m × 13.16 m ×7.47 m.
The Flying P-Liners were the sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz of Hamburg.
Lawhill was a steel-hulled four-masted barque rigged in "jubilee" or "baldheaded" fashion, i.e. without royal sails over the top-gallant sails, active in the early part of the 20th century. Although her career was not especially remarkable, save perhaps for being consistently profitable as a cargo carrier, in the 1930s Richard Cookson went on board and extensively documented Lawhill's internals and construction, which was later published in the Anatomy of the Ship series.
Marco Polo was a three-masted wooden clipper ship, launched in 1851 at Saint John, New Brunswick. She was named after Venetian traveler Marco Polo. The ship carried emigrants and passengers to Australia and was the first vessel to make the round trip from Liverpool in under six months. Later in her career, the ship was used as a cargo ship before running aground off Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, in 1883.
Moshulu is a four-masted steel barque, built as Kurt by William Hamilton and Company at Port Glasgow in Scotland in 1904. The largest remaining original windjammer, she is currently a floating restaurant docked in Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, adjacent to the museum ships USS Olympia and USS Becuna.
Potosi was a five-masted steel barque built in 1895 by Joh. C. Tecklenborg ship yard in Geestemünde, Germany, for the sailing ship company F. Laeisz as a trading vessel. Its primary purpose was as a "nitrate clipper" collecting guano in South America for use in chemical companies in Germany. As its shipping route was between Germany and Chile, it was designed to be capable of withstanding the rough weather encountered around Cape Horn.
BAP Apurímac was the second steam frigate of the Peruvian Navy, built in England in 1855 along with the steam schooners Loa and Tumbes as a part of a major build-up of the Navy during the government of President José Rufino Echenique. A veteran of two wars and many internal conflicts, due to her age, she served as training ship in Callao port from 1873 until January 17, 1881, when she was scuttled along with the rest of the Peruvian Navy to prevent capture by Chilean troops who had occupied the port after the defeat of the Peruvian Army in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores.
Lady Elizabeth is a wrecked iron barque of 1,155 tons built by Robert Thompson Jr. of Southwick, Sunderland and launched on 4 June 1879. Robert Thompson Jr. was one of the sons of Robert Thompson Sr. who owned and operated the family ran shipyard J. L. Thompson & Sons. Thompson Jr. eventually left the family business in 1854 to start his own shipbuilding business in Southwick, Sunderland. The ship was built for John Wilson as a replacement for the 658-ton, 1869-built barque Lady Elizabeth which sank off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 1878.
The Adolphe was a sailing ship that was wrecked at the mouth of the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia, in 1904. The ship is now the most prominent of several wrecks on what is now the Stockton breakwall, which protects Newcastle harbour. The rescue of the ship's crew has gone down in local maritime history as one of the most remarkable in local waters.
Pisagua was a four-masted barque that was built for F. Laeisz, Hamburg, Germany in 1892 and served for twenty years, surviving a collision with Oceana in 1912. She was repaired and sold to a Norwegian owner, only to be stranded in the South Shetland Islands the following year.
Ponape was a four-masted steel–hulled barque which was built in 1903 in Italy as Regina Elena for an Italian owner. In 1911 she was sold to Germany and renamed Ponape. In 1914 she was arrested by HMS Majestic and confiscated as a war prize by the Admiralty. She was renamed Bellhouse In 1915 she was sold to Norwegian owners. In 1925, she was sold to Finland and again named Ponape serving until she was scrapped in 1936.
Priwall was a four-masted steel-hulled barque with royal sails over double top and topgallant sails. The windjammer was ordered by the F. Laeisz shipping company of Hamburg and launched at the Blohm & Voss yard, Hamburg, on 23 June 1917. After delays arising from a shortage of materials during and after First World War, she was completed on 6 March 1920. Priwall was used on the nitrate trade route to the west coast of South America; she also made several voyages from South Australia's Spencer Gulf grain ports to Europe. Her code Letters were RWLN; in 1934 they were changed to DIRQ.
Celestial Empire was a long-lived medium clipper ship built in 1852 for the San Francisco trade. She met with a variety of mishaps characteristic for ships of her era. A second ship by this name set a legal precedent regarding damage done by sailing ships coming in to dock.
Cimba was a British-built clipper in the Australian wool trade. She sailed between London and Sydney for 20 years, from 1878 to 1898. In 1905, Cimba set the sailing ship record for a passage from Callao to Iquique, of 14 days.
SS Oceana was a P&O passenger liner and cargo vessel, launched in 1887 by Harland and Wolff of Belfast and completed in 1888. Originally assigned to carry passengers and mail between London and Australia, she was later assigned to routes between London and British India. On 16 March 1912 the ship collided in the Strait of Dover with the Pisagua, a 2,850 GRT German-registered four-masted steel-hulled barque. As a result Oceana sank off Beachy Head on the East Sussex coast, with the loss of 17 lives.
Birkdale, a steel, steam-powered barque, is best known for being the inspiration behind many paintings by John Everett. Everett joined the barque Birkdale in 1920 and on a short voyage drew and painted many drawings and paintings, most of which are hung in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. She was the last barque to fly the red ensign, and she spent almost all her working life carrying nitrate from Chile. In June 1927, Birkdale ran aground and wrecked after catching fire in the Nelson Strait while en route to Peru.
Lalla Rookh was an iron three-masted barque, 841 tons, built in 1876 by R & J Evans and Co. in Liverpool and originally owned by E. C. Friend and Co. In 1905 she was sold to Norwegian owners, and in 1916 her name was changed to Effendi. From March 1923 or 1924 she was based in Finland, renamed Karhu, before reverting to her original name in 1926. She was broken up in Bruges, Belgium, in 1928.
The Pilcomayo was originally a Peruvian gunboat involved in several actions during the War of the Pacific. Captured by the Chilean navy on November 18, 1879, it was repaired and participated in the blockade of the Peruvian ports. After the war it was used for hydrographic research, then as a training ship. In service until 1909, it was finally used as a pontoon at Talcahuano.
The Raids of the Huáscar were a series of raids that occurred by the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar under the command of Miguel Grau Seminario during the War of the Pacific. The actions kept the Chilean government in check for nearly five months which ended after the Battle of Angamos.
Santa Claus was an American medium clipper ship built in Boston by Donald McKay in 1854. In the course of her career, she made three voyages from the East Coast of the United States to San Francisco, California, the fastest of which was a comparatively swift 128-day passage in the winter of 1857–1858. The ship was mainly engaged in the guano trade and in trade to the Far East. In 1858, she brought Chinese immigrants to California; according to one source, she was also at one time engaged in the coolie trade.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
