SS Elsinore

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameElsinore
Namesake Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet
OwnerBear Creek Oil & Shipping Co
OperatorCT Bowring & Co
Port of registry Liverpool
Builder Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend
Yard number931
Launched12 November 1913
CompletedDecember 1913
Identification
Fatesunk by gunfire, 11 September 1914
General characteristics
Type oil tanker
Tonnage6,542  GRT, 4,169  NRT, 9,700  DWT
Length420.5 ft (128.2 m)
Beam54.6 ft (16.6 m)
Depth32.4 ft (9.9 m)
Decks2
Installed power484 NHP
Propulsion
Speed10 knots (19 km/h)
Notes sister ships: Cordelia, Rosalind, El Toro, El Zorro

SS Elsinore was a British steam tanker that was built on Tyneside in 1913. Her career was cut short by a German cruiser sinking her off the Pacific coast of Mexico in September 1914.

Contents

Building

Between 1912 and 1914 two Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyards built a series of sister ships for CT Bowring & Co Ltd, a ship management company in Liverpool, England. The Wallsend shipyard launched Cordelia in April 1912, Rosalind in March 1913 and Elsinore in November 1913. [1] [2] [3] The Neptune Yard in Low Walker launched El Toro in June 1913 and El Zorro in January 1914. [4] [5] Bowring used Shakespearean names for many of its ships. Cordelia is a character in King Lear , Rosalind is a character in As You Like It , and Elsinore is the setting for Hamlet . El Toro and El Zorro were Spanish language names, because Bowring's operated tankers under charter to and from Mexico.

All five ships had longitudinal framing. Cordelia, Rosalind and Elsinore had identical dimensions: 420.5 ft (128.2 m) registered length, 54.6 ft (16.6 m) beam and 32.4 ft (9.9 m) depth. [1] [2] [3] El Toro and El Zorro were 420.1 ft (128.0 m) registered length, 54.4 ft (16.6 m) beam and 32.2 ft (9.8 m) depth. [4] [5] [6]

Elsinore was built as yard number 931. She was launched on 12 November 1913 and completed that December. [3] Her tonnages were 6,542  GRT, 4,169  NRT and 9,700  DWT. Her furnaces were equipped to burn either coal or oil. [3] The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company built her a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine. It was rated at 484 NHP, drove a single screw, [6] and gave her a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h).[ citation needed ]

Different companies owned the ships that Bowring's managed. The Bear Creek Oil and Shipping Co Ltd owned Elsinore. She was registered in Liverpool. Her UK official number was 135530 and her code letters were DJQH. [6] [7]

Charter

Bowring's had ordered Elsinore to fulfil an agreement of 1 August 1912 with the Union Oil Company, whose fleet of 14 oil tankers shipped oil from California to Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Hawaii, and Latin America. Bowring's was to provide a "good British Tank Steamer, to be built....and estimated to have a total deadweight carrying capacity of about 9,700 tons". Union Oil would charter her from Bowring's for seven years for £2,850 per calendar month, starting from her date of delivery. [8]

The builders delivered Elsinore to the Bear Creek Oil and Shipping Co early in December 1913. The Pacifie Creosote Company immediately chartered her to take creosote to its facilities in the Pacific Northwest. She loaded her cargo in Amsterdam and left on 20 December 1913 for St. Helens, Oregon and Seattle. [9] She arrived there at the end of February, unloaded her cargo and proceeded to San Francisco, where she arrived on 1 March. [10]

Elsinore's charter was transferred to the Union Oil Company on 12 March 1914, when she left San Francisco for Balboa via Port San Luis, where she loaded oil at Union Oil's major oil storage and shipping facility. [11] She reached Balboa on 27 March, [12] unloaded her cargo, and left for California on 30 March. [13] There Elsinore loaded 57,000 barrels of fuel oil and left for Chile on 21 April, [14] arriving in Antofagasta on 4 May. [15] She left Antofagasta three days later and reached San Francisco on 27 May. [16] A week later she loaded 55,000 barrels of fuel oil at Port San Luis, [17] and left again for Chile, reaching Antofagasta on 25 June and proceeding to Iquique, wher she left on 29 June. [18] Elsinore reached Port San Luis, where she loaded more oil and left for Balboa, where she arrived on 30 July 30, discharged her cargo, and left on 1 August. [19]

Loss

On 22 August Elsinore loaded 60,000 barrels of fuel oil in Port San Luis: 35,000 for Guatemala, and 25,000 for Nicaragua. [20] She left on 24 August, and reached Corinto, Nicaragua on 4 September. After unloading her cargo, Elsinore left port on 6 September, bound for Port San Luis in water ballast. [8] In August the Admiralty had given her Master appropriate directions, and she sailed with reduced lights, but he chose to cut straight across the Gulf of California instead of keeping in Mexican territorial waters as long as possible. [21]

SMS Leipzig SMS Leipzig.jpeg
SMS Leipzig

In the early hours of 11 September, in heavy rain, Elsinore lookouts failed to see the German cruiser Leipzig, steaming en route to Panama, early enough to attempt to alter course. At 2:30,[ clarification needed ] about 73 nautical miles (135 km) southwest of Cape Corrientes in approximate position 19°39′N106°46′W / 19.650°N 106.767°W / 19.650; -106.767 , Leipzig sighted Elsinore at short distance and ordered her to stop. Leipzig captured Elsinore's crew and sank her by gunfire. [22] [23] [21] Leipzig put Elsinore's crew ashore on one of the Galápagos Islands, whence they travelled to Guayaquil, arriving on 2 October. [24]

Fate of sister ships

Elsinore was the first of the five sisters to be lost. U-boats sank El Zorro in December 1915 and Rosalind in April 1917. [5] [2] El Toro was wrecked on the west coast of Ireland in January 1917. [4]

Cordelia survived the First World War. In 1930, Italian owners bought her and renamed her Poseidone. In 1944 a mine sank her in Venice, but after the Second World War she was raised and repaired. She was scrapped in 1953 in Savona. [1]

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Tarazed</i> (AF-13) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Tarazed (AF-13) was the United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner Chiriqui that was acquired by the United States Navy through a sub bareboat charter from the War Shipping Administration (WSA) which acquired the ship by bareboat charter from the company. The ship served as a Mizar-class stores ship in World War II. In peacetime before and after the war she carried fruit and passengers; in war she supplied troops and ships in the field. In 1958 she was sold to a German shipping line and renamed Blexen which was scrapped in 1971 after 39 years' service.

SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.

SS <i>Taormina</i> (1908) Transatlantic ocean liner

SS Taormina was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in Scotland in 1907 for an Italian shipping line. She was owned successively by Italia Società di Navigazione a Vapore, Lloyd Italiano and Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI). Taormina was briefly chartered as a troop ship for the US Armed Forces in 1918. She was scrapped in 1929.

SS <i>Polar Chief</i> British merchant steamship

SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In its 55-year career it had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War it spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.

USS <i>Arcadia</i> (ID-1605)

USS Arcadia (ID-1605) was a transatlantic liner that was launched in Ireland in 1896 and spent most of her career with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She was one of a series of at least five HAPAG sister ships that were built in the United Kingdom in 1896 and 1897.

Trondhjemsfjord was a cargo passenger steamship built in 1911 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co of Newcastle for Furness, Withy & Co of West Hartlepool. The ship was sold shortly thereafter to the Norwegian America Line to run on their route between Norway and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Oil and Shipping Company</span> U,K. shipping company

Eagle Oil and Shipping Company was a United Kingdom merchant shipping company that operated oil tankers between the Gulf of Mexico and the UK. Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray founded it as the Eagle Oil Transport Company in 1912 and sold it to Royal Dutch Shell in 1919. It was renamed Eagle Oil and Shipping Company in about 1930, and remained a separate company within the Royal Dutch Shell group until it was absorbed in 1959.

SS Verona was a transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Ireland in 1908 for an Italian shipping line. She was a troop ship in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 and in the First World War in 1917–18. In 1918 a German submarine sank her in the Mediterranean with great loss of life.

SS San Wilfrido was a 6,458 GRT steam-powered British tanker that was launched in February 1914 and sunk by a German mine less than six months later. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd built her on the River Tyne for the Eagle Oil Transport Co Ltd.

USS <i>St. Francis</i> (ID-1557) Cargo steamship from 1914 to 1942

USS St. Francis (ID-1557) was a cargo steamship. She was built in Ireland in 1914 as San Francisco, and renamed St. Francis in 1918 when she was commissioned into the United States Navy. In 1933 she was renamed Lammot du Pont. In 1942 she was sunk by a U-boat, and 19 of her crew were lost.

West Mingo was a Design 1013 cargo ship built in 1919 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co of Los Angeles. She was one of many ships built by the company for the United States Shipping Board.

SS <i>West Cajoot</i>

West Cajoot was a Design 1013 cargo ship built in 1919 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co of Los Angeles. She was one of many ships built by the company for the United States Shipping Board.

San Joaquin was a steam tanker built in 1913 by the Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd of Sunderland. She was the first of several tankers ordered by Wilhelm Wilhelmsen for their oil-carrying operations in the Pacific.

SS <i>Themis</i> (1911)

Themis was a steam cargo ship built in 1911 by the William Doxford & Sons of Pallion for the Wabanas Dampskibskompani, a subsidiary of Nova Scotia Steel & Coal Company and managed by Wilhelm Wilhelmsen. She was named after Themis, Titaness of divine law and order.

Belle of Spain was a steam cargo ship built in 1908 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co of Newcastle for Crow, Rudolf & Co of Liverpool. The ship was designed and built for general cargo trade and spent her career doing tramp trade.

Queen Cristina was a steam cargo ship built in 1901 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co of Newcastle for Thomas Dunlop & Sons of Glasgow. The ship was designed and built for general cargo trade and spent her career doing tramp trade. She was the second ship named Queen Cristina in service with the Queen Line.

Lucifer was a steam tanker built in 1899 by the C.S. Swan & Hunter Co of Wallsend for C.T. Bowring & Co of Liverpool. The ship was designed and built to carry oil and petroleum cargo in bulk and spent most of her career trading on routes from Philadelphia, Batoum and Novorossiysk to Hamburg and British ports.

SS Rosalind was a cargo ship built by Tyne Iron Shipbuilding of Willington Quay and launched in 1879. She operated as a cargo carrier based at Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1907, she was sold to a Swedish operator named N P Shensson and sailed the Baltic Sea until May 1918 when she was sunk by a mine.

SS Rosalind was a passenger and cargo carrying ship that was operated by the Red Cross Line between New York and St John's, sailing along the northeast coast of North America, in the early part of the twentieth century. Originally named Tosari when she was launched in 1890, she was renamed Admiral after a year when she was bought by Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie. She joined the Red Cross Line in 1902 and worked the route for twelve years, with a short break in 1912 working in Australia when she was renamed City of Sydney, finally colliding with Shag Rock off the coast of Nova Scotia and sinking on 17 March 1914. She is known as the ship after which Rosalind Russell is named.

Cansumset was a steam cargo ship built in 1918-1919 by Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company of Bay Point for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was largely employed on the Pacific Coast of the United States to Europe route until 1921 when it was laid up and eventually broken up for scrap in 1930. Due to frequent breakdowns during her short career the freighter was known as the "Hoodoo" ship of the USSB.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cordelia". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Rosalind". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Elsinore". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "El Toro". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 "El Zorro". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register 1914, ELS.
  7. ↑ Mercantile Navy List 1914, p. 179.
  8. 1 2 "Union Oil Co vs. Germany" (PDF). 1926. pp. 338–340. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  9. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.2, p.6 (1914)
  10. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.10, p.10 (1914)
  11. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.11, p.11 (1914)
  12. ↑ Panama Canal Record, vol. 7, p.308
  13. ↑ Panama Canal Record, vol. 7, p.314
  14. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.19, p.7 (1914)
  15. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.19, p.14 (1914)
  16. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.22, p.13 (1914)
  17. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 48, No.25, p.9 (1914)
  18. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 49, No.1, p.7 (1914)
  19. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 49, No.6, p.7 (1914)
  20. ↑ Weekly Commercial News, vol. 49, No.10, p.8 (1914)
  21. 1 2 Fayle 1920, p. 229.
  22. ↑ "German cruiser's prey". The Times. No. 40656. London. 5 October 1914. col E, p. 6.
  23. ↑ British Vessels Lost at Sea, 1914–1918, 1919 [ page needed ]
  24. ↑ Bisher 2016, p. 15.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 19°39′N106°46′W / 19.650°N 106.767°W / 19.650; -106.767

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.