American packet ship Montezuma Built 1843, Webb & Allen Very similar dimensions to the Argo | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | SV Argo |
Owner |
|
Builder | Webb & Allen |
Laid down | 1840 |
Launched | 1841 |
Out of service | 1854 |
Fate | Abandoned at sea |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Full-rigged |
Tons burthen | 967 (registered) |
Length | 161 ft |
Beam | 36.3 ft |
Draught | 20.5 ft |
Propulsion | Full sail |
Sail plan | Square rigged |
Complement |
|
Notes | Square-riggers on schedule by Robert Greenhalgh Albion, 1938, Princeton University Press, p. 286 |
The SV Argo was an American wooden sailing vessel (SV) designed for the trans-Atlantic Packet trade. [1] William Whitlock, Jr acquired the ship for his Havre-Whitlock Line, which regularly scheduled round trips three times a year from New York City to Le Havre, France. [2]
Caleb Anthony, Jr 1841–1847 [3] [4]
Isaac H. Davis 1848–1849 [5]
Daniel H Wood 1849
Samuel Macoduck 1851–1854
Charles D Crawford 1850
Compiled from ship arrivals from Le Havre, France from 1841–1849, Ancestry.com, NARA and castlegarden.org. Arrival in the Port of New York was on pier 14 noted as the Havre-Union Line (trans-Atlantic packet). [6] Departure dates compiled from The New York Herald. [7]
Departure Date (Le Havre) | Arrival Date (New York) | Days Sailing | Captain | No. |
---|---|---|---|---|
April 21, 1841 | May 24, 1841 | 33 | Anthony | 316 |
August 31, 1841 | October 11, 1841 | 41 | Anthony | 141 |
December 30, 1841 | February 14, 1842 | 46 | Anthony | 21 |
April 24, 1842 | May 25, 1842 | 31 | Anthony | 390 |
August 25, 1842 | September 26, 1842 | 32 | Anthony | 90 |
January 1, 1843 | February 13, 1843 | 43 | Anthony | 18 |
June 24, 1843 | July 26, 1843 | 32 | Anthony | 390 |
September 24, 1843 | October 21, 1843 | 27 | Anthony | 66 |
February 5, 1844 | March 11, 1844 | 35 | Anthony | 16 |
May 25, 1844 | July 1, 1844 | 37 | Anthony | 387 |
September 25, 1844 | October 24, 1844 | 29 | Anthony | 80 |
February 2, 1845 | March 13, 1845 | 39 | Anthony | 14 |
May 28, 1845 | July 2, 1845 | 35 | Anthony | 291 |
October 1, 1845 | November 8, 1845 | 38 | Anthony | 219 |
February 4, 1846 | March 13, 1846 | 37 | Anthony | 42 |
May 25, 1846 | June 29, 1846 | 35 | Anthony | 382 |
September 30, 1846 | November 6, 1846 | 37 | Anthony | 385 |
January 31, 1847 | March 30, 1847 | 58 | Anthony | 79 |
May 26, 1847 | June 24, 1847 | 29 | Anthony | 314 |
September 26, 1847 | October 22, 1847 | 26 | Anthony | 319 |
January 27, 1848 | March 10, 1848 | 43 | Davis | 86 |
May 25, 1848 | June 29, 1848 | 35 | Davis | 338 |
October 1, 1848 | November 1, 1848 | 31 | Davis | 183 |
January 31, 1849 | March 6, 1849 | 34 | Davis | 91 |
May 1849 | June 30, 1849 | Davis | 337 | |
October 2, 1849 | November 6, 1849 | 35 | Wood | 286 |
January 30, 1850 | March 12, 1850 | Crawford | See below |
The "Argo" ran aground on a sand bar on the south shore of Long Island near present-day Mastic Beach and remained there for over a year before it was removed, repaired and sold to another owner. As was common, major local newspapers avoided mention of wrecks, especially without loss of life, as not to supply negative publicity for their advertisers (owners and operators). The 1850 grounding of the Argo occurred at approximately 40°43′30″N72°53′21″W / 40.72500°N 72.88917°W , about 1.5 miles west of the contemporary memorial for TWA Flight 800.
Used on a Liverpool to New York route by the Caleb Grimshaw and Co in 1851 and on a Liverpool to Melbourne Australia route in departing in 1852. [17] Samuel Thompson's Nephew and Co., acquired the Argo in 1851.
Compiled from ship arrivals from 1850–1852, Ancestry.com and NARA.
Arrival Date | Captain | No. | Port |
---|---|---|---|
September 24, 1851 | Samuel Macoduck | 437 | N.Y. |
February 3, 1852 | Samuel Macoduck | 95 | N.Y. |
January 19, 1853 | Samuel Macoduck | 242 | Mel. |
The Argo was abandoned in the North Atlantic after a hurricane, boarded twice and was not seen again after the second boarding, perhaps considered a Ghost ship by the uniformed second crew who were unaware of the rescue. Its final resting place has never been determined. The Argo could have sunk, washed ashore in Ireland or been salvaged without notifying maritime authorities.
Donald McKay was a Nova Scotian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting extreme clippers.
SS City of Glasgow of 1850 was a single-screw iron hulled passenger steamship of the Inman Line. Based on ideas pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain of 1845, City of Glasgow established that Atlantic steamships could be operated profitably without government subsidy. After a refit in 1852, she was also the first Atlantic steamship to carry steerage passengers, representing a significant improvement in the conditions experienced by immigrants. In March 1854 City of Glasgow vanished while enroute from Liverpool to Philadelphia with 480 passengers and crew aboard.
SS Pacific was a wooden-hulled, sidewheel steamer built in 1849 for transatlantic service with the American Collins Line. Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British-owned Cunard Line, Pacific and her three sister ships were the largest, fastest and most well-appointed transatlantic steamers of their day.
The General Screw Steam Shipping Company was a British company established in 1848 by James Laming, who had for about 30 years owned sailing ships travelling between England and the Netherlands.
HMS Assistance was an Arctic discovery barque of the Royal Navy, and the sixth vessel to carry the name. She began in 1834 as the India-built merchant vessel Acorn. Her name was changed to Baboo. Under that name she transported contract labourers between Mauritius and India, and immigrants to South Australia. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1850 and named her HMS Assistance. Assistance participated in two Arctic expeditions before her crew abandoned her in the ice in 1854.
Aeolus was a wooden ketch built in 1850 at Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia. She was carrying timber to Sydney, New South Wales, when she was lost at Hole in the Wall, Jervis Bay, New South Wales, on 24 October 1867. The wreck has not been located, but its approximate position is 35.134648°S 150.745874°E.
The Memnon was the first clipper ship to arrive in San Francisco after the Gold Rush, and the only clipper to arrive in San Francisco before 1850. Built in 1848, she made record passages to San Francisco and to China, and sailed in the first clipper race around Cape Horn.
The steamer Goliah was the second tug boat ever built in the United States. The long service life of this vessel caused it to become known as the "everlasting" Goliah. This vessel was readily recognizable by its large size and sidewheels. It should not be confused with a number of other vessels named either Goliah or Goliath which were also operating as tugs. This vessel was also sometimes known as the Defender.
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (I) was the first vessel ordered for service with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company when it began its operation in 1830. No Official number is recorded for the vessel, as formal registration was not introduced until the Merchant Shipping Act 1854.
The Havre Union transatlantic packet line was organized in the 1830s from the merger of the Havre Old Line and the Havre Whitlock Line. While the two lines remained independent business entities, they coordinated their sailing schedule and acted as a single line. In the shipping industry, the term packet ship was used to describe a vessel that featured regularly scheduled service on a specific point-to-point line. Usually, the individual ship operated exclusively for the line.
James Teare was a Manx merchant navy officer who served as a seaman and later as an officer on numerous Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessels. Capt. Teare is best known as the Master of the RMS Ellan Vannin on her ill-fated voyage from Ramsey, Isle of Man to Liverpool on 3 December 1909.
The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.
Isaac C. Smith was an American sail and steamboat captain, shipbuilder, sparmaker and entrepreneur.
The Patrick Henry (packet) was a three-masted, square-rigged, merchant-class, sailing packet ship that transported mail, newspapers, merchandise and thousands of people from 1839 to 1864, during the Golden Age of Sail, primarily between Liverpool and New York City, as well as produce, grains and clothing to aid in humanitarian efforts during an Gorta Mór.
The wooden sailing ship Oneida was a merchant vessel built for the New York to Le Havre, France packet trade. It was owned by John J. Boyd and Edward Hincken, and it operated on the Havre Second Line.
The Havre Second Line was a business organization that provided packet service between the Ports of New York and Le Havre, France. William A. Fairburn identified four characteristics of a packet service. (1) a regular line between ports; (2) ships operating exclusively in the service; (3) common ownership of the operating ships and associated facilities by individuals, a partnership, or a corporation; and (4) regular sailing on a specified day of a certain month.
Cadmus was built in 1818 in New York. She was a packet sailing between New York and Havre. In 1824, Cadmus carried General Lafayette to New York on a visit at the invitation of the U.S. Congress. From 1827, Cadmus became a whaler, sailing from Sag Harbor, New York. She made 17 complete whaling voyages. During her whaling years Cadmus brought in oil and whale bone worth a total of $359,000. In 1849, a new owner sailed her to California so that he and his crew could take part in the gold rush there. They abandoned her in San Francisco, where she became a storehouse until she became too leaky; her bones were eventually buried under fill.