Clipper The Murray, circa 1863 | |
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner |
|
Port of registry | |
Builder | Alexander Hall & Co, Aberdeen |
Yard number | 222 |
Launched | 25 May 1861 |
Maiden voyage | July 1861 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Wrecked 1884 |
General characteristics | |
Type | clipper |
Tonnage | 902 GRT |
Tons burthen | 1,019 tons bm |
Length | 193.7 ft (59.0 m) |
Beam | 33.2 ft (10.1 m) |
Depth | 20.2 ft (6.2 m) |
Propulsion | sail |
Sail plan | full rig |
The Murray was a three-masted clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1861 and lost off the coast of Sweden in 1884. For nearly 20 years, the Orient Line sailed between London and South Australia. [1] In 1880, Norwegian owners bought her and renamed her Freia.
The Murray was the first ship built for the packet service of James Thompson & Co. of London, better known as the Orient Line. She was the last of their ships to be built entirely of wood. Alexander Hall & Co. built her in Aberdeen. Her registered length was 193.7 ft (59.0 m), her breadth was 33.2 ft (10.1 m), and her depth was 20.2 ft (6.2 m). Her tonnages were 1,019 BM and 902 GRT. She was launched on 25 May 1861. [2]
Thompson registered The Murray at Aberdeen. Her United Kingdom official number was 29788, and her code letters were QHCT. [3]
Her first master was the highly regarded Captain John Legoe, whose wife named her The Murray. She sailed from Gravesend on her first voyage to Australia in July 1861. [4]
She carried both passengers and cargo, making very fast times. In 1863, she left Plymouth on 15 July and arrived in Adelaide on 26 September, making the entire journey in 73 days, equal to the 1860 record of Yatala, [5] considered the fastest on the route until the advent of Torrens.
James Norval Smart in 1867, William Begg in 1869–1872 (previously of Sebastian and Coonatto), and Thomas L. Wadham in 1874–1876 all succeeded Captain Legoe, formerly Celstial.
On the night of 26 May 1870 in mid-Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa, a lookout aboard The Murray saw a ship on fire, and Begg made his towards it. It was the Italian barque Mannin Barabino, out of Genoa, bound for the River Plate (Puerto Rico) with a cargo of spirits. The fire had started in the galley and swiftly engulfed the ship; the ship's boat was lowered but was soon overloaded and capsized, and the few survivors managed by clinging to the upturned boat or floating spars, and more than 120 were lost by fire or drowning. [6] Captain Begg was awarded a silver medal by the Italian government for his part in the rescue.[ citation needed ]
In 1880, OL Roed of Norway bought The Murray, renamed her Freia, and registered her in Tønsberg. [2]
In December 1884, Freia sailed from North Shields, England, with a cargo of coal for Vrengen, Norway. She was wrecked on the Koster Islands off the west coast of Sweden and lost with all hands. [2]
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, holds a lithograph of the Clipper Ship 'The Murray' (1861) by Thomas Goldsworthy Dutton.
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.
Lammermuir was an extreme clipper ship built in 1864 by Pile, Spence and Company of West Hartlepool for John "Jock" "White Hat" Willis & Son, London. She was the second ship to bear the name. The first Lammermuir had been the favorite ship of John Willis, and was wrecked in the Gaspar Strait in 1863.
Queen of Nations was a wooden-hulled, three-masted clipper that was built in Scotland in 1861 and wrecked on the coast of New South Wales in 1881. She spent her entire two-decade career with George Thompson, Junior's Aberdeen White Star Line.
Loch Vennachar was an iron-hulled, three-masted clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1875 and lost with all hands off the coast of South Australia in 1905. She spent her entire career with the Glasgow Shipping Company, trading between Britain and Australia. The company was familiarly called the "Loch Line", as all of its ships were named after Scottish lochs. The ship was named after Loch Venachar, in what was then Perthshire.
Ocean Telegraph was a clipper ship that was built in Massachusetts in 1854 and was last known of in Gibraltar in 1923. She was in US ownership until 1863, when UK interests bought her and renamed her Light Brigade.
Stornoway was a British tea clipper built by Alexander Hall and Sons in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1850. She was a further development by Hall on the clippers built in Aberdeen in 1848, being larger and more obviously suited to deep sea service. She was ordered by Jardine Matheson specifically for the tea trade. In the late 1840s, tea was available earlier in the season in China, so the first ships to load had to beat to windward against the north-east monsoon to get across the China Sea. The details of the hull shape designed by Hall had this requirement in mind.
Torrens was a three-masted clipper ship that was built in England in 1875 and scrapped in Italy in 1910. She was designed to carry passengers and cargo between London and Port Adelaide, South Australia, and was the fastest ship to sail on that route. She is notable as the last sailing ship on which Joseph Conrad served before he began his writing career.
Rodney was an iron-hulled clipper ship that was built in Sunderland in 1874 and wrecked on the Cornish coast in 1901. She was one of the last ships built for the Australian migration trade. Devitt and Moore operated her between Britain and Australia for more than two decades. Rodney set numerous records for speed, and had luxuries that were unusual for her era.
John Legoe was a ship's captain, associated with the sailing ships Celestial, The Murray, Yatala and Hesperus, before settling in South Australia, where he and his family were notable citizens.
Hesperus was an iron-hulled, three-masted, passenger clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1874 and scrapped in Italy in 1923. She was built for Thompson and Anderson's Orient Line service between Great Britain and South Australia.
Yatala was a British clipper ship that was built in England in 1865 and wrecked on the north coast of France in 1872. She spent her seven-year career with Anderson, Thomson and Co's Orient Line, sailing between London and South Australia.
South Australian was a composite-hulled clipper ship that was built in Sunderland in 1868 and sank in the Bristol Channel in 1889. She was a successor to clippers St Vincent and City of Adelaide. For nearly two decades she voyaged annually between London and South Australia.
Coonatto, was a British three-masted clipper that was built in 1863 and wrecked in 1876. She traded between London and Adelaide for 12 years. She was wrecked in the English Channel in February 1876.
Orient was a wooden-hulled, three-masted sailing ship that was built in England in 1853 and scrapped in Gibraltar in 1925. She served in the Crimean War, and then spent two decades with James Thompson & Co's "Orient Line" of ships sailing between Great Britain and South Australia.
William Begg was a ship's captain in the merchant navy and as a privateer who made many voyages between England, Africa, the Far East and Adelaide, South Australia, where he later settled and had success as a businessman in Port Adelaide.
The Goolwa was a three-masted, composite-hulled clipper ship that was built for the trade between Great Britain and South Australia. She was built in Scotland in 1864 and sank in the Western Approaches in 1888.
St Vincent was a three-masted sailing ship that was built in England in 1865, renamed Axel in 1894 and scrapped in 1907. For the first part of her career she was a clipper, trading between London and Adelaide. She was later re-rigged as a barque, and spent the final part of her career she was under Norwegian ownership.
Gravina was an 818-register ton clipper ship built in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1853. A rare example of a clipper built in the United States for foreign owners, Gravina was originally homeported in Spain, though commanded by an American.
Donald McKay was an extreme clipper designed by Donald McKay, his last. Built for James Baines & Co., she sailed on the Black Ball Line of Liverpool from 1855 to 1868, carrying passengers and mail between England and Australia.
Orama was a British steam ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship. She was launched in 1911 for the Orient Steam Navigation Company. When new, she was the largest liner sailing between Great Britain and Australia.
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