William Pithie (born 1859) was a Scottish mariner who was master of the Glenavon when it was wrecked off the coast of China in 1898. Four people, but not Pithie, lost their lives in the wreck. Pithie had his licence suspended for one year.
William Pithie (born 1859) was a Scottish mariner who was master of the Glenavon when it was wrecked off the coast of China in 1898. Four people, but not Pithie, lost their lives in the wreck. Pithie had his licence suspended for one year.
In 1898 he was the master (certificate number 07101) of the Glenavon, a steamer of the Glen Line that was built in Govan, and launched in 1881. [3]
The Glenavon was wrecked on the Linting Rock in the Sa Mun group, [3] off the China coast, on 29 December 1898 while en route from Japan to the United Kingdom via Hong Kong. The chief officer, quartermaster, second steward, and No. 3 fireman all lost their lives. The passengers and the remainder of the crew were saved. [4] [5]
A court of enquiry held in Hong Kong in January 1899 found that Pithie did not take proper care in fixing his position and therefore embarked on a dangerous course that was the principal cause of the wrecking. It recommended that his certificate be suspended for a period of one year. The court also expressed the opinion that had the ship's boats remained alongside as they were ordered to do, rather than making for Hong Kong as they did, then the four lives lost might have been saved. [4] [5]
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland.
Admiral of the Fleet The Honourable Sir Henry Keppel was a Royal Navy officer. His first command was largely spent off the coast of Spain, which was then in the midst of the First Carlist War. As commanding officer of the corvette HMS Dido on the East Indies and China Station he was deployed in operations during the First Opium War and in operations against Borneo pirates. He later served as commander of the naval brigade besieging Sebastopol during the Crimean War. After becoming second-in-command of the East Indies and China Station, he commanded the British squadron in the action with Chinese pirates at the Battle of Fatshan Creek when he sank around 100 enemy war-junks. He subsequently took part in the capture of Canton during the Second Opium War.
USS McCulloch, previously USRC McCulloch and USCGC McCulloch, was a ship that served as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter from 1897 to 1915, as a United States Coast Guard Cutter from 1915 to 1917, and as a United States Navy patrol vessel in 1917. She saw combat during the Spanish–American War during the Battle of Manila Bay and patrolled off the United States West Coast during World War I. In peacetime, she saw extensive service in the waters off the U.S. West Coast. She sank in 1917 after colliding with another steamer.
RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner built in 1920 for the Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. This ship—the first of three CP vessels to be named Empress of Canada—regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Asian waters until 1939.
RMS Empress of China was an ocean liner built in 1890-1891 by Naval Construction & Armament Co., Barrow, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship—the first of three CP vessels to be named Empress of China—regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until she struck an underwater reef and sank in Tokyo harbour in 1911.
SS Hong Moh was a passenger ship that was wrecked on the White Rocks off Lamock Island, Swatow, on 3 March 1921 with the loss of about 900 lives.
The SS Mohegan was a steamer which sank off the coast of the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, on her second voyage. She hit The Manacles on 14 October 1898 with the loss of 106 out of 197 on board.
SS Hsin Wah, now also known as the SS Xinhua, was a steamship owned by China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, navigating between Canton City, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. She was built in 1921 by Napier & Miller in Glasgow. The ship was seized by pirates of Bias Bay in 1928 and saved by the SS Zhongshan. She sunk in 1929 when grounded on northern rocks of Waglan Island south-east of Hong Kong Island, with a loss of between 300 and 400 lives.
The SS Bokhara was a P&O steamship which sank in a typhoon on 10 October 1892, off the coast of Sand Island in the Pescadores, Formosa. Of the 150 people who perished, eleven were members of the Hong Kong cricket team.
Sylph was a clipper ship built at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, in 1831 for the Parsi merchant Rustomjee Cowasjee. After her purchase by the Hong Kong-based merchant house Jardine Matheson, in 1833 Sylph set a speed record by sailing from Calcutta to Macao in 17 days, 17 hours. Her primary role was to transport opium between various ports in the Far East. She disappeared en route to Singapore in 1849.
HMS Foxglove was an Acacia-class minesweeping sloop of the Royal Navy. She saw service in World War I and World War II.
The Emily Reed was a down Easter owned by a company in San Francisco, and well known in both American and Australian ports. She ran aground in February 1908 off the coast of Oregon, with the loss of eight men.
The 1874 Hong Kong Typhoon was the third-worst typhoon to ever hit Hong Kong, striking during the night of September 22, 1874 and the morning of September 23, 1874.
The SS City of Chester was a steamship built in 1875 that sank after a collision in a dense fog with SS Oceanic at the Golden Gate in San Francisco Bay on August 22, 1888. She was owned by the Oregon Railroad Co. and leased by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company.
Glen Line was a UK shipping line that was founded in Glasgow in 1867. Its head office was later moved first to London and then to Liverpool.
The Glenavon was a British iron cargo ship of the Glen Line that was wrecked off the coast of China in 1898. Four people, but not the master, lost their lives in the wreck. The master had his licence suspended for one year.
SS Oakland was a small general cargo/passenger ship commissioned in 1890, Dumbarton, Scotland, for New South Wales, Australia, timber merchant William T Yeager. It sank off Cabbage Tree Island, New South Wales, in 1903, with the loss of 11 lives.
SS Ventnor was a British cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1901 and wrecked off New Zealand in 1902 with the loss of 13 of her crew. Her cargo included the bodies of 499 gold miners who had died in New Zealand and were being repatriated to China. The wreck led to an end of the practice of exhuming human remains en masse in New Zealand and returning them to China.
Lalla Rookh was a square-rigged, iron-hulled tea clipper of 869 tons, built in 1856 in Liverpool, Lancashire, owned by William Prowse & Co. and said to travel fast. She was used for trade with India and China, and was advertised in 1871 as a packet ship to take passengers to Australia. She was completely wrecked at Prawle Point, Devon on 3 March 1873, with the loss of one crew member and all of her cargo of tea and tobacco.
The Caleb Curtis was a 19th-century two-masted Boston pilot boat, built in 1859 at Chelsea, Massachusetts for Boston maritime pilots. She well known for her speed. the Curtis was sold to the San Francisco Pilots' Opposition Line in October 1861 and sailed from Boston around Cape Horn and then to San Francisco to become a pilot boat with the San Francisco fleet. She was shipwrecked inside the Bonita Channel in 1867. The Caleb Curtis was repaired, and was able to continue as a pilot boat in San Francisco from 1867 to 1892. She was sold at auction 1892. From 1892 to 1899, she had different owners and sailed the waters of Japan, Socorro Island, Clipperton Island and Tahiti, Hong Kong and Klondike, Yukon. She was shipwrecked at Cape Nome, Alaska in 1899.
  | This Scottish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |