OTAGO

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OTAGO

Post by shipstamps » Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:56 am


Poland issued in 2007 a 3zl stamp to honour the 150th Anniversary of Joseph Conrad’s birth in 1857.
According Navicula the vessel depict on the stamp is the OTAGO, comparing the vessel depict on the stamp and a photo of the vessel I think it is correct. Also the OTAGO was the only vessel Joseph Conrad was Captain on.

Built as a 3-masted iron barque under yard No 136 by A. Stephen & Son, Kelvinhaugh near Glasgow, Scotland for Capt. Angus Cameron, Glasgow.
05 October 1869 launched under the name OTAGO.
Tonnage 367 gross, dim. 147 x 26 x 14ft.
Barque rigged.
1869 Completed, homeport Glasgow, building cost £16 per grt.

1870 Maiden voyage under Capt A. Cameron from Liverpool to Adelaide, and Sydney, Australia, then to San Francisco before she headed home in 12 months and 15 days.
After her return to the U.K. she loaded explosives and general cargo in Liverpool and embarked 17 passengers before she sailed for Port Chalmers, New Zealand.
22 July 1871 arrived off Port Chalmers but the weather failed to cooperate for entering the port under sail for the next three days.
After this three days was she towed to her berth from the road by the steam tug GEELONG, and she berthed at the Quarantine Ground before her 17 passengers were disembarked.
She had made a very fast passage for a small barque it took her 88 days from land to land. Her fastest 24 hour speed was 306 mile.

After staying in Port Chalmers for three weeks, she sailed in ballast to Newcastle, Australia, to load a cargo of coal consigned for the Dunedin merchant Johr Findlay.

After this voyage she sailed to Adelaide, Australia to load in December 1871wheat for London.

1872 Sold to Gierson & Co., Adelaide, Australia; most probably Capt. Cameron sold her there after her arrival in December 1871 to her new owners.
1885 Sold to Capt. J. Snadden, who also commanded her thereafter.
1887 He died on board the OTAGO in the Gulf of Siam and was buried at sea. The OTAGO was forced to put in at Bangkok where Joseph Conrad a first mate on board the SS VIDAR at that time in Singapore, was appointed to command the barque.
04 January 1888 Conrad left the VIDAR at Singapore and travelled to Bangkok where he arrived on 24 January.
02 February the OTAGO under command of Conrad sails from Bangkok bound for Sydney, where she arrived on 07 May.
After a stay of 3 months in Sydney she left for Port Louis, Mauritius, she set course to the north and passing the dangerous Torres Strait before heading for Mauritius.
30 September arrived at Port Louis, where she loaded sugar, returning at Sydney on 22 November 1888.
05 January 1889 the OTAGO makes a call at Melbourne where Conrad leaves the vessel; later travelled by steamer to the U.K. (It is given that Conrad has written his novel “The Shadow Line” around the OTAGO.)

1890 The owners are given as J.L.Simpson & Snadden later H.Simpson & Son.
1898 Sold to A.E.Howard in Sydney.
1902 Sold to C.J.F. Gerber, Sydney.
1903 Sold to Huddard Parker Ltd. and used as coal hulk.
July 1905 arrived at Hobart to replace the condemned hulk FREDRICA.
January 1931 she was sold to a shipbreaker, Henry Dodge at Hobart, and towed about 10 km above Hobart, where till today the remains are still visible what is now known as Otago Bay.

Some parts still remains of the ship, the steering wheel is at the Honourable Company of Master Mariners located on the HQS WELLINGTON on the River Thames near London.
A section of the stern you will find in Los Angeles. The timber structure of the companion hatchway was retained in Hobart and may be seen at the Maritime Museum of Tasmania.
The ships bell for many years was used by the Geelong College in Geelong; she is now in the Norman Morrison Hall at the Geelong College.

Source: The last of the Windjammers by Basil Lubbock. Blue Gum Clippers and Whale Ships of Tasmania by Will Lawson. http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/historic/shipw/otago.html

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