Kent 1820

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
john sefton
Posts: 1816
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:59 pm

Kent 1820

Post by john sefton » Wed May 20, 2009 6:18 pm

The Kent, was an East Indiaman built in 1820 at the Blackwall Yard. She was a vessel of 1,332 tons, and is well-known for a very tragic reason. In 1825 she was destroyed by fire in the Bay of Biscay when carrying troops, having left the Downs on her maid en voyage on February 19, 1825, under command of Capt. H. Cobb. She had on board 20 officers and 344 men of the 31st Regiment of the Line, together with 43 women and 66 children. She also carried 20 private passengers and a crew of 148, bound for Bengal and China. On March 1. she ran into a gale force wind in the Bay of Biscay. The captain ordered his topgallant yards to be struck and everything battened down. Under only a triple-reefed topsail at the main, the ship lay-t6. Below decks, her cargo of hundreds of tons of ammunition lurched from side to side as the ship rolled At one sudden lurch of the ship, an officer down the hold examining the cargo to see nothing had come adrift, with the aid of a patent oil lamp, was sent sprawling, making him release his hold on a cask of spirits which had broken loose. The lantern fell from his hand and smashed.
The spirits touched the flame. The horrified officer scrambled to his feet and managed to warn the captain of the disaster. Every man aboard the ship was utilised in carrying water buckets to prevent the fire spreading. Before long the ship was well alight down below and the fore part of the ship had to be flooded by opening the ports on the lower deck. Her plight was seen by another ship, the Cambria, 200 tons, bound for Vera Cruz. This brig, after heroic efforts by her crew, rescued over 600 persons, although she had provision for only 40 and was several hundred miles from the nearest port.
Eventually the Kent blew up. The flames acted as a signal of distress and brought the Liverpool barque Caroline to the scene. In the disaster 96 people were lost. It might indeed have been a disaster of greater consequence in loss of life.
Sea Breezes Feb 1974.
St Helena SG300 Brit Indian Ocean Terr SG233
Attachments
SG300
SG300
SG233
SG233

Post Reply