“INVERCARGILL” (1874 -1905)- PASSENGER AND EMIGRANT CLIPPER SHIP

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Anatol
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“INVERCARGILL” (1874 -1905)- PASSENGER AND EMIGRANT CLIPPER SHIP

Post by Anatol » Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:21 am

In 1874, Patrick Henderson of Albion Shipping Company N.Z. ordered six iron passenger ships from Robert Duncan of Port Glasgow, Scotland.These were "Dunedin", "Canterbury", "Invercargill", "Auckland", "Nelson", and "Wellington".
INVERCARGILL-full-rigged iron sailing ship of 1246 tons, , length 239ft 7in, beam 36 ft, depth 20ft 7in. An extract from the 'Otago witness' 24 October 1874 describes the ship: "A handsome stately vessel of dimensions 240 feet in length, 36 feet in beam. She is rigged according to the latest fashion, iron wire everywhere and iron lowermasts and bowsprit and lower yards. She has a noble poop 80 ft long, but only half of it is filled up as saloon accommodation. What saloon there is is very comfortable and elegantly fitted up and arranged. There is a standing open fireplace. All the brackets for lamps are plated silver and the panellings are veneered with birds eye maple. The mouldings of rosewood and gilt cornices. The sleeping cabins large and liberally furnished. The first and second officers are berthed in the side cabins under the break of the poop, and the bosun, carpenter and apprentices are in the house on the main deck. The after part of the house is the engine and steam winch room and contains the freshwater container - one of Chaplins - which is said to have worked well on the run out".
In 1874, her maiden voyage, under command of Captain Tilly,
with 390 passengers to Port Chalmers, New Zealand, was in 90 days.
"Invercargill" was used initially as an emigrant ship from the UK to Australia and New Zealand , and later as a cargo vessel carrying meat.
From 1892, until it was sold to Norway in 1904,it was commanded by Captain Tom Bowling. She made altogether 26 passages to New Zealand - 14 to Port Chalmers, 7 to Wellington 2 to Lyttelton, 2 to Timaru and 1 to Auckland. The average passage time for the 26 voyages was 89.38 days.
On her last passage under owners Shaw Savill Line, she left Sydney 27 August 1904 bound for Queenstown. The "Invercargill" was caught in a fierce storm, the cargo shifted, port bulwarks carried away, and the ship laid over on her beam ends. The crew manhandled the cargo to the windward side, righted the ship, and continued the voyage. On 8 December, now in the Atlantic, she broached in mountainous seas the cargo shifted again and the ship was again laid over on her beam ends. The foresail, fore upper topsail and staysail ,and main royal were all torn to shreds. By morning ,the crew had jettisoned the cargo and regained control of the ship although the "Invercargill" was still listing heavily , and managed to reach Queenstown in 113 days.
Repaired and refitted ,the ship was sold for one thousand pounds to a Norwegian shipping line and renamed "Varg". She sailed for Christiania in 1905 with coal ballast, and was never seen again. It was conjectured that she was not carrying sufficient ballast for a winter voyage.
The design stamp is made after painting of Jack Spurling.
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Source: https://collection.maas.museum/object/211688. http://www.spurlingandrouxwatercolours.com/mppec.html. https://www.nauticalhistory.net/pdfs/invercargill.pdf.
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