SWIFT

Shipbuildervessel built by Alexander HALL & Co. (Footdee, Aberdeen)

Date1843

Object NameSCHOONER

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 104.5' x breadth 20.8' x depth 13.4'
gross tonnage 183 tons

Object numberABDSHIP001027

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 139

Fate: Sank in a storm, 3 October 1860.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Schooner rigged, clipper bow.

Owners:
1843-56: London & Edinburgh Shipping Co., registered at Leith
1857-59: McGregor

Masters:
1844-48: Master J. Dickson
1851-53: Master T. Watson
1854-55: Master T. Richards
1856: Master J. Brown
1857-59: Master W. Ferguson

Voyages (Lloyd's Register):
1844-45: Aberdeen - London
1847-56: Leith - London
1857: Leith - the Mediterranean
1859: Leith - the Baltic

General History:

12/02/1845:
Great Dispatch....SWIFT (Built by Alexander Hall and Co., Aberdeen) of 253 tons register, belonging to London and Edinburgh Shipping Company, arrived at Leith, Monday the 3rd instant, with nearly a full cargo, and after discharging, left Leith Roads on the 5th at 3pm with a large cargo and on the 7th at noon, passed Gravesend.
(Aberdeen Journal)

09/07/1855:
The London & Edinburgh Shipping Co.'s fast sailing clipper schooner SWIFT, James Brown Commander, sails from Leith to Miller's Wharf, London on 11th inst. [To meet the requirements of the trade the directors have made arrangements for placing new and powerful screw steamers on the station, which will afford, in addition to the sailing vessels, a regular weekly steam communication between the two ports].
(Glasgow Herald)

02/11/1860:
The schooner SWIFT (of Leith), Ferguson, left Newport, Wales, a few days before the late destructive gale for Cronstadt, with a cargo of iron rails, and has not since been heard of.
(Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin review; and Forfar and Kincardineshire advertiser.)

01/04/1861:
LOSS OF LEITH VESSELS. THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS RELIEF FUND. A meeting the subscribers to the fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of the crews of the Edinburgh and other vessels belonging to Leith, Newhaven, and Granton, lost on the 3rd of October last [...] Beside those who perished through the loss of the EDINBURGH, there were the crew of the schooner SWIFT, of Leith, bound from Cardiff to Cronstadt, and the crew of the yacht ELIZABETH ANN, bound from Granton to Lerwick, Captain Bennet, both of which vessels went down with all hands the same storm as that in which the EDINBURGH was lost.
(Edinburgh Evening Courant)

Note: Cost at construction, £2675. (Builder's List held in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)