SALAMANDER
Shipbuildervessel built by
Alexander HALL & Co.
(Footdee, Aberdeen)
AssociatedAssociated with
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
(Shipowners, Opium Traders and Merchants, Hong Kong)
Date1856
Object NameSCHOONER
MediumWOOD
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 109.5' x breadth 21' x depth 11.1'
gross tonage 115 tons
gross tonage 115 tons
Object numberABDSHIP001094
Keywords
Yard Number: 206
Fate: unknown
Propulsion: Sail
Description: Schooner rigged private yacht, 2 decks, 2 masts, carvel built, round stern, salamander figurehead.
Owners:
1857: Dunbar Douglas, 6th earl of Selkirk, registered at Kirkcudbright.
1858?: registered at Aberdeen for joint owners;
James Hall, William Hall 32 shares each.
08/12/1859: Vessel sold to a foreigner - from a letter dated 8 December 1859 from the Register in Hong Kong.
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives)
07/11/1859: Alosch, Hong Kong. (see extract from Lubbock)
c.1860: Alfred Roper, Hong Kong.
Masters:
1859: Master R. Barcham
c.1860: Master Alfred Roper
Voyages (from Lloyd's):
1857: Aberdeen - Mediterranean.
1859: Aberdeen - China
General History:
During the [eighteen] 'fifties a great many beautiful, fine lined, heavily rigged topsail schooners came out from England and took their places in the opium coasting trade [...] The third was the SALAMANDER, of 115 tons. She was built in 1856 by Hall for the Earl of Selkirk. In 1859 she was consigned to Dent & Co. and Captain Barcham brought her out to Hong Kong from Aberdeen with general cargo in 110 days (13 April - 1 August [1859]). Dents put her up for sale by public auction on November 7, and she was bought by Mr Alosch the price being $11,000.
In the early [eighteen] 'sixties a very old China hand Captain Alfred Roper bought her, and commanding her himself who ran her on charter to Jardine, Matheson & Co at $1,000 a month and a commission on sales of opium at non-treaty ports.
(Basil Lubbock (1933) "The Opium Clippers" (Brown, Son, & Ferguson, Glasgow), pp. 339-41.)
08/11/1856:
The new splendid yacht SALAMANDER, belonging to Earl of Selkirk, sailed from Yarmouth Roads to Mediterranean. Her crew is of a 1st class, mustering 14. This noble craft was built by an eminent firm in Scotland and is 224 tons register.
(Isle of Wight Observer)
03/12/1856:
The yacht schooner SALAMANDER, property of Earl of Selkirk, has been taken into drydock in Malta. She was found to be so loosly put together that her safe arrival here from England may be considered miraculous. This was her first trip. Her lordship had paid the full, £23 per ton, Aberdeen, she had undergone the survery of Lloyd's agents.
Daily News
[According to builders list contract price was £5000, so £23 p.t. reasonably accurate, based on register tonnage. There can be no suggestion this was a cheap job. Hall's yard no. 208 (1857) was a schooner of very similar size (105 ft length, gt 155), named 'THE OAK'. Her contract price was £2600, slightly over half that of 'SALAMANDER'. The difference could, of course, be explained by quality and extent of fittings.]
SALAMANDER returned to England in Mid 1857 - 17 days Malta to Gibraltar via Tunis, sailed from Gibraltar 25 June (Hampshire Telegraph, 04/07/1857), c. 09/07/1857 arrived Yarmouth and then moved to Southampton "to be thoroughly overhauled" (Isle of Wight Observer, 11/07/1857).
Note: Contract cost £5,000 (builder's list held in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
No Lloyd's entry after 1859.
August 1824
