ALEXANDER PIRIE
Shipbuildervessel built by
Alexander HALL & Co.
(Footdee, Aberdeen)
Date1873
Object NamePASSENGER & CARGO VESSEL
MediumIRON
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 180' x breadth 26' x depth 14'
Gross Tonnage: 514 ton
Gross Tonnage: 514 ton
Object numberABDSHIP001170
Keywords
Yard Number: 282
Official Number: 65102
Subsequent Names: NICHOLAOS (1906)
Fate: unknown, last in Lloyd's 1923 no. 68468
Propulsion: Steam
Description: Screw steamer, 1 deck, 2 masts, schooner rigged, round stern, clencher built no galleries or figurehead, iron frame.
Owner:
1876: Registered at Aberdeen for owners;
Aberdeen, Newcastle & Hull Steamship Company Ltd., Aberdeen, all 64 shares. James Wood managing owner 1876 - 1884 then William Skirving appointed managing owner (later secretary of the company) 18th August 1884.
11/12/1905: Sold to William Edward Fordham, of Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
14/12/1905: Sold to Greek owners.
(Source: Aberdeen Shipping Registers (Aberdeen City Archives))
1906-09: A. Coulouthros, registered at Andros, Greece
1912-23: G. Katorakis, registered at Pireus, Greece
Masters:
1874-78: Master J. Urquhart
1878-90: Master A. Linklater
1891-92: Master A. Wright
1892-94: Master C. Michie
1896-1900: Master D. Kelman
1901-02: Master G. Walker
1904-05: Master J. S. Barron
1905-06: Master A. Crombie
1906: Master A. Polemio
1908-09: Master C. Diakakis
1909-13: Master G. Pellis
1915-20: Master A. Karantonis
General History:
04/04/1874:
The Aberdeen, Newcastle and Hull Steam Company's splendid new Steamer ALEXANDER PIRIE, or other steamer, 513 Tons Register, A1 100 horse power will sail (weather &c., permitting) as follows: -
From Aberdeen to Newcastle.
Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m
Saturday, April 11 at 11 a.m
Saturday, April 18 at 2 p.m
Saturday, April 25 at 11 a.m
From Newcastle to Aberdeen.
Tuesday, April 7 at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14 at 2 p.m.
Tuesday, April 21 at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, April 28 at 2 p.m.
Goods carried at through rates by direct route for all stations on the Deeside and Great North of Scotland Railways.
FARES: - First Cabin, 12s; Second Cabin, 6s. Return Tickets, fare and a half, available for one month. No Half Return Tickets will be issued.
The Company will not be responsable fore any unavoidable detention. Horses, Carriages, and Livestock carried on Deck at Shipper's risk.
For all Particulars, apply to A. W. Dixon, 36 Quayside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; or to Joseph Wood, 43 Marischal Street, Aberdeen.
(Shields Daily Gazette)
Alexander Pirie went on trial on 5 January 1874. The Aberdeen Journal described it as the finest yet built for the Aberdeen, Newcastle and Hull Steam Company and commented that ‘she has fine lines and her internal furnishings are very elegant. The after cabin is fitted to accommodate 38 1st Class passengers. Altogether she does great credit to her builders’ (Alexander Hall). Engines were of the combined surface condensing type by Gourlay and Brothers, Dundee, developing 90 horsepower and mean speed of 10.5 knots. She was to make her maiden voyage to Hull on 7 January.
An insight into the navigation of Aberdeen Harbour at that period was given by Alexander Pirie’s master, Capt. Linklater, in testifying before a civil court in 1883. Arrivals and departures were governed by the Leading Lights, and preference was apparently given on safety grounds to incoming vessels. He had never seen a red only light on entering harbour. Sometimes he saw red and green together. He would then stop engines so as to be able if necessary to come to a halt when approaching the lock gates. Normally he would approach them at 3 or 3.5 knots.
In 1875 Alexander Pirie’s regular schedules to Newcastle and Hull were interrupted by an unusual charter to Nantes, a voyage of 900 nautical miles. The charterer was Mr Gordon Pirie, apparently of the firm of Alexander Pirie and Co., Stoneywood Paper Mill, shareholders in the Aberdeen, Newcastle and Hull Company. Gordon Pirie seems to have been re-locating to France as the vessel carried him and his family, servants, baggage, two horses, two cows and a large quantity of flowers and plants.
Another interruption to Alexander Pirie’s routine came in 1890 as a result of an application for higher wages for the crew organised by their union. The company directors announced they would lay up the vessel, the earnings not being sufficient to meet the extra expenditure. This was in effect a lockout.
In the early 1890s Alexander Pirie’s regular route was from Aberdeen to Stockton and Middlesborough, direct or via Hull, every Saturday afternoon or evening. The return sailing from Stockton and Middlesborough was every Wednesday afternoon or evening.
At this period there were two fatal accidents associated with the vessel. In March 1891 the Shields Daily Gazette reported that one of the oldest and best-known pilots on the River Tees, Mr Hutchison, was drowned when attempting to leave Alexander Pirie after piloting it down the river. Getting into his boat alongside he missed his hand on the rope and fell in. In 1895 a seaman, Robert Davidson (age 42), was killed when he climbed the foremast to remove a bucket from an exhaust steam pipe. He fell 12 feet to the deck.
The Aberdeen, Newcastle and Hull Company was in the habit of announcing at its Annual General Meeting the routine downgrading of the book value of its vessels. In 1891 Alexander Pirie’s was reduced from £5,600 to £5,200, in 1898 from £5,000 to £4,500 and in 1901 from £4,000 to £3,750.
Sources:- (All from British Newspaper Archive, accessed 9/7/2023)- Aberdeen Journal, 7/1/1874, 9/6/1875, 13/6/1883, 7/11/1891, 19/11/1901; Aberdeen Evening Express, 7/11/1891; Peterhead Sentinal, 22/8/1890; Shields Daily Gazette, 28/3/1891; Northern Weekly Gazette, 9/7/1893; Dundee Advertiser, 7/2/1895; Dundee Courier, 16/11/1898.
Notes: Contract cost £14,170 (Builder's List held in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
Engines: 2 compound inverted direct acting surface condensing, from Gourlay Bros. & Co. Dundee. Diameter of cylinders 28" and 48". Length of stroke 24". 90hp.
Ship altered in 1888 raising tonnage from 415 to 514 tons. (Aberdeen Register)
