Image Not Available

CALYPSO

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

DateMay 1874

Object NameCLIPPER

MediumIRON

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 205.4' x breadth 34.6' x depth 20.4'
Gross Tonnage: 1061 ton
length 205' 4" x breadth 34' 6" x depth 20' 4"

Object numberABDSHIP001171

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 283
Official Number: 65108.

Fate: sunk by collision in the Thames Estuary, 14 April 1880.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: ship rigged clipper, 2 decks, 3 masts, round stern, clencher built, no galleries, demi female figurehead, iron frame.

Owners:
1874: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
John Leslie, shipmaster, 32 shares; William Shirras, manufacturer, 32 shares.
(Source: Aberdeen Shipping Register (Aberdeen City Archives))

Master:
1874-79: Master J. Leslie
1879-80: Master W. Hird

General History:
11/11/1874:
Fast Sailing. —We learn by telegraph that the new iron clipper ship CALYPSO, Captain Leslie, built by Messrs A. Hall & Co. for the New Zealand trade, has made her first passage from Plymouth to Otago in sixty-eight days.
(Aberdeen Journal)

15/04/1880:
AN ABERDEEN SHIP RUN DOWN IN THE THAMES
Reports from Lloyd’s state that early yesterday morning a collision occurred at the mouth of the Thames, between the General Steam Navigation Co.’s steamer HAWK from Antwerp, and the ship CALYPSO, from Otago, bound for London with passengers and cargo. The ship was sunk off Prince’s Channel Light, but all on board were saved and taken to the Hawk. The CALYPSO was an iron ship of over thousand tons, was owned in Aberdeen, and chartered to a London firm. The CALYPSO, which was built Aberdeen by Messrs A. Hall & Co., in 1874, was owned ex- Baillie Shirres, Aberdeen, and is, we believe, fully insured. The Shipping Gazette contains the following telegrams Gravesend, April 14, 9 40 a.m.—Arrived—HAWK steamer, Ryan, from Antwerp, reports having sunk a ship called the CALYPSO, of Aberdeen, from New Zealand with passengers, which with the crew are all safe on board the HAWK. Another account states that the CALYPSO was at anchor in Prince’s Channel. She was cut into twelve feet abaft the starboard main rigging. She lies in seven fathoms at low water. Her cargo consisted of 4500 bales of wool and 300 tons of wheat. Efforts are to be made immediately for raising her.
(Aberdeen Journal)

Notes: Contract cost £18,927 (Builder's List held in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)