CARNAQUHEEN

DateApril 1867

Object NameCLIPPER

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 187' x breadth 33' x depth 19'
gross tonnage 825 ton
Registered Tonnage: 950ton

Object numberABDSHIP001692

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: John Humphrey & Co.
Official Number: 56603

Fate: stranded at Cintra Bay, Western Sahara, 14 March 1883.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged clipper, 1 deck with a poop deck, 3 masts, eliptical stern, carvel built, no galleries, demi male figurehead.

Owners:
23/04/1867: Registered at Aberdeen for owners;
Richard Connon, Alexander Rhynd Dyer, 46 shares jointly; John Cargill, 2 shares, all Aberdeen; Robert Phillips, shipmaster, Aberdeen, 8 shares; James Wood, merchant, Banff, 8 shares.
10/10/1867: Connon & Dyer sold 2 shares to Robert Ross Robertson, manufacturer, London.
12/05/1868: Connon & Dyer sold 4 shares to William Campbell, Cove, Kincardineshire, shipmaster.
28/10/1869: John Cargill 2 shares by will to Margaret Cargill and by her to Christina Bruce, Aberdeen.
20/09/1870: Christina Bruce 2 shares sold to William Cargill, shipmaster & Richard Connon, jointly.
19/06/1875: death of A. Dyer all jointly held shares (26) to Connon solely.
26/09/1876: James Wood, 8 shares to George Milne, bank agent, Aberdeen.
19/05/1879: On death of Connon all Aberdeen shareholders sold out to Isaac & Frederick Jacobs, London, shipowners.
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))
1879-80: Jacobs & Co., registered at London

Masters:
1870-79: Master W. Colville
1879-83: Master J. Simpson

Voyages:
1870-73: London - Australia.

General History:
22/05/1867:
Devitt and Moore's Australian Line of packet ships - for Adelaide direct (last shipping day 5 June), the new Aberdeen Clipper ship CARNAQUHEEN, A1, 825 tons register, R. Phillips Commander, lying in the London Docks. This beautiful ship, fitted expressly for the Adelaide trade, has a full poop, with every comfort for the accommodation of chief cabin and intermediate passengers. For terms of freight or passage apply to Devitt & Moore, Billeter St.
(Daily News)

18/07/1870:
Arrived Port Adelaide 25 June, CARNAQUHEEN, ship, 825 tons, W. Colville, from London, 18 passengers, general cargo.
(South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide))

19/09/1872:
[From Wallaroo Times] Considerable excitement in Wallaroo when it was known elder liner CARNAQUEEN was hard and fast on Tipara Reef (Spencer Gulf). Capt. Colville was on the Gulf for first time. He was aware of the reef, set what he thought correct course and went to his cabin to rest. When he came on deck he considered land too near and ordered course to be altered, but soon after she struck the reef at 6 knots. Water was pumped out of her and also over 100 tons of coal unloaded. At high water she began to move on the reef, but could not be kedged off. A steamer, sent from Adelaide, arrived just in time to pull her clear. CARNAQUEEN is an Aberdeen clipper ship. The Captain has a share in her and probably will be the greatest sufferer from the misfortune.
(South Australian Register (Adelaide))

13/07/1879:
Sailed 12 July, CARNAQUEEN, Ship, James Ramsay Master, for London.
(South Australian Advertiser)

24/09/1880:
News reached London 22 Sept. that ship CARNAQUEEN, A1, Capt. J. Simpson, belonging to Messrs Jacobs Bros & Co. of London, bound from Antwerp to Sydney, has foundered at sea. It is feared that a large number of those aboard have perished.
(South Australian Advertiser)

27/09/1880:
The Reported Loss of the Ship CARNAQUEEN. —Mr John S. Jacobs, 100 Fer.church Street, London, the owner of the ship CARNAQUEEN, writing to Mr Richard Conn (Connon & Fleming) in reference to the reported loss of the above-mentioned vessel, says :— " lam obliged by your favour of 22nd inst. with post-cards relative to CARNAQUEEN having been spoken. This news brings confirmation of that from Lloyd’s agent at Dover, and we have now no fear as her safety.” There little doubt but that course of time it will be found that the ship having lost her bow name-boards gave rise the fears entertained for her safety. The name-boards were not unfrequently lost while the vessel owned the late Mr Richard Connon. By the Act of Parliament which has lately come into operation ships’ names are now painted on the bows of the vessel, and the more ornamental than useful nameboard will shortly be among the things that were.
(Aberdeen Free Press)

18/08/1883:
LOSS OF THE CARNAQUEEN. In the matter of a formal investigation held at the Sessions House, Westminster, on the 30th of April and the 1st of May, 1883, before H. C. Rothery, Esq., Wreck Commissioner, assisted by Captain Ronaldson and Captain Kennedy as assessors, into the circumstances attending the stranding and loss of the sailing ship Carnaquheen, near St. Cyprian Bay, [archaic name for Cintra Bay] on the West Coast of Africa, on the 14th of March, 1883. The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above-mentioned shipping casualty, finds that the stranding and loss of the said ship was due to the negligent navigation thereof by James Simpson, the master, in having kept her for too long a time on the starboard tack heading for the land, he being at the time ignorant of the vessel's true position, not having obtained any observations either on the 12th or the 13th [...] the Court suspends the certificate of the said James Simpson for three months.
[...] She left Newport, in Monmouthshire, on the 18th of February last for Montevideo, with a crew of 19 hands all told, and a cargo of about 1,200 tons of railway materials; [...] At about 3 a.m. the second mate observed what he supposed to be land ahead, upon which he went down to the cabin and asked the captain if he expected to see land. The captain replied that he did not, and immediately got out of bed and came on deck with him, and as they reached the deck the vessel struck. [...]
On the 23d having repaired their [life]boats they put out to sea and having on the 26th fallen in with a Portuguese ship called the HARMONIA and been taken on board, they were safely landed on the 29th at St. Vincent, one of the Cape de Verde Islands. The place where the vessel grounded was a little north of St. Cyprian's bay and about 100 miles to the north of Care Blanco. The Vessel and cargo were of course totally lost.
(Shipping and Mercantile Gazette)

Note: re-rigged as a barque in 1880.