THYATIRA
Shipbuildervessel built by
Walter Hood & Co.
(Shipbuilder, Footdee, Aberdeen 1839 - 1881)
DateAugust 1867
Object NameCLIPPER
MediumCOMPOSITE
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 201 3/6' x breadth 33 5/6' x depth 21 3/6'
gross tonnage: 962 ton
gross tonnage: 962 ton
Object numberABDSHIP000367
Keywords
Fate: Lloyds Shipwreck Register 1896: took fire on 16 July and subsequently blew up 9 miles off the bar of river San Francisco, Pontal da Barra, on a voyage from London - Rio Janeiro with a general cargo. See end of entry for an account of the shipwreck explored by divers in 2012.
Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged clipper, 1 main deck, a break and a top gallant forecastle, 3 masts, ship rigged, altered to barque 14 May 1887 in London, round stern, carvel built, no galleries, shield figurehead.
(Source: Aberdeen Shipping Register (Aberdeen City Archives))
Owners:
1867: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
George Thompson youngest, William Henderson, Cornelius Thompson, 44 shares (jointly); George Thompson jr, 4 shares; Alexander Nicol, 4 shares, and 3 others.
(Builder's list in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
1894: Bought by J. W. Woodside & Co. of Belfast.
Masters:
1868: Master J. Ross
General History:
24/05/1872:
THYATIRA, ship, of Aberdeen, from London for Sydney, 4 April, 21.23S, 25.1½W [Mid Atlantic off Brazil].
(Glasgow Herald)
07/06/1872:
Sailed Sydney 6 June, Capt. McKay, for Shanghai.
(Sydney Empire)
15/01/1873:
Births at sea, 29 Oct. 1872, 28.30S 51.20E [Indian Ocean], the wife of John McKay, Master of ship 'THYATIRA', of a daughter.
(Aberdeen Journal)
17/09/1879:
At Williamston Court, 3 men belonging to ship THYATIRA charged with disobedience of orders on 29 Aug., when vessel was at sea. Defendants had declined to wash down paint when ordered. Their excuse that weather was too rough. Sentenced to 7 day imprisonment.
(Melbourne Argus)
11/02/1882, 21/03/1882:
Telegram from Pernambuco, Brazil, collision occurred midnight 26 Jan. between THYATIRA, Melbourne - London with wool and ATMOSPHERE, British ship, Liverpool for Valparaiso with coal. ATMOSPHERE sank, barely allowing Captain (who was much injured) and crew time to save their lives by use of one of their boats. All were taken aboard THYATIRA except the Steward, who it is supposed got disabled or killed during collision. THYATIRA, owned by G. Thomson & Co., escaped with loss of jib boom and some spars.
(Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Liverpool Mercury)
15/04/1885, 29/04/1885:
Reports of Civil Court case, in which owners of THYATIRA admitted responsibility for loss of ATMOSPHERE. Case was over a disputed £141 of damages of £5330 due by owners of THYATIRA and insurers.
(Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Liverpool Mercury)
26/03/1887:
THYATIRA, ship, of Aberdeen, Geelong [Victoria] to London, 26 Feb., 75 days out, 32N, 36W [Mid Atlantic South of Azores].
(Glasgow Herald)
24/10/1889:
Inquest on John Shand, 45, sailor on THYATIRA, supposed drowned at Williamstown by falling between ship and pier.
(Melbourne Argus)
15/08/1891:
At London 13 August, ship THYATIRA, of Belfast, Winterton Master, cleared for Santos [Brazil] - presumably already owned by Woodside & Co., Belfast.
(Belfast Newsletter)
28/07/1896:
Cablegram dated 17 July from Pontal de Barra, Brazil - states ship THYATIRA is total loss, crew saved - THYATIRA, Capt. Winterton, owned by Belfast Co. of which managing owners are Messrs W. J. Woodside, sailed from London 2 June with general cargo for Rio de Janeiro.
(Belfast Newsletter)
Daily Tribune, Brazil 2012, translation:
Found wreck for more than 100 years in Alagoas (name of a State of Brazil)
The sailboat 60 feet and three masts Thyatira left London to Rio
The TV reporter José Francisco plunges into a fantastic adventure. He will try to locate the coast of Alagoas, a ship that sank over 100 years.
In the open sea, on the coast of Alagoas, hundreds of boats are used in shrimp fisheries. They take trawls that often get trapped in the rocks. Divers descended to release one of the networks found that it was stuck to the hardware of a ship very old and of unknown origin. We formed an expedition with nine divers to unravel the mystery of this wreck. The commander Djalma, with 50 years experience at sea, searching the ship, with the help of machines.
Water conditions in terms of visibility, are not ideal, because the location, despite being ten miles from the coast, still suffers the influence of the flow of the São Francisco River. The water is greenish. The wreck is about 30 feet deep. (Indeed is 30 meters deep)
In the first images of the unknown ship, it is completely covered by the crust navy, by nets and ropes lost by fishermen. These networks can be a trap for divers. When you pull the network, the water gets even murkier, with a lot of dirt suspended, accumulated for over a century.
In this walk through darkness, we find two Goliath groupers. They have ugly face, but they are harmless and are threatened with extinction.
On the outside, there is a wooden door that is used to open the fishing nets, attached to a brass pin.
The diver Vagner Fernando who was discovered when the ship went down to remove the fisherman's net, but now felt the value of the discovery. "Now it showed me that he is old," says Lonnie.
"At our area, on the northeast coast, we had invasions. The ship is very old for sure. It has more than a hundred years, "says naval architect Francisco Glegiston.
We returned to the sea to visit the stern, the back of the wreck. A piece of crockery with names and a symbol is found, plus a ceramic that we can not identify. A mast party gives us the notion of a sailing vessel. Found no motor. The mystery continues.
Divers decide by hoisting out a loose, to try to reveal the history of the ship. Removing the crust with a hammer, came embossed symbol as the wind rose and the name: "Thyatira".
From the name, the mystery was unravelled. The sailboat 60 feet and three masts Thyatira left London to Rio de Janeiro on July 16, 1896, and disappeared in the sea, on the coast of Alagoas.
By the account of survivors, there was a fire on board, the crew could not handle. In charge, there were 800 packages of dynamite. The commander realized the danger and told them to cast the lifeboats overboard and all the crew survived. The Thyatira was split in half by the explosion, in the darkness of the night, and sank.
1841
