CENTURION
Shipbuildervessel built by
Walter Hood & Co.
(Shipbuilder, Footdee, Aberdeen 1839 - 1881)
Date1869
Object NameCLIPPER
MediumCOMPOSITE
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 208 7/12' x breadth 35 1/12' x depth 21 1/12'
Gross Tonnage: 965 ton
Gross Tonnage: 965 ton
Object numberABDSHIP000371
Keywords
Fate: wrecked while being towed out of Sydney, 16 January 1887. All crew survived.
Propulsion: Sail
Description: ship rigged clipper, 2 decks, a break and a top gallant forecastle, 3 masts, altered to barque June 1886, round stern, carvel built, no galleries, demi male figurehead.
Owners:
1869: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
William Henderson, Cornelius Thompson, both Aberdeen, Stephen Thompson, London, all shipowners, joint owners, 40 shares.
Other shareholders;
Thomas Mitchell, shipmaster, 8 shares, James Buyers, shipowner, 4 shares, James Grieg, shipbuilder, 4 shares, all Aberdeen. Isaac Merchant, shipmaster, 4 shares, George Hopcraft, shipping agent, 4 shares, both London.
(Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))
Masters:
1869-70: Thomas Mitchell
1870-79: Master C. Taylor
1880-81: Master S. Taylor
1882-85: Master T. Taylor
Voyages:
1870-85: London - Australia
General History:
CENTURION was one of George Thompson and Co.’s White Star Line clippers trading between London and Australia. The Hood-built Centurion and the Duthie-built clipper ABERGELDIE both left Aberdeen for London on their maiden voyages on 13 May 1869 almost side by side. A large crowd watched them depart. The Aberdeen Free Press reported that they were both in flying trim. The Dundee Courier magnanimously commented that they were ‘beautiful ships which will maintain the credit of Aberdeen shipbuilders wherever they go’ ABERGELDIE reached London first. However, CENTURION made the fastest passage to Sydney after they left within days of each other in July 1869.
CENTURION’s first master, was Captain Thomas Mitchell, born at Newburgh, Aberdeenshire in 1832. He died towards the end of the second return passage, leaving a widow and four children. Mitchell was known, not only for fast clipper passages, but also received a prize from the Admiralty and Board of Trade for his well-kept log and record of meteorological observations. Less well-known, he regularly used a towing net to capture different species of sea creature. His captives were entered in the log with what the Aberdeen Journal described as ‘artistically coloured and accurate magnified drawings’ and reported that ‘many of his captives were presented to the Aberdeen University Museum of Natural History’. It asserted that this interest ‘did not in any way detract from his duties as commander’.
CENTURION’s Australian destination was almost always Sydney, with the round voyage sometimes taking as little as 8 months. For example, on its first trip it left the English Channel in July 1869 and returned to London in late February 1870. Occasionally the Australian destination was different, for example Melbourne in 1876, Littleton in 1881 and Newcastle in 1886. Lubbock in his Colonial Clippers reports that it also made some creditable tea passages. These appear to have been all on the return voyage to Australia and in the late 1870s and 1880s. In December 1877 it passed Anjer (Java) homeward bound from Shanghai. In 1882 it sailed in February from Sydney to Hong Kong and on 1 June from Hong Kong to London. No evidence has been found of an outward passage to China.
A delaying factor on the outward voyage could be adverse winds in the English Channel, in which the prevailing winds were from the West. For example, in in March 1877 it passed Dover assisted by the tug BEN WYVIS and in December 1883 again passed Dover in tow. By that time it had been classified as a barque instead of a ship, reducing the sail area to cut crew costs. It was referred to as a such again in 1885. Clearly towage was an unwelcome additional expense, and it was not only a winter phenomenon. For example, in July 1879 CENTURION passed Dungeness in tow travelling West. Another expense in the English Channel was pilotage. On its first voyage in 1869 it landed its pilot when passing start Point near Kingsbridge, Devon, well down the Channel. CENTURION struck rocks and broke up at North Head, Sydney Harbour, Australia on 16 January 1887. Whilst being towed out from Sydney, the Captain of her tug, afraid he might collide with the barque MANHEGAN which was anchored nearby, stopped and went astern. As a result the tow broke and the CENTURION drifted ashore. It broke up within half an hour but all the crew were saved. Timber, rusted metal and a chain are all that remain in 18m of water off Quarantine Head, Sydney Harbour.
CENTURION had spent its 18-year life in the ownership of the same firm, registered at the same port (Aberdeen) and almost entirely on the same route. This suggests that, until its wreck at Sydney in January 1887, it was a commercial success.
Sources (from British Newspaper Archive)
Aberdeen Evening Express, 03/03 and 01/06/1882, 06/02/1886; Aberdeen Free Press, 07/12/1869, 24/09/1885; Aberdeen Journal, 28/01/1878; Dundee Courier, 14/05/1869; Dundee Evening Telegraph, 14/08/1885; Lloyd’s List, 24/03/1877; Shields Daily Gazette, 17/01/1871; Shipping and Maritime Gazette, 05/07/1879.
Newspaper and Letter extracts:
Extract from letter by Captain Mitchell to his wife in Mary written on the maiden voyage, July 1869:
'Well, darling, the more I see of the 'Centurion' the more I am convinced the 'Queen' would beat her. I am very much annoyed at this as everyone expects she is going to do such wonders. I can't understand it myself. I never saw but one ship go past the 'Queen' the whole eight voyages I was in her but I have already seen several go past the 'Centurion'. Mr Greig will have to try and alter his model...'
In a letter, later that same voyage, to his friend Captain Edward of the Thermopylae, Captain Mitchell wrote of the Centurion;
'Since writing the previous part of this letter, the Centurion has been pleasing me hugely. We had a day or two of rather light wind after passing the Cape [of Good Hope] but since then she has been rushing along at a great rate. Of course, I can't compare with the Thermopylae from the start to the Otway [Cape Otway, Victoria] but I am vain enough to compare with her when I had wind [...] I should just like to have her alongside of me down here with plenty of wind. We have had the weather remarkably fine. Our main topgallant sheets have never been stowed since we left the Downs. I am very glad the Centurion is going to do something good, if she gets the chance.'
[Extracts reproduced courtesy of Mr & Mrs Donald, Aberdeen]
"Capt. Mitchell overlooked her building and was her first commander. She was a very fast ship and he always hoped to beat the THERMOPYLAE with her, but never succeeded. On her first voyage she went out to Sydney in 69 days. It was a light weather passage and she never started the sheets of her main top gallant sail the whole way. She is stated to have made 300, 348 and 356 miles in 3 successive days running down her easting, but I have been unable to verify these runs. Capt. Mitchell died on her second voyage just before reaching the channel homeward bound. She also made some creditable tea passages, but was mostly kept in the Sydney trade. In 1871 she went out in 77 days and in 1872 in 78 days."
(Basil Lubbock (1948 edn), "The Colonial Clippers" (James Brown & Son, Glasgow)
03/12/1869:
CENTURION, 965 tons, Mitchell, departed Sydney for London.
(Sydney Empire)
31/12/1879:
CENTURION, 965 tons, Taylor, departed Sydney for Shanghai.
Sydney Morning Herald)
11/06/1884:
CENTURION, 965 tons, T. Taylor, cleared 10 June for London.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
19/03/1885:
CENTURION, 965 tons, Thomas Taylor, cleared Sydney for London 18 March.
(Sydney Morning Herald)
16/1/1886:
CENTURION departed Sydney 15 Jan. for Newcastle (N.S.W.) & London. Cargo included 1268 bales wool & 190 casks tallow.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
17/01/1887:
Well known barque CENTURION, trader between London & Sydney for last 17 years, went on the rocks at North Head & disappeared within half an hour afterwards. She left Walker's Wharf at 1 a.m. yesterday under command of Capt. Charles Taylor for Honolulu. As she & her tug were rounding south reef a barque was seen right between the heads, apparently anchored and almost simultaneously a very heavy squall, with thick rain, came on. Tug stopped engines. Tow rope at once slackened & CENTURION began to drift away to leeward onto north head and rope parted. Capt. Taylor let go the anchor, but it had no effect & vessel struck ground and began bumping heavily & canted over on her beam ends. Pilot steamer which had been attending other barque came to rescue of crew of CENTURION, which seemed in imminent danger of being smashed to pieces (her own tug having tow rope wrapped round her propeller). With difficulty in the heavy sea 2 boats were lowered & went under the bows of CENTURION, which now pointed seawards. Watching their opportunity, CENTURION'S crew dropped into the boats, captain being last to leave, very soon afterwards CENTURION gave a great plunge forward & disappeared beneath the waves. On their arrival in Sydney they went aboard the ABERGELDIE (Aberdeen clipper owned by Duthie), where Capt. & Mrs Johnston showed them every hospitality and kindness. Neither vessel or cargo was insured, this was Capt. Charles Taylor's first voyage in CENTURION, Capt. Thomas Taylor being compelled to remain at home owing to ill health. Crew were sent to sailors home, where they received every attention.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
18/01/1887:
'It appears that while the CENTURION was being towed out of Sydney, the tow-rope snapped and the vessel being left at the mercy of a rather rough sea and a stiff breeze, was driven on the rocks...crew were all saved; the vessel became a total wreck.'
(Aberdeen Journal)
Note: Barque rigged from about 1883.
1841
