1 of 1
ORONTES
Shipbuildervessel built by
Walter Hood & Co.
(Shipbuilder, Footdee, Aberdeen 1839 - 1881)
DateFebruary 1881
Object NameCLIPPER
MediumIRON
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 234' 8" x breadth 36' 1" x depth 22' 5"
gross tonnage 1318 ton
gross tonnage 1318 ton
Object numberABDSHIP000388
Keywords
Official Number: 77465
Fate: Run into and sunk on 23 October 1903 by the SS OCEANA when almost in sight of Ostend.
Propulsion: Sail
Description: Ship rigged clipper, 3 masts, 2 decks, poop deck 51', forecastle 47'.
Owners:
1881: Registered at Aberdeen for subscribing owners;
William Henderson and Cornelius Thompson, 44 shares jointly; George Thompson youngest, 8 shares; James Buyers, 4 shares; David Bain, 4 shares, and one other
(Builder's list in the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
Masters:
1881: Master J. Faulkner
1882-97: Master D. Bain
1897-98: Master C. C. Kerr
1898-1902: Master D. Bain
1903: Master J. C. Kerr
General History:
ORONTES was the last ship built by Walter Hood & Co.
The ORONTES was more of a deadweight carrier than a clipper. (Lubbock, p. 302
Below is a list of voyages between London, Sydney and back to London. General cargo was shipped to Australia with wool returning to Britain. All the voyages listed were under the command of her most famous Master D. Bain and the ships carpenter was David Alexander from Aberdeen:
Sailed London 10 May 1882, Returned to London 15 February 1883.
Sailed London 10 March 1883, Returned to London 1 May 1884.
Sailed London 26 May 1884, Returned to London 31 March 1885.
Sailed London 23 May 1885, Returned to London 7 January 1886.
Sailed London 5 April 1886, Returned to London 23 April 1887.
Sailed London 21 July 1887, Returned to London 13 March 1888.
Sailed London 16 May 1888, Returned to London 22 January 1889.
Sailed London 5 March 1889, Returned to London 24 January 1890.
Details of a race between ORONTES and the ETHIOPIAN:
'The ETHIOPIAN made her first voyage to Melbourne in sixty-eight days under Capt. William Edward, sailing her last voyage under the British Flag in 1886, being by that time reduced to a barque rig.
On her passage home from Sydney she had a remarkable race with the iron ship ORONTES. The two vessels cast off their tugs together outside Sydney Heads, proceeded to sea and next sighted each other off the Horn, afterwards being becalmed together in the Doldrums, then both spore the same ship (exchanged signals) off the Azores or Western Isles. As they reached the Channel, ORONTES came up under the counter of ETHIOPIAN, which was hove-to taking soundings in fog. Finally ETHIOPIAN made the East India Docks one tide ahead of ORONTES, thus winning the race and a considerable sum in wagers'.
(Basil Lubbock (1948 edn), "The Colonial Clippers" (James Brown & Son, Glasgow)).
