DUKE OF RICHMOND

Shipbuildervessel built by DUTHIE (Footdee, Aberdeen)

DateJanuary 1838

Object NameBRIG

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 71.8' x breadth 19.3' x depth 12.8'
Tonnage 144 New Measurement

Object numberABDSHIP000462

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Duthie & Co.

Fate: lost in the Gulf of Riga, 25 April 1839.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Brigantine rigged, 1 deck, 2 masts, standing bowsprit, square stern, carvel built, male figurehead.

1838 Registered at Aberdeen by owners;
Andrew Phillips, cabinetmaker, 18 shares, Andrew Anderson, painter, 4 shares, James Horn, shipmaster, 2 shares.
Other shareholders; Neil Smith snr., merchant, 4 shares, Neil Smith Jnr., merchant, 8 shares, Alexander Adam, cartwright, 4 shares, Margaret Knight, confectioner, 4 shares, Samuel Benzie, manufacturer, 4 shares, William Phillips, upholsterer, 16 shares. All Aberdeen.
(Source: Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))

Master:
1838-39: Master James Horn

General History:
14/04/1839: sailed from Dundee for Riga under Captain Horn.

23/05/1839:
Disastrous Shipwrecks
'We are sincerely sorry to state that on Friday evening we received information of the disastrous loss of seven ships in the Gulf of Riga on the 25th ult. [i.e. April] Two of these vessels are fine new brigs belonging to the port of Aberdeen, - viz the DUKE OF RICHMOND and the ORLANDO. The others are the REGINA OF PERTH (also a new brig), the WAVE and the PACIFIC of Montrose, the DEPTFORD of Sunderland and two Dutch brigs. Having been favoured with a perusal of the letters which communicate this disastrous event we are able to state the facts. Capt. Horn of the DUKE OF RICHMOND gives very full particulars in his letter from Windau. He states that he had a favourable passage out to Domesness, fell in with the ice there on the 21st April and lay there for two days until the wind came from the westward and cleared the ice from the land enabling about 70 sail to proceed. When this fleet was within about 35 miles from Riga the wind shifted to the South East and set the ice down upon all the ships. Capt. Horn says "We could not get back and on the 25th April about half past nine o'clock in the morning the ice took our ship and in less than 20 minutes she went down along with six more close to us. The seven vessels were lost within half a mile of each other". Capt. Horn adds "we travelled over the ice to the land, a distance of about six miles and stayed there two days before we proceeded and such travelling I had never encountered".
Morning Post (London)

Note: It is believed the ship was named after Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond who was given the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1837.