NEWCASTLE

Shipbuildervessel built by DUTHIE (Footdee, Aberdeen)

Shipownervessel built for George Leslie (Aberdeen, Scotland)

Date5 February 1842

Object NameSCHOONER

MediumWOOD

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 95' x breadth 21' 5/10 x depth 12' 8/10
gross tonnage 172 1855/3500 tons

Object numberABDSHIP000488

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Duthie & Co.

Fate: Wrecked on Girdleness, 24 February 1844.

Propulsion: Sail
Description: Schooner with clipper hull, 1 deck, 2 masts, standing bowsprit, square sterned, carvel built, no galleries, female bust figurehead

Owner:
1842: Registered at Aberdeen for owner;
George Leslie, shipowner, Aberdeen, 64 shares.

Master:
1842: Master John Stewart
(Aberdeen Register of Shipping (Aberdeen City Archives))

General History:
Wrecked in storm 24 February 1844. Passengers and crew rescued by steam tug SAMSON, captained by Captain Robinson and manned by volunteers, including Capt. Peter Cadenhead and eight other captains.

The following account of the rescue of the passengers and crew of the NEWCASTLE is an extract from Jake L. Duthie (1981) "To The Rescue! Life Saving at Aberdeen 1802-1924" (Rainbow Books):

During February 1844 the local Clipper NEWCASTLE could be seen anchored a mile and a half off Girdleness. Her rigging was gone, only the stump of her main mast remained and she was flying distress flags. The NEWCASTLE was no 19th Century coffin ship but a stout vessel launched from the Duthie Brothers' shipbuilding yard at Fittie only two years earlier. Crowds gathered at the North Pier were of the opinion some rescue mission should be mounted. About noon the lifeboat was launched and manned by a scratch crew under Captain Penny one of Aberdeen's most famous whaling captains. In spite of their strenuous efforts the life boat crew failed to pull their boat through the breakers at the harbour bar. They were trying to row straight into the teeth of a hurricane. Forced to give up the unequal task between human muscle and the raw fury of wind and waves, Captain Penny had his men land the lifeboat on the beach behind the North Pier, only narrowly escaping with their own lives.

Following this failure the crowd became even more anxious that the NEWCASTLE's passengers and crew should be saved before nightfall. The Lord Provost who was on the spot convened a hasty meeting of the Harbour Commissioners present, the Captain Pilot and a number of seafarers. After discussion they decided to ask Captain Robinson, owner of the steam tugs if one of them would try to reach the vessel. At 4 p.m. at almost full tide the tug SAMSON steamed over the Harbour bar under Captain Robinson's direction. On board were a total of sixteen men, nine of them captains of ships tied up in the harbour. The SAMSON steered down channel, survived the boiling broth of green sea at the harbour mouth and made for the Newcastle. All the way out the SAMSON ran the risk of having her slim funnel washed away and her fires doused.

When they reached the NEWCASTLE's leeward side, the SAMSON's crew lowered a boat which made two trips to transfer the passengers and crew from the stricken vessel to the steam tug. The SAMSON rescuers and rescued then rode back safely to Waterloo Quay. Next day the NEWCASTLE was still afloat and the SAMSON went out to take her in as salvage.This notion was abandoned and the vessel was left to her fate. After surviving the tempest for fifty hours the clipper went down by the head in fifty fathoms of water. She was later washed ashore at Cove.