Marlborough (ship)
| Career (Great Britain) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Marlborough |
| Builder: | Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow |
| Launched: | June 1876 |
| Homeport: | Glasgow |
| Fate: | Last sighted January 13, 1890, near New Zealand |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Clipper |
| Displacement: | 1,124 long tons (1,142 t) |
| Length: | 228 feet (69 m) |
| Beam: | 35 feet (11 m) over paddle boxes |
| Draught: | 21 feet 7 inches (6.58 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Sail plan: | Three-masted full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 29 |
The Marlborough was a large iron-built sailing merchant ship which disappeared in 1890. She was built by the firm of Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow and launched in 1876 for her owner Mr. J. Leslie, who later sold her to the Albion Company.
Contents
Origins
The ship was commanded by Captain Anderson from 1876-1883, with a crew of 29, when she made voyages to Lyttelton, New Zealand and Dunedin, also making some very fast passages home to the United Kingdom, on one occasion, in 1880, travelling from Lyttleton to the Lizard in Cornwall in 71 days.
Marlborough made 14 successful voyages with immigrants from London to New Zealand up to 1890, most often returning with cargoes of wool and frozen meat. She had been converted to refrigeration as soon as the success of the venture was proven by her sister ship Dunedin, and carried her first shipment in 1882. In 1884 Captain Herd took over command and was aboard her at the time of her voyage from Lyttleton to London in 1890, when she disappeared without trace.
Last voyage
On January 11, 1890, the Marlborough departed Lyttleton bound for London, with a cargo of frozen meat and wool, with a crew of twenty-nine men and one passenger. Two days later she was spoken to by a passing vessel and was never heard of again.[1] When no word of her came after a long wait, an inquiry was made as to her condition when she sailed, where it was proved that the cargo was properly stowed and the ship well founded in good trim for the voyage. After some months the ship was posted at Lloyds as "missing" and general opinion was that the ship had been sunk by icebergs, which were frequently encountered near Cape Horn.
Fate of the crew and passengers
Two spurious stories are often reproduced regarding the fate of the Marlborough, which have been debunked by author Basil Lubbock in his The Last of the Windjammers[2]
Newspaper account
Supposedly, a Glasgow newspaper published a story in 1919 according to which the Marlborough had been discovered near Cape Horn with the skeletons of her crew on board. No account seems able to name the newspaper.
Further details of the discovery of the missing ship come via London. It appears that some considerable time back the sad truth was learned by a British vessel bound home from Lyttleton after rounding cape Horn. The story told by the captain is intensely dramatic. He says: ‘We were off the rocky coves near Punta Arenas, keeping near the land for shelter. The coves are deep and silent, the sailing is difficult and dangerous. It was a weirdly wild evening, with the red orb of the sun setting on the horizon. The stillness was uncanny. There was a shining green light reflected on the jagged rocks on our right. We rounded a point into a deep cleft rock. Before us, a mile or more across the water, stood a vessel, with the barest shreds of canvas fluttering in the breeze.
We signalled and hove to. No answer came. We searched the "stranger" with our glasses. Not a soul could we see; not a movement of any sort. Masts and yards were picked out in green - the green of decay. The vessel lay as if in a cradle. It recalled the "Frozen Pirate" a novel that I read years ago. I conjured up the vessel of the novel, with her rakish masts and the outline of her six small cannon traced with snow. At last we came up. There was no sign of life on board. After an interval our first mate, with a number of the crew, boarded her. The sight that met their gaze was thrilling. Below the wheel lay the skeleton of a man. Treading warily on the rotten decks, which cracked and broke in places as they walked, they encountered three skeletons in the hatchway. In the mess-room were the remains of ten bodies, and six others were found, one alone, possibly the captain, on the bridge. There was an uncanny stillness around, and a dank smell of mould, which made the flesh creep. A few remnants of books were discovered in the captain’s cabin, and a rusty cutlass. Nothing more weird in the history of the sea can ever have been seen. The first mate examined the still faint letters on the bow and after much trouble read ‘Marlborough, Glasgow.’
– Unknown, Alleged newspaper report, 1919
Burley account
Captain T. S. Burley of Seattle claimed to have been wrecked off Tierra del Fuego in July 1890 from the barque Cordova.
The survivors attempted to reach Good Success Bay (now known as Aguirre Bay), and on the way passed the wreck of a barque named Godiva. They did not see the Marlborough, but did find a few miles south of the wreck of the Godiva a boat marked "Marborough of London" pulled up above the high tide mark. It was also claimed that they had found a tent made from sail canvas and 7 skeletons with a pile of mussel shells.
Lubbock points out that that the coast of Tierra del Fuego inside the Le Maire Strait would be an odd location for a vessel bound round Cape Horn from the west - as the Marlborough was - to go ashore, or even for a boat from her to make a landing. Additionally, the Marlborough was registered in Glasgow, not London.[2]
Notes
External links
References
- Loney, Jack; Peter Stone. The Australia Run. Yarram: Oceans Enterprises. ISBN 0 9494990016.
- Lubbock, Basil (1921). The Colonial Clippers. Kessinger Publishing. p. 384.
- Fleming Day, Thomas (1915). Rudder (Fawcett Publications) 12: 307.
