Naval/Maritime History 19th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1842 – Launch of HMS Superb, a 80 gun Vanguard-class Ship of the Line


HMS Superb was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 September 1842 at Pembroke Dockyard.


H.M.S Superb, (80 guns) sailing from Spithead, June 23rd 1845...(shows H.M.Y. Victoria & Albert and H.M.Steamer Black Eagle) (PAH0920)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/140867.html#1eOmO0xuLMuWTlkg.99

She was one of the Vanguard class, designed by Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy and an innovative and controversial naval architect. Each ship of the class was designed with a slightly different hull shape, aiming to optimise speed and handling characteristics. After Commissioning, Superb joined the Channel Fleet under the command of Captain Armar Lowry Corry. In February 1845, she joined the Experimental Squadron of eight ships, four of them built by Symonds. They engaged in three competitive cruises to test Symonds’ new hull designs against older, traditionally built warships. The whole Squadron was reviewed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Spithead on 22 June and the trials were completed by December, Superb having proved to be the fastest ship in the last cruise. Overall, the results were inconclusive and became mired by political wrangling and professional rivalry, with the result that Symonds resigned. Superb took part in further trials the following year with yet more ships, this time called The Squadron of Evolution. The whole project was made irrelevant by the advent of steam propulsion and the Vanguard class were some of the last major Royal Navy warships to rely solely on sail propulsion.


Spithead June 19th 1845. Albion, Superb, Queen, Rodney, Trafalgar, Victoria & Albert, Canopus, St Vincent, Vanguard (PAD7790)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/111941.html#iV12dU2Q7J0yXKtt.99

Returning to duties with the Channel Fleet, she saw action in the Portuguese "Little Civil War" or Patuleia in 1847, as part of a British squadron commanded by Sir William Parker, which was sent to support Queen Maria II. In May, a division of rebel troops commanded by the Conde das Antas was being ferried by sea along the coast, with the aim of securing the mouth of the River Tagus, thus blockading the capital. The convoy was intercepted by the British squadron and ordered to surrender. When Antas refused, boats’ crews put off from the British warships and boarded and captured all the transports, despite coming under fire from coastal batteries. Some three thousand rebel soldiers were disarmed and held in Fort St Julian under a guard of Royal Marines until relieved by loyal Portuguese troops.


Officer on board the HMS Superb 1845

In November 1848, the Superb under Captain Edward Purcell joined the Mediterranean Fleet, and continued there until paying off into the reserve at Chatham in June 1852.

Superb was broken up in 1869.


The Vanguard-class ships of the line were a class of two-deck 80-gun second rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir William Symonds, of which nine were completed as sailing ships of the line, although another two of these were completed as (and others converted into) steam warships.


Royal Navy battleship HMS Collingwood (1841)

They were originally planned as 78-gun third rates. Two ships were ordered in 1832 and another two in 1833, although one of the latter was intended to be a rebuilding of the second rate Union, and this was subsequently cancelled. At this point the design was modified and they were re-designated as 80-gun second rates. Another ship was ordered to this design in 1838, another seven in 1839 (of which two were subsequently re-ordered three months later as 90-gun ships to a new design - the Albion and Aboukir) and another two in 1840. Two of the above ships were re-ordered and completed as steam battleships - Majesticand Irresistible. A final ship to this design, the Brunswick, was ordered in 1844 but in 1847 she was re-ordered to a modified design.

Ships

• HMS Vanguard

Launched: 25 August 1835
Fate: Broken up, 1875

• HMS Collingwood

Launched: 17 August 1841
Fate: Sold, 1867

• HMS Goliath

Launched: 25 July 1842
Fate: Burnt, 1875

• HMS Superb

Launched: 6 September 1842
Fate: Broken up, 1869

• HMS Meeanee

Launched: 11 November 1848
Fate: Broken up, 1906

• HMS Centurion

Launched: 2 May 1844
Fate: Sold, 1870

• HMS Lion

Launched: 29 July 1847
Fate: Sold, 1905

• HMS Colossus

Launched: 1 June 1848
Fate: Sold, 1867

• HMS Mars

Launched: 1 July 1848
Fate: Sold, 1929


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Superb_(1842)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
6 September 1870 - HMS Captain capsized with the loss of nearly 500 lives because of design and construction errors that led to inadequate stability.


HMS Captain was an unsuccessful warship built for the Royal Navy due to public pressure. She was a masted turret ship, designed and built by a private contractor against the wishes of the Controller's department. The Captain was completed in April 1870 and capsized in September 1870 with the loss of nearly 500 lives because of design and construction errors that led to inadequate stability.


HMS Captain




Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of HMS 'Captain' (1869), a turret battleship. Built in the builder’s style, the model is decked and fully equipped together with partially rigged tripod masts up to the level of the platforms. Built by Laird Brothers Ltd. Birkenhead in 1869, HMS ‘Captain’ was designed by Captain Cowper Coles who invented the turret armament as a result of the Navy’s experience during the Crimean War. Measuring 320 feet in length by 53 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 7767, ‘Captain’ was powered by twin steam trunk engines each of 5400 horsepower with a service speed of 14 knots. The armament consisted of two circular armoured turrets each housing a pair of 12-inch muzzle-loading guns. Due to the ship’s large spread of canvas and low freeboard, it tragically capsized and sank in a severe south-westerly gale whilst cruising off Cape Finisterre in September 1870, with the loss of all 472 officers and men.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66975.html#kKdkdTxgCHjTqD7b.99

Background
The history of the Captain can be traced back to the Crimean War and the experiences of British captain Cowper Phipps Coles in 1855. Coles and a group of British sailors constructed a raft with guns protected by a 'cupola' and used the raft, named the Lady Nancy, to shell the Russian town of Taganrog in the Black Sea. The Lady Nancy "proved a great success", and Coles patented his rotating turret after the war. Following Coles' patenting, the British Admiralty ordered a prototype of Coles' design in 1859, which was installed in the floating battery vessel, HMS Trusty, for trials in 1861.

The trials with the Trusty impressed the Admiralty, and it ordered a coastal defence vessel, HMS Prince Albert, to be built with four of Coles' turrets and a wooden 121-gun first rate ship-of-the-line under construction, HMS Royal Sovereign, to be converted to a turret ship. The Prince Albert was completed with four turrets mounting single 12-ton 9-inch guns and 4.5-inch-thick (110 mm) armour plate on the hull. The Royal Sovereign had five 10.5-inch, 12.5-ton guns in one twin and three single turrets.

Both ships were flush deck with only a jury rig, and could only operate as coastal service vessels. The Admiralty, although impressed with Coles' rotating turret, required oceangoing vessels to protect its worldwide empire. Unfortunately for Coles, engine technology had not yet caught up with his designs and consequently oceangoing ships required sails. Combining rigging, masts, and turrets proved complicated if rigging was not to impede the turrets' arcs of fire.

In early 1863 the Admiralty gave Coles permission to work with Nathaniel Barnaby, head of staff of the Department of Naval Construction, on the design of a rigged vessel with two turrets and three tripod masts. In June 1863 the Admiralty suspended progress on the vessel until the Royal Sovereign finished her trials.

In 1864, Coles was allowed to start a second project: a rigged vessel with only one turret and based on the design of HMS Pallas. He was lent the services of Joseph Scullard, Chief Draughtsman of Portsmouth Dockyard.

The next year, 1865, a committee established by the Admiralty to study the new design concluded that while the turret should be adopted, Coles' one-turret warship design had inadequate fire arcs. The committee proposed a two-turret fully rigged vessel with either two 9-inch (12 ton) guns per turret, or one 12-inch (22 ton) gun per turret. The committee's proposal was accepted by the Admiralty, and construction was started on Monarch. Monarch's two turrets were each equipped with two 12-inch (25-ton) guns.

Stunned by the committee's decision to cancel his single-turret ship and his proposal for a two-turret vessel, and objecting to the Monarch's design, Coles launched a strong campaign against the project, attacking Robert Spencer Robinson, Controller of the Navy, and various other members of the committee and the Admiralty. So vociferously did Coles complain that in January 1866 his contract as a consultant to the Admiralty was terminated. At the end of January, his protestations that he had been misunderstood led to his being re-employed from 1 March 1866. Further, Coles lobbied the press and Parliament and was eventually able to force the Admiralty to allow him to build his own two-turret design.

Design and construction


Oil painting of the Captain, c. 1870

On 8 May 1866, Coles informed the Admiralty of his selection of Laird Brothers' Merseyside yard, for the builder of the warship. The Merseyside yard had already built several successful iron warships. In mid-July, Lairds submitted two possible designs for Coles' proposed turret-ship. To prevent the rigging from being damaged when the guns fired through it, it was attached to a platform mounted above the gun turrets known as the hurricane deck instead of brought down to the main deck. Tripod masts were also used to minimise standing rigging.


HMS Captain at Chatham 1869

The design called for the ship to have a low freeboard, and Coles' figures estimated it at 8 feet (2.4 m). Both the Controller Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson and the Chief Constructor Edward James Reed raised serious concerns. Robinson noted that the low freeboard could cause flooding issues on the gun deck, and Reed criticised the design in 1866 both for being too heavy and for having too high a centre of gravity. On the latter, Reed noted that it would cause issues "especially as it is proposed to spread a large surface of canvas upon the Captain". As the design neared completion, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir John Pakington, wrote on 23 July 1866 to Coles approving the building of the ship, but noting that responsibility for failure would lie on Coles' and the builders' lap.

In November 1866, the contract for HMS Captain was approved, and the design was finished. She was laid down 30 January 1867 at Laird's yard at Birkenhead, England, launched 27 March 1869 and completed in March 1870.





Insufficient supervision during the building, owing partly to Coles' protracted illness, meant that she was 735 long tons (747 t) heavier than planned. The designed freeboard was just 8 feet (2.4 m), and the additional weight forced her to float 22 inches (0.56 m) deeper than expected, bring the freeboard down to just 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m). This compares with 14 feet (4.3 m) for the two-turret Monarch. The centre of gravity of the vessel also rose by about ten inches during construction. Reed raised havoc over the problems with the freeboard and the centre of gravity, but his objections were over-ruled during the Captain's trials.



She was commissioned on 30 April 1870 under Captain Hugh Talbot Burgoyne, VC. During trials in the following months, the Captain seemed to be everything that Coles promised and won over many followers. In trials versus the Monarch, she performed well and returned to sea in July and August, travelling to Vigo, Spain and Gibraltar in separate runs.


HMS Captain on deck

Sinking


HMS Captain 1869 in heavy seas

On the afternoon of 6 September 1870 Captain was cruising with the combined Mediterranean and Channel Squadrons comprising 11 ships off Cape Finisterre. The ship made 9.5 knots under sail in a force six wind, which was increasing through the day. The commander in chief, Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, was on board to see her performance, and speed had risen to 11–13 knots before he departed. Not being accustomed to ships with such low freeboard, he was disturbed to note that at this speed with the strengthening sea, waves washed over the weather deck. The weather worsened with rain as the night progressed, and the number of sails was reduced. The wind was blowing from the port bow so that sails had to be angled to the wind, speed was much reduced, and there was considerable force pushing the ship sideways. As the wind rose to a gale, sail was reduced to only the fore staysail and fore and main topsails.


The sinking of the Captain, by William Frederick Mitchell

Shortly after midnight when a new watch came on duty, the ship was heeling over eighteen degrees and was felt to lurch to starboard twice. Orders were given to drop the fore topsail and release sheets (ropes) holding both topsails angled into the wind. Before the captain's order could be carried out, the roll increased, and she capsized and sank with the loss of around 480 lives, including Coles. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Hugh Childers, and Under-Secretary of State for War, Thomas Baring, both lost sons in the disaster. Only 27 of the crew survived, many by making it to a boat which had broken free.



Court-martial
The subsequent investigation on the loss of Captain, in the form of a court-martial, under Sir James Hope, took place on board HMS Duke of Wellington, in Portsmouth Harbour. It was somewhat of a departure for the Admiralty to seek scientific advice, but eminent engineers William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) and William John Macquorn Rankine were appointed to the enquiry. It concluded that the ship was insufficiently stable: at 14 degrees heel (when the edge of the deck touched the sea) the righting moment due to the buoyancy pushing the ship upright again was just 410-foot-tons (1.2 MN·m). HMS Monarch, the masted turret ship proposed by the 1865 committee and designed by Reed, and which was in the area at the time of the sinking, had a righting moment of 6,500-foot-tons (20 MN·m) at the same angle. Maximum righting moment occurred at a heel of 21 degrees, and thereafter declined to zero at 54.5 degrees. Monarch's righting moment increased to a maximum at 40 degrees. Survivors testified that the Captain floated upside down for between three and ten minutes, which proved that the ship had capsized. An inclining test had been carried out at Portsmouth on 29 July 1870 to allow the ship's stability characteristics to be calculated. Captain set sail on the ship's final voyage before the results of the trial were published.

The inquiry concluded that "the Captain was built in deference to public opinion expressed in Parliament and through other channels, and in opposition to views and opinions of the Controller and his Department".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Captain_(1869)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...4;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=C;start=0

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 6 September


1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. The largest was a carrack (Spanish: nao), the Santa María ex-Gallega ("Galician"). The other two were smaller caravels. The name of one is lost: it is known today only by the nickname Pinta, which in Castilian of the time meant "painted one". The Santa Clara was nicknamed affectionately the Niña ("the little one"), a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer. The monarchs forced the citizens of Palos to contribute to the expedition. The Santa María was owned by Juan de la Cosa and captained by Columbus. The Pinta and the Niña were piloted by the Pinzón brothers (Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez).[26]

Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands, which belonged to Castile. He restocked provisions and made repairs in Gran Canaria, then departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on 6 September, for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean. At about 2:00 in the morning of 12 October (21 October, Gregorian Calendar New Style), a lookout on the Pinta, Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodríguez Bermeo), spotted land, and immediately alerted the rest of the crew with a shout. Thereupon, the captain of the Pinta, Martín Alonso Pinzón, verified the discovery and alerted Columbus by firing a lombard. Columbus later maintained that he himself had already seen a light on the land a few hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first person to sight land.



The voyages of Christopher Columbus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

1522 – The Victoria returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition and the first ship to circumnavigate the world.

Victoria (or Nao Victoria, as well as Vittoria) was a Spanish carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world. Victoria was part of a Spanish expedition commanded by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and after his death during the voyage, by Juan Sebastián Elcano. The expedition began on August 10, 1519 with five ships. However, Victoria was the only ship to complete the voyage, returning on September 6, 1522 Magellan was killed in the Philippines. The ship was built at a shipyard in Gipuzkoa, with the Basques being reputed shipbuilders at the time, and along with the four other ships, she was given to Magellan by King Charles I of Spain (The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). Victoria was named after the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria de Triana, where Magellan took an oath of allegiance to Charles V. Victoria was an 85-ton ship with a crew of 42.

The four other ships were Trinidad (110 tons, crew 55), San Antonio (120 tons, crew 60), Concepcion (90 tons, crew 45), and Santiago (75 tons, crew 32). Trinidad, Magellan's flagship, Concepcion, and Santiago were wrecked or scuttled; San Antonio deserted the expedition during the navigation of the Straits of Magellan and returned to Europe on her own.

Victoria was a carrack or nao, as were all the others except Santiago, which was a caravel.


1992 replica of Nao Victoria during "Escale à Sète 2016" in Sète, Hérault, France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armada_de_Molucca

1811 - HMS Pilot (18), John Toup Nicholas, dispersed troops at Castellan.

HMS Pilot (1807) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1807 and sold in 1828. She became a whaler, making five whale fishing voyages between 1830 and 1842; she was last listed in 1844.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=pilot_1807

1842 – Launch of HMS Albion, a 90 gun Albion-class Ship of the line

HMS Albion was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Ordered in 1839, she was built at Plymouth and launched on 6 September 1842, and entered service in 1843. Albion was designed by Sir William Symonds, was the only ship of her class to ever serve as a sailing ship, and the last British two-decker to complete and enter service without a steam engine. She was the name ship of a class of three second rates—the others being Aboukir and Exmouth.


Her Majesty's Ship Albion Entering the Bosphorus after the Action of the 17 October 1854

Her first military action was in the Crimean War during the siege of Sevastopol on 17 October 1854. While Albion's commanding officer, Captain Stephen Lushington, was commanding a Naval Brigade providing vital heavy artillery support for the Allied forces besieging Sevastopol, Albion under the command of Commander Henry Rogers joined over 50 British and French warships of various types into action. The Russians suffered heavy casualties but the Allies had failed to seriously damaged the batteries, though the Anglo-French fleet had received comparatively light casualties, with about 500 killed or wounded in total. However, the Allies had taken a beating from the Russian batteries, and Albion had been set on fire three times during the engagement. Without the assistance of the courageous tugs, she would surely have succumbed to her damage and run aground.


Scale: 1:48. A model of the port side of HMS 'Albion' (1842), an English 91 gun warship made entirely in wood and painted in realistic colours. The hull below the waterline is painted brown with a narrow cream stripe above and black above the waterline. There are two broad white stripes running horizontally along two gundecks and the main and poop deck, which are devoid of detail, are painted a uniform cream. The port quarter and stern galleries are shown. Fittings include a cathead, channels, port, main and mizzen stumpmasts, a funnel, a stump bowsprit, and a painted figurehead depicting a female warrior. The model is displayed on an off-white backboard with a stained wood bevelled edge. A plaque is inscribed: '194 Albion, 72 guns, 1842 scale 1/48 (1/4" to 1') built at Plymouth as a sailing ship of 90 guns and converted to a 72-gun screw battleship (as shown by the model) in 1861. Sold 1884. Dimensions: - gun deck 204 ft. Beam 60 ft'.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66766.html#VZxa6DhrOADRK4jP.99



From 1860 until 1861 she was converted to steam screw propulsion at Devonport, but the modifications were never finished. She was kept in reserve in Devonport for more than twenty years, before the decision was made to scrap her, and she was finally broken up at Devonport in 1884.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Albion_(1842)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-290158;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A

1861 - USS Tyler and USS Lexington, support Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army operations against strategic Paducah and Smithland, Ky. The ships mobile firepower assists in the capture of the cities, helping to preserve Kentucky in the Union.

1930 - USS Grebe (AM 43) arrives at Santo Domingo with supplies and medicines for victims of a hurricane three days prior. She is joined by USS Gilmer (DD 223) with a party of Marines for relief and rescue work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Grebe_(AM-43)

2009 – The ro-ro ferry SuperFerry 9 sinks off the Zamboanga Peninsula in the Philippines with 971 persons aboard; all but ten are rescued.

SuperFerry 9 was a ferry owned by the Philippines-based carrier Aboitiz Transport System Corp (ATSC) and operated by their SuperFerry division. About 9am Sunday September 6, 2009, she sank off the south-west coast of Zamboanga Peninsula with a total of 971 passengers and crew aboard.



The ferry was travelling from the southern city of General Santos City to Iloilo City in the central Philippines and capsized on the other side of the peninsular from Zamboanga City.

On Tuesday 8 September 2009 the last missing passenger was reported rescued and more up-to-date figures were provided by disaster response officials. The last survivor, a woman suffering serious injuries, was picked up by a passing fishing vessel shortly after the Superferry 9 sank on Sunday, the Office of Civil Defence in Manila said. On Monday, rescuers also plucked out from the sea another woman who had spent over 24 hours in the Sulu Sea with only her life vest to keep her afloat. "All 968 passengers and crew of the Superferry have now been accounted for, including nine fatalities", the civil defence office said. The civil defence figures were corrected the following night by the ship owners.

this was taken by one of the crew of MV/ SF 9 they wer rescued by Phil.Coast Guard

As of 6pm Wednesday 9 September 2009, "961 crew members and passengers have been accounted for. Regretfully, there are 10 fatalities. 10 names in the official manifest cannot be physically matched but we also have 10 persons rescued and physically accounted for, whose names are not in the manifest".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperFerry_9

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1695 – Henry Every perpetrates one of the most profitable pirate raids in history with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatens to end all English trading in India.


Henry Every, also Avery or Evory (20 August 1659 – time of death uncertain, possibly 1699), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indianoceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates.


Every,Henry

Dubbed "The Arch Pirate" and "The King of Pirates" by contemporaries, Every was infamous for being one of few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle, and for being the perpetrator of what has been called the most profitable pirate heist in history. Although Every's career as a pirate lasted only two years, his exploits captured the public's imagination, inspired others to take up piracy, and spawned works of literature.

Every began his pirate career while he was first mate aboard the warship Charles II. As the ship lay anchored in the northern Spanish harbor of Corunna, the crew grew discontented as Spain failed to deliver a letter of marque and Charles II's owners failed to pay their wages, and they mutinied. Charles II was renamed the Fancy and Every elected as the new captain.


An 18th-century depiction of Henry Every, with the Fancy shown engaging its prey in the background

His most famous raid was on a 25-ship convoy of Grand Mughal vessels was making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, including the treasure-laden Ghanjah dhow Ganj-i-sawai and its escort, the Fateh Muhammed. Joining forces with several pirate vessels, Every found himself in command of a small pirate squadron, and they were able to capture up to £600,000 in precious metals and jewels, equivalent to around £52m in 2010 prices, making him the richest pirate in the world. This caused considerable damage to England's fragile relations with the Mughals, and a combined bounty of £1,000—an immense sum at the time—was offered for his capture by the Privy Council and the East India Company, leading to the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history. Although a number of his crew were subsequently arrested, Every himself eluded capture, vanishing from all records in 1696; his whereabouts and activities after this period are unknown. Unconfirmed accounts state he may have changed his name and retired, quietly living out the rest of his life in either Britain or an unidentified tropical island, dying sometime after 1696. Colin Woodard stated that Every, in trying to launder his riches to currency, had been outsmarted by wealthy landowners and "died a poor beggar not being able to afford his own coffin." Others believe that Every's treasure is unrecovered.


The Grand Mughal's fleet
In 1695, Every set sail for the volcanic island of Perim to wait for the Indian fleet that would be passing soon. (The fleet made annual pilgrimages to Mecca, so the knowledge of the approximate time the pilgrims would be returning home may have been readily available.) The fleet was easily the richest prize in Asia—perhaps in the entire world—and any pirates who managed to capture it would have been the perpetrators of the world's most profitable pirate raid. In August 1695, the Fancy reached the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, where he joined forces with five other pirate captains: Tew on the sloop-of-war Amity, with a crew of about sixty men; Joseph Faro on the Portsmouth Adventure, with sixty men; Richard Want on the Dolphin, also with sixty men; William Mayes on the Pearl, with thirty or forty men; and Thomas Wake on the Susanna, with seventy men. All of these captains were carrying privateering commissions that implicated almost the entire Eastern Seaboard of North America. Every was elected admiral of the new six-ship pirate flotilla despite the fact that Captain Tew had arguably more experience, and now found himself in command of over 440 men while they lay in wait for the Indian fleet. A convoy of twenty-five Mughal ships, including the enormous 1,600-ton Ganj-i-sawai of eighty cannons, and its escort, the 600-ton Fateh Muhammed, were spotted passing the straits en route to Surat. Although the convoy had managed to elude the pirate fleet during the night, the pirates gave chase.

The Dolphin proved to be far too slow, lagging behind the rest of the pirate ships, so it was burned and the crew joined Every on the Fancy. The Amity and Susanna also proved to be poor ships: the Amity fell behind and never again rejoined the pirate squadron (Captain Tew having been killed in a battle with a Mughal ship), while the straggling Susanna eventually rejoined the group. The pirates caught up with the Fateh Muhammed four or five days later. Perhaps intimidated by the Fancy's forty-six guns or weakened by an earlier battle with Tew, the Fateh Muhammed's crew put up little resistance; Every's pirates then sacked the ship, which had belonged to one Abdul Ghaffar, reportedly Surat's wealthiest merchant. In fact, Ghaffar was so powerful and wealthy, one associate described him as follows: "Abdul Ghafur, a Mahometan that I was acquainted with, drove a trade equal to the English East-India Company, for I have known him to fit out in a year, above twenty sail of ships, between 300 and 800 tons." While the Fateh Muhammed's treasure of some £50,000 to £60,000 was enough to buy the Fancy fifty times over, once the treasure was shared out among the pirate fleet, Every's crew received only small shares.


An 18th-century depiction of Henry Every, with the Fancy shown engaging its prey in the background

Every now sailed in pursuit of the second Mughal ship, the Ganj-i-Sawai (meaning "Exceeding Treasure," and often Anglicized as Gunsway), overtaking it a few days after the attack on the Fateh Muhammed. With the Amity and Dolphin left behind, only the Fancy, the Pearl, and the Portsmouth Adventure were present for the actual battle.

The Ganj-i-sawai, captained by one Muhammad Ibrahim, was a fearsome opponent, mounting eighty guns and a musket-armed guard of four hundred, as well as six hundred other passengers. But the opening volley evened the odds, as Every's lucky broadside shot his enemy's mainmast by the board. With the Ganj-i-sawai unable to escape, the Fancy drew alongside. For a moment, a volley of Indian musket fire prevented the pirates from clambering aboard, but one of the Ganj-i-sawai's powerful cannons exploded, instantly killing many and demoralizing the Indian crew, who ran below deck or fought to put out the spreading fires. Every's men took advantage of the confusion, quickly scaling the Ganj-i-sawai's steep sides. The crew of the Pearl, initially fearful of attacking the Ganj-i-sawai, now took heart and joined Every's crew on Indian ship's deck. A ferocious hand-to-hand battle now ensued, lasting two to three hours.

Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan, a contemporary Indian historian who was in Surat at the time, wrote that, as Every's men boarded the ship, the Ganj-i-sawai's captain ran below decks where he armed the slave girls and sent them up to fight the pirates. Khafi Khan's account of the battle, appearing in his multivolume work The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, places blame squarely on Captain Ibrahim for the failure, writing: "The Christians are not bold in the use of the sword, and there were so many weapons on board the royal vessel that if the captain had made any resistance, they must have been defeated." In any case, after several hours of stubborn but leaderless resistance, the ship surrendered. In his defense, Captain Ibrahim would later report that "many of the enemy were sent to hell." Indeed, Every's outnumbered crew may have suffered anywhere from several to over a hundred casualties, granting these figures are uncertain.

According to Khafi Khan, the victorious pirates subjected their captives to an orgy of horror that lasted several days, raping and killing their terrified prisoners deck by deck. The pirates reportedly utilized torture to extract information from their prisoners, who had hidden the treasure in the ship's holds. Some of the Muslim women apparently committed suicide to avoid violation, while those women who did not kill themselves or die from the pirates' brutality were taken aboard the Fancy.


An 1837 woodcut from The Pirates Own Book by Charles Ellms depicting Henry Every receiving three chests of treasure on board his ship, the Fancy

Although stories of brutality by the pirates have been dismissed by sympathizers as sensationalism, they are corroborated by the depositions Every's men provided following their capture. John Sparkes testified in his "Last Dying Words and Confession" that the "inhuman treatment and merciless tortures inflicted on the poor Indians and their women still affected his soul," and that, while apparently unremorseful for his acts of piracy, which were of "lesser concern," he was nevertheless repentant for the "horrid barbarities he had committed, though only on the bodies of the heathen." Philip Middleton testified that several of the Indian men were murdered, while they also "put several to the torture" and Every's men "lay with the women aboard, and there were several that, from their jewels and habits, seemed to be of better quality than the rest." Furthermore, on 12 October 1695, Sir John Gayer, then-governor of Bombay and president of the East India Company, sent a letter to the Lords of Trade, writing:

It is certain the Pyrates, which these People affirm were all English, did do very barbarously by the People of the Ganj-i-sawai and Abdul Gofor's Ship, to make them confess where their Money was, and there happened to be a great Umbraws Wife (as Wee hear) related to the King, returning from her Pilgrimage to Mecha, in her old age. She they abused very much, and forced severall other Women, which Caused one person of Quality, his Wife and Nurse, to kill themselves to prevent the Husbands seing them (and their being) ravished.​

Later accounts would tell of how Every himself had found "something more pleasing than jewels" aboard, usually reported to be Emperor Aurangzeb's daughter or granddaughter. (According to contemporary East India Company sources, the Ganj-i-sawai was carrying a "relative" of the Emperor, though there is no evidence to suggest that it was his daughter and her retinue.) However, this is at odds with the deposition of Philip Middleton, who testified that "all of the Charles's men, except Every, boarded [the Fateh Muhammed and Ganj-i-sawai] by Turns." At any rate, the survivors were left aboard their emptied ships, which the pirates set free to continue on their voyage back to India. The loot from the Ganj-i-sawai, the greatest ship in the Muslim fleet, totaled somewhere between £200,000 and £600,000, including 500,000 gold and silver pieces. All told, it may have been the richest ship ever taken by pirates (see Career wealth below). All these things combined made Every the richest pirate in the world.


The proclamation for the apprehension of Henry Every, with a reward of £500 sterling, that was issued by the Privy Council of Scotlandon 18 August 1696

Sharing the spoils
The pirates now busied themselves dividing their treasure. Although it is sometimes reported that Every used his phenomenal skills of persuasion to convince the other captains to leave the Mughal loot in his care, quickly slipping away into the night with the entire haul, this comes from Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, an unreliable account. More reliable sources indicate that there was an exchange of clipped coins between the crews of the Pearl and the Fancy, with Every's outraged men confiscating the Pearl's treasure. (The Portsmouth Adventure observed but did not partake in the battle with the Ganj-i-sawai, so Captain Faro's crew received none of its treasure.) Every's men then gave Captain Mayes 2,000 pieces of eight (presumably an approximate sum as the treasure captured would have been in Indian and Arabian coins of a different denomination) to buy supplies, and soon parted company.

The Fancy sailed for Bourbon, arriving in November 1695. Here the crew shared out £1,000 (roughly £93,300 to £128,000 today) per man, more money than most sailors made in their lifetime. On top of this, each man received an additional share of gemstones. As Every had promised, his men now found themselves glutted with "gold enough to dazzle the eyes." However, this enormous victory had essentially made Every and his crew marked men, and there was a great deal of dispute among the crew about the best place to sail. The French and Danes decided to leave Every's crew, preferring to stay in Bourbon. The remaining men set course, after some dissension, for Nassau in the Bahamas, Every purchasing some ninety slaves shortly before sailing. Along the way, the slaves would be used for the ship's most difficult labor and, being "the most consistent item of trade," could later be traded for whatever the pirates wanted. In this way, Every's men avoided using their foreign currency, which might reveal their identities.

Sailing from the Indian Ocean to the Bahamas was a journey halfway around the world, and the Fancy was forced to stop along the way at Ascension Island, located in the middle of the Atlantic. The barren island was uninhabited, but the men were able to catch fifty of the sea turtles that crawled ashore to lay their eggs on the beach, providing them enough food for the rest of the voyage. However, about seventeen of the Every's crew refused to go any further and were left behind on the island.

Aftermath and manhunt
The plunder of Emperor Aurangzeb's treasure ship had serious consequences for the English, coming at a time of crisis for the East India Company, whose profits were still recovering from the disastrous Child's War. The Company had seen its total annual imports drop from a peak of £800,000 in 1684, to just £30,000 in 1695, and Every's attack now threatened the very existence of English trade in India. When the damaged Ganj-i-sawai finally limped its way back to harbor in Surat, news of the pirates' attack on the pilgrims—a sacrilegious act that, like the raping of the Muslim women, was considered an unforgivable violation of the Hajj—spread quickly. The local Indian governor, Itimad Khan, immediately arrested the English subjects in Surat and kept them under close watch, partly as a punishment for their countrymen's depredations and partly for their own protection from the rioting locals.[79] A livid Aurangzeb quickly closed four of the company's factories in India and imprisoned the officers, nearly ordering an armed attack against the English city of Bombay with the goal of forever expelling the English from India.


An early 20th-century painting depicting Captain Every's encounter with Emperor Aurangzeb's granddaughter and her retinue

To appease Aurangzeb, the East India Company promised to pay all financial reparations, while Parliament declared the pirates hostis humani generis ("enemies of the human race"). In mid-1696, the government issued a £500 bounty on Every's head and offered a free pardon to any informer who disclosed his whereabouts. When the East India Company later doubled that reward, the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history was underway. The Crown also promised to exempt Every from all of the Acts of Grace (pardons) and amnesties it would subsequently issue to other pirates. As it was by now known that Every was sheltering somewhere in the Atlantic colonies, where he would likely find safety among corrupt colonial governors, Every was out of the jurisdiction of the East India Company. This made him a national problem. As such, the Board of Trade was tasked with coordinating the manhunt for Every and his crew.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Every
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganj-i-Sawai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_(ship)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1753 – Launch of French Guerrier, a 74-gun Magnifique-class Ship of the LIne, at Toulon


The Guerrier was a Magnifique class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Jacques-Luc Coulomb, finished by Joseph Marie Blaise Coulomb.


Vaisseau français de 74 canons le Guerrier à la bataille de Minorque en 1756. Guerre de Sept Ans. Aquarelle. Détail.


She took part in the Battle of Minorca (1756) and in the Battle of Lagos. She was part of Bougainville's squadron for the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, and took part in the operations before the Battle of Rhode Island, in the Battle of Grenada, and in the Siege of Savannah.

In July 1781, she took part in the Invasion of Minorca. On 9 August, she captured the 700-tonne HMS Scarborough.

By the time of the invasion of Egypt, Guerrier should have been decommissioned for two years, but was nevertheless incorporated in the invasion fleet. She took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she was captured by the British. She was so badly damaged that she was burnt.


The Magnifique class was a type of three 74-gun ships of the line.

Broadside Weight = 838 French Livre (904.3696 lbs 410.201 kg)
Lower Gun Deck - 28 French 36-Pounder
Upper Gun Deck - 30 French 18-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle - 16 French 8-Pounder

• Magnifique

Launched: 7.3.1748/49
Fate: 15.08.1782, Grounded on sandbar off Lovells Island, Boston, MA, USA
Remark: On 3 September 1782 the Continental Congress decided to present the ship of the line America to King Louis XVI of France to replace Magnifique. The gift was to symbolize the new nation's appreciation for France's service to and sacrifices in behalf of the cause of the American patriots.

• Entreprenant

Launched: 19.10.1751
Fate: 7.1758 Sunk by Bomb vessels at Louisburg

• Guerrier

Launched: 9 September 1753
Fate: Burnt by the British after the Battle of the Nile, 2 August 1798



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Guerrier_(1753)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnifique-class_ship_of_the_line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1775 - During the American Revolution, the British supply ship Unity is taken by the Continental schooner, Hannah, paid for by Army Gen. George Washington. It is the first prize taken by a Continental vessel.


The schooner Hannah was the first armed American naval vessel of the American Revolution and is claimed to be the founding vessel of the United States Navy. She was a fishing schooner owned by John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts and was named for his daughter, Hannah Glover. The crew was drawn largely from the town of Marblehead, with much of the ships ammunition being stored in Glover's warehouse now located at Glover's Square in Marblehead before being relocated to Beverly, Massachusetts.


Model of the USS Hannah at the U.S. Navy Museum

Service history
The schooner was hired into the service of the American Continental Army by General George Washington. Washington commissioned Nicholson Broughton to command the Hannah on 2 September 1775 and ordered the vessel to, "...cruize against such vessels as may be found . . . bound inward and outward to and from Boston, in the service of the [British] army, and to take and seize all such vessels, laden with soldiers, arms, ammunition, or provisions . . . which you shall have good reason to suspect are in such service." Hannah set sail from the harbor of Beverly, Massachusetts on 5 September 1775, but fled to the protection of the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts two days later under the pursuit of HMS Lively and a second British vessel. Leaving Gloucester Harbor, Hannah captured HMS Unity.


Letter from General George Washington commissioning Nicholson Broughton to command a legal privateering mission against British forces

Washington's Fleet
Alongside other Marblehead schooners, the Franklin, the Warren, the Hancock, and the Lee, the first Continental navy was assembled on Boston's north shore. Three of the four captains of the ships were residents of Marblehead; John Selman, John Manley, and James Mugford who respectively commanded Warren, Lee and Franklin during 1775 and into 1776. Along with another Marblehead native and naval Captain Samuel Tucker, General Washington's Fleet raided enemy British ships up and down the Massachusetts coast. "With crews of experienced Marblehead seamen, these bold and highly skilled mariners captured enemy supply ships filled with ammunition and armaments that were crucial to the American cause of independence. The fleet was believed to have flown the Revolutionary "Pine Tree Flag" with the less common motto "An Appeal to God" signifying the crews' loyalty to their New England woodlands and their religion. On one of the schooner's first voyages, it encountered the sloop Unity which was owned by John Langdon, a member of the Continental Congress from New Hampshire, but had been taken by the British Royal Navy. Rather than returning the ship to its rightful owner, Captain Broughton sailed the ship to Gloucester and requested he and his crew be given the store of salt fish beef and lumber. Washington's orders were to strictly collect munitions only, and his refusal caused a mutiny among the crew, of whom 14 were ordered whipped, but only one was punished. '

Hannah's brief naval career ended on 10 October 1775, when she was run aground under the guns of a small American fort near Beverly by the British sloop Nautilus. After a 4 hour engagement between the British ship and Beverly and Salem militias on the shore, Hannah was saved from destruction and capture. Nautilus was badly damaged, but managed to escape with the rising tide around 8 p.m.. According to the New England Chronicle dated October 12th 1775, "...no lives were lost on our side, and the Privateer [Hannah] was damaged little if any". Other sources however still claim that Hannah was soon decommissioned as General Washington found more suitable ships for his cruisers.

Fate
According to legend, soon after Hannah's decommissioning, the schooner was towed to Lee's Wharf in Manchester, where its name was changed to Lynch. There, the vessel was restored to working condition by 7 carpenters over the course of 3 weeks. In March of 1777, Lynch was sent to France with congressional correspondence for Benjamin Franklin, who was there as U.S. Ambassador. Upon embarking on their journey back to the U.S., Lynch and its crew were captured by British ship HMS Foudroyant. Lynch was sold as a prize by the British and documentation indicates that the schooner was used as a merchant vessel thereafter. Most modern scholars however believe the ship was completely destroyed or at least damaged beyond repair, thus rendering the true fate of the ship unknown. While no imagery of the ship is known to exist, trading and fishing schooners like the model pictured above, as well as those painted below, are commonly thought to be accurate representations.


Marblehead welcome sign clearly claiming the town as "Birthplace of the American Navy"

Legacy
The City of Beverly, Massachusetts and the Town of Marblehead, Massachusetts each claim to have been the home port of the schooner. Each asserted the honor of being "the Birthplace of the American Navy" from the career of the Hannah until a plaque, currently on display in the Selectmen's room at Abbot Hall in Marblehead, was discovered in the Philadelphia Navy Yard proclaiming Marblehead to be the birthplace; Beverly has since reinvented itself as "Washington's Naval Base." Alongside the plaque is a display detailing Marblehead's storied Naval history, especially focusing on the importance of the USS Hannah and the rest of the fleet that became the first of the United States Navy. Similarly, the entrance sign to the town of Marblehead features a small inset of an artist's depiction of the USS Hannah. In June of 1926 the town celebrated the 150th anniversary as birthplace of the Navy. In 1992, USS Constitution, another important Naval ship that protected Marblehead during the War of 1812, on its final unassisted voyage made a stop in Marblehead Harbor in 1992, before returning to Boston. One of the original gas stations in the town featured a facsimile piece of the hull of Hannah pictured below. After Hannah, Glover refitted five more schooners and personally launched another two from Plymouth. In the coming months though, the Continental Congress recognized the need for a Navy to accompany Washington's Army, smaller private boats such as Hannah fell out of favor. Along with much of the exhibit in Abbott Hall, the history of the town's involvement in the creation of the world's most powerful Navy has been meticulously reconstructed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hannah

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1776 – Ezra Lee makes the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).


Ezra Lee (August 1749 – October 29, 1821) was an American colonial soldier, best known for commanding the Turtle submarine.

Lee was born in Lyme, Connecticut. In August 1776 he was selected by brother-in-law Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons, also of Lyme, as one of several volunteers to learn to operate the Turtle, an early submarine invented by Saybrook, Connecticut, native David Bushnell. When General George Washington authorized an attack on British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, then lying in New York harbor, Lee was chosen to operate the "infernal machine".


A diagram of the American Turtle

Governors Island attack
Sergeant Lee piloted the Turtle up to the Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Governors Island, due south of Manhattan. A common misconception was that Lee failed because he could not manage to bore through the copper-sheeted hull. In practice, it has been shown that the thin copper would not have presented any problem to the drill, and that he likely struck a metal rudder support.

A more likely scenario is that Lee's unfamiliarity with the vessel made him unable to keep the Turtle stable enough to work the drill against the Eagle's hull. When he attempted another spot in the hull, he was unable to stay beneath the ship, and eventually abandoned the attempt. Governors Island is off the southern vertex of Manhattan, this is the place where the Hudson River and the East River merge. The currents at this point would be strong and complex. The Turtle would only be able to attack ship moored here during the short period of time when the incoming tide balanced the river currents. It is possible that during the attack the tide turned and Lee was unable to compensate. He released the keg of gunpowder when British in row boats attempted to pursue him. The British, suspecting some trick, gave up their pursuit.


A cutaway full size replica of the Turtle on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, UK

Lee landed safely after remaining several hours in the water, and received the congratulations of Washington, who afterwards employed him on secret service. Lee made a similar attempt a short time afterward with Bushnell's machine in an attempt to destroy a British frigate that lay opposite the village of Bloomingdale, but was discovered and compelled to abandon the enterprise. The submarine was soon after sunk by the British as it sat on its tender vessel, in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Years later in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Bushnell reported he had salvaged the Turtle; its final fate is unknown.

After these events, Lee was congratulated by Washington and General Israel Putnam and moved into the secret service/special forces. Lee's tombstone is the only one that mentions "in service to General George Washington" of all those who fought in the American Revolution.

Or:
British naval historian Richard Compton-Hall stated that the problems of achieving neutral buoyancy would have rendered the vertical propeller useless. The route the Turtlewould have had to take to attack HMS Eagle was slightly across the tidal stream which would, in all probability, have resulted in Ezra Lee becoming exhausted having only 20 minutes of air. There is no record of the Royal Navy recording an attack. In the face of these and other problems Compton-Hall suggests that the Turtle got nowhere near HMS Eagle and the entire story was fabricated as disinformation and morale-boosting propaganda, and that if Ezra Lee did carry out an attack it was in a covered rowing boat rather than the Turtle.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Lee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1797 – Launch of USS Constellation, the second of the original six frigates


USS Constellation was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. She was built under the direction of David Stodder at his naval shipyard on Harris Creek in Baltimore's Fell's Point maritime community, and she was launched on 7 September 1797. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constellation and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Her first duties with the newly formed US Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.


Cropped image of the Constellation from original painting.

Design and construction
Main article: Original six frigates of the United States Navy

American merchant vessels began to fall prey to Barbary Pirates, along the so-called "Barbary Coast" of North Africa, Morocco, Tunis (in future Tunisia), Tripoli (in future Libya), and most notably from Algiers (in future Algeria), in the Mediterranean Sea during the 1790s. Congress responded with the Naval Act of 1794. The Act provided funds for the construction of six frigates to be built in six different East Coast ports; however, it included a clause stating that construction of the ships would cease if the United States agreed to peace terms with Algiers. By the time of the conclusion in 1815, of the later War of 1812 with Great Britain, the United States had fought a series of three brief, but savage naval and amphibious wars.

Joshua Humphreys' design was deep, long on keel and narrow of beam (width) to allow the mounting of very heavy guns while affording high speed downwind and efficiency when close-hauled. The design was to extremely heavy scantlings, including the planking, and incorporated Humphreys' innovative diagonal rib to limit hogging. This gave the hull greater strength than those of more lightly built frigates. Humphreys developed his design after realizing that the fledgling United States could not match for size the navies of the European states. He therefore designed his frigates to be able to overpower other frigates, but with the speed to escape from a "ship of the line" (equivalent to a modern-day "battleship").


Design of the hull of USF Constellation, which it shared with USF Congress.

Constellation was built under the direction of Colonel David Stodder at his naval shipyard on Harris Creek in Baltimore's Fell's Point maritime community, according to a design by Joshua Humphreys and launched on 7 September 1797, just as the United States entered the Quasi-War with the revolutionary French Republic. Harris Creek which flows into the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River was later filled in to gain additional land for residential/industrial development and diverted underground to a subterranean storm drain and culvert in the early 19th century. It was situated east of Fell's Point and south of where modern-day Patterson Park, (near Highlandtown), and the community of Canton are currently located.

An earlier visitor to the Harris Creek naval shipyard of David Stodder, east of Baltimore Town in 1796, the Duke de la Rochefoucaule-Liancourt, saw the Constellation under construction and noted in his journal: "I thought her too much encumbered with wood-work within, but in other respects she is a fine vessel being built of those beautiful kinds of wood, the ever-green oak and cedar; she is pierced for 36 guns."

Armament
See also: Naval artillery in the Age of Sail

The Naval Act of 1794 had specified 36-gun frigates; however, Constellation and her sister-ship Congress were re-rated to 38's because of their large dimensions, being 164 ft (50 m) in length and 41 ft (12 m) in width.

The "ratings" by number of guns were meant only as an approximation, as Constellation could and often did carry up to 48 guns. U.S. Navy ships of this era had no permanent battery of guns such as modern Navy ships carry. The guns were designed to be completely portable and often were exchanged between ships as situations warranted. Each commanding officer outfitted armaments to his liking, taking into consideration factors such as the overall tonnage of cargo, complement of personnel aboard, and planned routes to be sailed. Consequently, the armaments on ships changed often during their careers, and records of the changes were not generally kept.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1797)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_six_frigates_of_the_United_States_Navy

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1804 - Loss of West Indiaman Christopher, ex Duguay Trouin and HMS Duguay Trouin at Charleston in the 1804 Antigua–Charleston hurricane.


HMS Duguay Trouin was an 18-gun French privateer sloop launched in 1779 at Le Havre. Surprise captured her in 1780 and the British Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. It sold Duguay Trouinon 30 October 1783. She then became the West Indiaman Christopher, and later a slaver. She was lost at Charleston in September 1804.

Capture
On 29 January 1780, Surprise captured Duguay Trouin off the Dodman. The High Court of Admiralty condemned her on 6 March, and the Royal Navy her in, retaining her name.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Guay Trouin (captured 1780), a captured French privateer. The plan possibly illustrates her as fitted as an 18-gun Ship Sloop. Signed by George White [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1779-1793].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84062.html#lDexQwmogbs1kKBS.99

Royal Navy
Commander George Stoney commissioned her in May. Then on 29 November she sailed for the Leeward Islands.

Commander John Fish took command in February 1781 at Jamaica. Duguay Trouin then had a number of successes:

• On 4 March Diamond and Duguay Trouin captured the schooner Experiment, of 60 tons and 10 men. She was carrying coffee, cotton, and rum from Jacmel to Curacoa.
• Two days later, Diamond, Pelican, and Duguay Trouin captured a schooner off Bonnaire that was carrying coffee.
• On 25 March she ran a sloop aground and destroyed her at a spot three miles west of Laguira.
• On 3 April she captured the schooner De Jussrow Rachel off Bonaire. She was of 60 tons, carried eight guns, and had a crew of 28 men. Her master was Goodman Bon, and her owner Isaac de Mas Chinas, of Curacoa. She had been sailing from Curacoa to Demerara with dry goods.
• On 6 June she captured the French government brig La Comte de Vermomiett, off the east end of Hispaniola. Comte, of 40 tons and 59 men, was sailing in ballast from to Cap Francois to Philadelphia. Duguay Trouin sent her into Kingston, Jamaica.
• Five days later Duguay Trouin captured the sloop Briliant (or Brillant), of 82 men, at sea. Briliant's master was Joseph Marsham, and her owner was "Castile", of Aux Cayes. The large crew indicates that she was a privateer.

In August, Commander Benjamin Hulke replaced Fish.

On 12 February 1783, a three-ship flotilla, headed by the 28-gun corvette La Coquette under the command of the Marquis de Grasse-Briançon (nephew to Admiral Comte de Grasse) arrived at Grand Turk Island. The flotilla disembarked about 400 men, drawn from four regiments, under the command of M. de Coujolles, who took control of the island without resistance.

Main article: Battle of Grand Turk
On 2 March the 44-gun HMS Resistance, under the command of Captain James King, while sailing in company with Duguay Trouin, discovered two of the French ships anchored in Turks Island passage. On being spotted the two ships cut their cables and stood to the southwest, upon which Resistance gave chase. The rearmost ship, carrying 20 guns, sprang her main topmast; she surrendered after Resistance came up and fired a broadside. Resistance then gave chase to the other, and after enduring fire from her stern chasers, came alongside; La Coquette promptly surrendered.

On 15 March Deguay Trouin captured Ville de Trieste.

Disposal
After the American War of Independence and the war with France had ended, the Navy sold Duguay Trouin on 30 October 1783.

Christopher
One or more merchants purchased Duguay Trouin and registered her on 2 December 1784 under the name Christopher. The merchant may have been the Liverpool merchant John Bolton. Christopher enters Lloyd's Register in 1786 (there is no issue for 1785), with J. Bolton owner, T. Scott, master, changing to J. Smith, and trade Liverpool-St Vincent. Bolton was still Christopher's owner in 1786 in the Liverpool Registry.

Captain James Smith received a letter of marque for her on 19 September 1793. Under his command she captured three French vessels with produce from the West Indies, and a privateer from Martinique of 12 guns and 44 men. Smith brought into St Vincent a vessel from Guadeloupe that was carrying 150 hogsheads of sugar. (Whether his was one of the three French vessels already alluded to or not is impossible to say.)

Captain John Tomkinson replaced Smith on 23 October 1794, and Captain Henry Bond replaced Tomkinson on 20 July 1795 at Grenada. Robert Ramsey took command on 6 October 1797. He received a letter of marque on 10 October. Lloyd's Register for 1798 has J. Watson replacing "R. Rumsey" as master, and gives Christopher's trade as Liverpool-Demerara. John "Matson" received a letter of marque on 29 June 1798. (Matson appears to be a transcription error for Watson.)

Between 1799 and 1804 Christopher undertook five slaving voyages, almost one per year.

A database of voyages by Liverpool-based slavers has John Watson gathering slaves on the Gold Coast in 1799 and carrying them to what is now British Guiana. Watson gathered 390 slaves. The database further reports that during the voyage command transferred to John McIsaac. The Register of Shipping for 1800 gives her master's name as J. Watson, changing to "Kiswick".

In 1800 the database has Christopher's master as John Roach. He received a letter of marque on 1 March 1800. He gathered slaves from somewhere other than the usual places that British slavers frequented, and then carried them too to British Guiana.

In 1801 Christopher was almost rebuilt.

In 1802 Christopher, John Hurd (or J. Hird), master, sailed to Sierra Leone. She delivered her slaves to Trinidad. Because this voyage and the next began during the Peace of Amiens, Hurd did not sail under a letter of marque.

In 1803 Christopher, John Hurd (or J. Hird), master, gathered his slaves from somewhere other than the usual places that British slavers frequented. He carried his slaves to Tortola.

Robert Woodward received a letter of marque on 15 February 1804. He then gathered slaves around West Central Africa and St. Helena, and carried them to South Carolina. During the voyage Christopher Eskildson replaced Woodward.

Fate
The notation "Lost" appears in the Register of Shipping for 1806. Lloyd's Register continued to list her with Woodward, master, Bolton, owner, and trade Liverpool-Africa to 1809, though the database of slave voyages does not list her after 1804. She apparently was lost on 7 September at Charleston in the 1804 Antigua–Charleston hurricane, with all aboard escaping safely. Four slaves drowned after a boat overturned in the Ashley River.

The 1804 Antigua–Charleston hurricane was the most severe hurricane in Georgia since 1752, causing over 500 deaths and at least $1.6 million (1804 USD) in damage throughout the Southeastern United States. Originating near Antigua on 3 September, it initially drifted west-northwestward, soon nearing Puerto Rico. Throughout its existence in the Caribbean Sea, the hurricane damaged, destroyed, and capsized numerous ships, and at Saint Kitts, it was considered to be the worst since 1772. By 4 September, the storm arrived at the Bahamas and turned northward before approaching the coast of northern Florida on 6 September. The hurricane eventually came ashore along the coastline of Georgia and South Carolina while producing mostly southeasterly winds. A severe gale was noted in New England later that month, on 11 and 12 September, although it was likely not the same system as that which had passed through the Caribbean and southeastern United States earlier that month.


H.M.S. Theseus Vice Admiral Dacres, in the Hurricane which happened in Septr 1804, in the West Indies. Plate 1. One of four plates showing the 74-gun HMS Theseus caught in a hurricane off San Domingo between 4 and 11 September 1804. HMS Theseus and HMS Hercule were badly damaged in the hurricane, but eventually survived to reach Port Royal on 15 September.

The hurricane produced a wide swath of damage along its path, especially in Georgia and South Carolina. Maritime losses along the coastlines of both states were significant, with numerous ships damaged or destroyed. Crop damage, especially to rice, cotton, and corn, was also considerable, with impending harvests ruined by the hurricane's arrival. Strong winds and heavy rainfall inundated streets, residences, and fields, and also toppled chimneys, fences, and cracked windows across the region. Wharves, struck by stranded boats, endured significant damage as well. Dozens of residences and other structures were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable due to inundation or collapse. Notably, Aaron Burr, then attempting to flee authorities, visited St. Simons Island in Georgia during the hurricane, later returning to Hampton and giving a detailed account of the hurricane's effects. Damage in Savannah, Georgia, totaled $500,000, compared to $1,000,000 at Charleston, South Carolina.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duguay-Trouin_(1780)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_Antigua–Charleston_hurricane

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1811 - HMS Barbadoes (1804 - 28) and HMS Goshawk (1806 - 16) engaged seven French brigs, each armed with 3 long 24-pounders and a mortar, near the Calvados Rocks, Baie de la Seine and drove one ashore..


HMS Barbadoes (28), Capt. Edward Rushworh, and HMS Goshawk (16), James Lilburne, engaged seven French brigs, each armed with 3 long 24-pounders and a mortar, near the Calvados Rocks, Baie de la Seine and drove one ashore..


HMS Barbadoes (1804), a fifth rate frigate, formerly the French privateer Braave


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Barbadoes (1804), a captured French Privateer, as taken off at Portsmouth Dockyard after fitting as a 28-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate. Signed N.Qiddams (Master Shipwright). The pronounced 'V' shape of the hull, reflecting her original purpose as a privateer built for speed.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83093.html#d0go5zTYt2vuSRcf.99

HMS Goshawk (1806) was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1806 and wrecked in 1813.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with scroll figurehead and longitudinal half-breadth for Goshawk (1805) and Challenger (1806), both fir-built 16-gun Brig Sloops. The plan also relates to Kite (1805), Raven (1805), Fly (1805), Fly (1805), Wizard (1805) and Sparrow (1805), all 16-gun Brig Sloops. All the ships were built to the alterations on the plan. Additional alterations in ticked lines relate to the two fir-built ships.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84357.html#E4I4tHroJHjL9IhW.99



http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-316095;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=G

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1825 - The frigate USS Brandywine receives the Marquis de Lafayette on board for return to France after his year-long tour of the United States.
The name honors the battle where the Marquis was wounded while serving with the Continental Army during the American Revolution.


USS Brandywine in 1831

Conveying Marquis de Lafayette to France
From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States. At many stops on this tour he was received by the populace with a hero's welcome, and many honors and monuments were presented to commemorate and memorialize Lafayette's visit.

Susquehanna—a 44-gun frigate—was laid down on September 20, 1821 at the Washington Navy Yard. Shortly before she was to be launched in the spring of 1825, President John Quincy Adams decided to have an American warship carry the Marquis de Lafayette back to Europe, in the wake of his visit to the land he had fought to free almost 50 years before.

The general had expressed his intention of sailing for home sometime in the late summer or early autumn of 1825. Adams selected Susquehanna for this honor, and accordingly—as a gesture of the nation’s affection for Lafayette—the frigate was renamed Brandywine to commemorate the Battle of Brandywine, in which Lafayette was wounded fighting with American forces. Launched on June 16, 1825 and christened by Sailing Master Marmaduke Dove, Brandywine was commissioned on August 25, 1825, Captain Charles Morris in command.


1824 portrait by Scheffer in the U.S. House of Representatives

As an honor to the Marquis, officers were selected from as many States as possible and, where practicable, from descendants of persons who had distinguished themselves in the American Revolution. One of these young men selected as officer on the Brandywine's maiden voyage was 19-year-old Virgianian Matthew Fontaine Maury, who would eventually make great influences in the science of oceanography.

After fitting out at the Navy Yard, the frigate traveled down the Potomac River to await her passenger at St. Mary’s, Maryland, not far from the river’s mouth. Lafayette enjoyed a last state dinner to celebrate his 68th birthday on the evening of September 6 and then embarked in the steamboat Mount Vernon on September 7 for the trip downriver to join Brandywine. On September 8, the frigate stood out of the Potomac River and sailed down Chesapeake Bay toward the open ocean.

After a stormy three weeks at sea, the warship arrived off Le Havre, France, early in October; and, following some initial trepidation about the government’s attitude toward Lafayette’s return to a France now ruled by the ultra reactionary King Charles X, Brandywine's passenger and her captain disembarked, the former to return home and the latter to tour the country for six months to study shipyards, ship design and other naval matters.


Lithograph print of USS Brandywine. US Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD., rendered by Melbourne Smith

The Ship USS Brandywine (formerly named Susquehanna) was a wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy bearing 44 guns which had the initial task of conveying the Marquis de Lafayette back to France. She was later recommissioned a number of times for service in various theaters, such as in the Mediterranean, in China and in the South Atlantic Ocean.


Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861, pages 456-457, depicting a large number of Navy ships off the New York Navy Yard, early in the Civil War. Vessels shown include (from left to right): USS Montgomery; USS Vandalia; USS Brandywine; USS North Carolina; USS Potomac; USS Savannah; USS R.R. Cuyler; USS Mount Vernon; USS Roanoke; USS Resolute and USS Wabash. A rowing launch is underway in the foreground.
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59308

During several instances she served as a role player in American gunboat diplomacy, a role she was well suited for with her large long-range 32-pounder guns and her short-range carronades which produced fragmentation and fire damage to the ship fired upon, as well as splinter and shrapnel injury to its crew.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Brandywine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visit_of_the_Marquis_de_Lafayette_to_the_United_States
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86297.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1838 – paddlesteamer Forfarshire wrecked, giving rise to the rescue for which Grace Darling is famed.


Forfarshire was a paddlesteamer with brigantine rigging, built in Dundee in 1834, and which struck and later foundered on one of the Farne Islands on 7 September 1838, giving rise to the rescue for which Grace Darling is famed.


Contemporary watercolour of SS Forfarshire, c.1835

Forfarshire was commissioned by the Dundee & Hull Shipping Company, to carry passengers and cargo between Hull and Dundee on the east coast of Great Britain. Costing some £20,000, she weighed 400 tons (363 tonnes), was powered by two 90 horsepower (67 kW) steam engines, and had the capability of being powered by sails.

On 5 September 1838 the Forfarshire set out from Hull, sailing north heading for Dundee, with 61 passengers and crew and a cargo of cotton. She had in very recent times had maintenance work undertaken on her boilers. Passing Flamborough Head a failure of pumps supplying water to the boilers reduced her steaming capacity. Her situation deteriorated through the next day as leaks from her boilers flooded the bilges, and at 10pm that night, off St Abb's Head, her engines failed. Despite near gale force North-easterly winds, her captain put her under sail and continued on his way; but the weather worsened to a full gale, with heavy rain and a change in wind direction to due North. At this the ship was turned around to run before the wind and seek shelter behind the Farne Islands.


Grace Darling at the Forfarshire by Thomas Musgrave Joy.

At 3am on 7 September, she struck aground with considerable force, on Big Harcar (also locally then known and pronounced as "Great Hawker"), one of the Outer Farne Islands. A group of eight sailors and a passenger (not identified) managed to lower and escape in a lifeboat, to be picked up the following morning by a passing schooner bound for Hull. The remaining passengers and crew were left to the mercy of the sea, which swung the Forfarshire around and tore off the stern quarterdeck and cabins, leaving only the bow and fore sections of the ship anchored to the rock.

A few passengers managed to hold on to railings, and make it through the night, later transferring to Big Harcar; including a Mrs. Dawson (a passenger), who was distraught, holding the bodies of her two dead children. Their predicament was spotted at first light by Grace Darling, daughter of William, the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse, which was situated about 600 yards (550 m) from the wreck site.


Lighthouse at Longstone. The upper window in the white ring was Grace Darling's bedroom, from which she saw the wreckage of the Forfarshire.

Grace counted 13 people on Big Harcar. Grace pleaded with her father to go to the rescue but he initially refused on the grounds that the sea was too rough and the two of them could not possibly manage their only boat in such conditions. However, after a short breakfast, Grace prevailed and they set off in their Northumberland Coble, a 21 ft foot clinker built open rowing boat designed for a minimum crew of 3 strong men. They rowed for some 1,700 yards, mostly in the lee of Great Harcar. On arrival at the wreck site they found only nine remaining survivors. William left Grace to hold the boat steady whilst he assisted the transfer of three of Forefarshire's crew and Mrs Dawson to the boat. William with the aid of two of the rescued crew then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse while Grace comforted Mrs. Dawson who had by this time lost the bodies of her two sons to the sea. William and the two strongest of the rescued crew then rowed back to the wreck site and rescued the remaining four survivors. The survivors confirmed that thirteen had made it to the rock during the night but four had been swept away shortly before the arrival of Grace and William. Forty-three passengers and crew, including the captain and his wife, perished. Both William and Grace received the RNLI’s Silver Medal in 1838 - the first recipients of this new award. They also received the Gold Medallion from the Royal Humane Society, while Grace additionally received silver medals from the Glasgow Humane Society and the Edinburgh and LeithHumane Society.

A first inquest on 11 September found that the ship was "wrecked due to the imperfections of the boilers and the culpable negligence of Captain Humble" - in part a reference to Humble's decision to press on with the voyage rather than put into port after the initial failure at Flamborough Head; a second inquest on 1 October - to which the shipping line had had time to dispatch a representative - watered down the findings to the tempestuousness of the weather.

Some remains of the Forfarshire woodwork can be found at Piper Gut in depths from 7-22m (3.8 - 12 fathoms), but mixed with remains from other wrecks, on a rock and kelp sea floor. A plaque can be found on the side of Minerva Terrace at Hull Marina commemorating the voyage. The marina entrance was once the entrance for the docks from where the Forfarshire sailed. One of the original name-plates of the Forfarshire is now on display in the main bar of the Olde Ship pub in Seahouses.

Behind the altar of Dunkeld Cathedral, a plaque is erected "To the memory of Rev John Robb who, on a voyage for the benefit of his health, perished by the wreck of the Forfarshire Steamship off the Fern Islands". Robb had been the minister of Dunkeld for two years.


Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter, famed for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838. The paddlesteamerran aground on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland in northeast England; nine members of her crew were saved.


Grace Darling by Thomas Musgrave Joy (9 July, 1812 – 7 April, 1866) - a painter known principally for his portraits

Grace Darling was born on 24 November 1815 at her grandfather's cottage in Bamburgh in Northumberland. She was the seventh of nine children (four brothers and four sisters) born to William and Thomasin Darling, and when only a few weeks old she was taken to live on Brownsman Island, one of the Farne Islands, in a small cottage attached to the lighthouse.

Her father ran the lighthouse (built in 1795) for Trinity House and earned a salary of £70 per annum (UK£ 5,800 in 2018) with a bonus of £10 for satisfactory service.[citation needed] The accommodation was basic and the lighthouse was not in the best position to guide shipping to safety, so in 1826 the family moved to the newly constructed lighthouse on Longstone Island.

Longstone Lighthouse had better accommodation, but the island itself was slightly less hospitable, so William would row back to Brownsman to gather vegetables from their former garden and to feed the animals. The family spent most of their time on the ground floor of the lighthouse which consisted of a large room, heated by a wood stove. The room was their living room, dining room and kitchen in one and had a spiral staircase leading to three bedrooms above and the light at the top of the tower.

In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Darling, looking from an upstairs window, spotted the wreck and survivors of the Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a nearby low rocky island. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half: one of the halves had sunk during the night.


Grave of Grace Darling and her family, St Aidan's churchyard, Bamburgh. This is a replica headstone made to replace the weathered original, now in the nearby RNLI museum.

She and her father William determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from Seahouses (then North Sunderland), so they took a rowing boat (a 21 ft, 4-man Northumberland coble) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of nearly a mile. Darling kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young children during the night. William and three of the rescued men then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse. Darling then remained at the lighthouse while William and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered four more survivors.

Meanwhile, the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Darling and her father had completed their rescue operation: all they found were the bodies of Mrs Dawson's children and of a clergyman. It was too dangerous to return to North Sunderland so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. Darling's brother, William Brooks Darling, was one of the seven fishermen in the lifeboat. The weather deteriorated to the extent that everyone was obliged to remain at the lighthouse for three days before returning to shore.

The Forfarshire had been carrying 62 people. The vessel broke in two almost immediately upon hitting the rocks. Those rescued by Darling and her father were from the bow section of the vessel which had been held by the rocks for some time before sinking. All that remained at daybreak was the portside paddlebox casing. Nine other passengers and crew had managed to float off a lifeboat from the stern section before it too sank, and were picked up in the night by a passing Montrose sloop and brought into South Shields that same night.

As news of her role in the rescue reached the public, her combination of bravery and simple virtue set her out as exemplary, and led to an uneasy role as the nation's heroine. Grace and her father were awarded the Silver Medal for bravery by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later named the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Subscriptions and donations totaling over £700 were raised for her, including £50 from Queen Victoria; more than a dozen portrait painters sailed to her island home to capture her likeness, and hundreds of gifts, letters, and even marriage proposals were delivered to her.

Her unexpected wealth and fame were such that the Duke of Northumberland took on a role as her self-appointed guardian and founder of a trust, established to look after the donations offered to her. His personal gifts to her and her family included a timepiece and a silver teapot.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forfarshire_(ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Darling

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
7 September 1907 – Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.


RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. The ship was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking presaged the United States declaration of war on Germany in 1917.



The ship was a holder of the Blue Riband and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister ship Mauretania. The Cunard Line launched Lusitania in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. She made a total of 202 trans-Atlantic crossings.

German shipping lines were aggressive competitors in the transatlantic trade, and Cunard responded by trying to outdo them in speed, capacity, and luxury. Both Lusitania and Mauretania were fitted with revolutionary new turbine engines that enabled them to maintain a service speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). They were equipped with lifts, wireless telegraph, and electric light, and provided 50% more passenger space than any other ship; the first class decks were noted for their sumptuous furnishings.


Deck plans of Lusitania. Modifications were made both during, and after the ship's construction. By 1915 the lifeboat arrangement had been changed to 11 fixed boats either side, plus collapsible boats stored under each lifeboat and on the poop deck.

The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of World War I. When RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain on 1 May 1915, German submarine warfare was intensifying in the Atlantic. Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom a war zone, and the German embassy in the United States had placed a newspaper advertisement warning people of the dangers of sailing on Lusitania.

On the afternoon of 7 May, a German U-boat torpedoed Lusitania, 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared war zone. A second, unexplained, internal explosion, likely munitions she was carrying, sent her to the seabed in 18 minutes, with the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.

Because the Germans sank, without warning, what was a completely defenceless, officially non-military ship, killing almost a thousand civilians, many of whom were children, they were accused of breaching the internationally recognised Cruiser Rules. It had become more dangerous for submarines to give warning with the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns. (Lusitania had been fitted with 6-inch gun mounts in 1913, although she was unarmed at the time of her sinking.)

The Germans justified treating Lusitania as a naval vessel because she was carrying hundreds of tons of war munitions, therefore making her a legitimate military target, and argued that British merchant ships had violated the Cruiser Rules from the very beginning of the war. The Cruiser Rules were obsolete by 1915. RMS Lusitania was regularly transporting war munitions, she operated under the control of the Admiralty, she could be converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser to join the war, her identity had been disguised and she flew no flags. She was a non-neutral vessel in a declared war zone, with orders to evade capture and ram challenging submarines.

The sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States because 128 American citizens were among the dead. The sinking helped shift public opinion in the United States against Germany and was a factor in the United States' declaration of war nearly two years later. After World War I, successive British governments maintained that there were no munitions on board Lusitania, and the Germans were not justified in treating the ship as a naval vessel. In 1982, the head of the British Foreign Office's North America department finally admitted that there is a large amount of ammunition in the wreck, some of which is highly dangerous and poses a safety risk to salvage teams.


Maiden Voyage
Lusitania, commanded by Commodore James Watt, moored at the Liverpool landing stage for her maiden voyage at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday 7 September 1907 as the onetime Blue Riband holder RMS Lucania vacated the pier. At the time Lusitania was the largest ocean liner in service and would continue to be until the introduction of Mauretania in November that year. During her eight-year service, she made a total of 202 crossings on the Cunard Line's Liverpool-New York Route. A crowd of 200,000 people gathered to see her departure at 9:00 p.m. for Queenstown (renamed Cobh in 1920), where she was to take on more passengers. She anchored again at Roche's Point, off Queenstown, at 9:20 a.m. the following morning, where she was shortly joined by Lucania, which she had passed in the night, and 120 passengers were brought out to the ship by tender bringing her total of passengers to 2,320.

At 12:10 p.m. on Sunday Lusitania was again under way and passing the Daunt Rock Lightship. In the first 24 hours she achieved 561 miles (903 km), with further daily totals of 575, 570, 593 and 493 miles (793 km) before arriving at Sandy Hook at 9:05 a.m. Friday 13 September, taking in total 5 days and 54 minutes, 30 minutes outside the record time held by Kaiser Wilhelm II of the North German Lloyd line. Fog had delayed the ship on two days, and her engines were not yet run in. In New York hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the bank of the Hudson River from Battery Park to pier 56. All New York's police had been called out to control the crowd. From the start of the day, 100 horse drawn cabs had been queuing, ready to take away passengers. During the week's stay the ship was made available for guided tours. At 3 p.m. on Saturday 21 September, the ship departed on the return journey, arriving Queenstown 4 a.m. 27 September and Liverpool 12 hours later. The return journey was 5 days 4 hours and 19 minutes, again delayed by fog.

On her second voyage in better weather, Lusitania arrived at Sandy Hook on 11 October 1907 in the Blue Riband record time of 4 days, 19 hours and 53 minutes. She had to wait for the tide to enter harbour where news had preceded her and she was met by a fleet of small craft, whistles blaring. Lusitania averaged 23.99 knots (44.43 km/h) westbound and 23.61 knots (43.73 km/h) eastbound. In December 1907, Mauretania entered service and took the record for the fastest eastbound crossing. Lusitania made her fastest westbound crossing in 1909 after her propellers were changed, averaging 25.85 knots (47.87 km/h). She briefly recovered the record in July of that year, but Mauretania recaptured the Blue Riband the same month, retaining it until 1929, when it was taken by SS Bremen.[50]


Lusitania at the end of the first leg of her maiden voyage, New York City, September 1907. (The photo was taken with a panoramic camera.)


Hudson Fulton Celebration


Stereo picture of Wright Flyer, Lusitania (Europe-bound), and the Statue of Liberty, during Hudson Fulton Celebration.

Lusitania and other ships participated in the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York City from the end of September to early October 1909. The celebration was also a display of the different modes of transportation then in existence, Lusitania representing the newest advancement in steamship technology. A newer mode of travel was the aeroplane. Wilbur Wright had brought a Flyer to Governors Island and made demonstration flights before millions of New Yorkers who had never seen an aircraft. Some of Wright's trips were directly over Lusitania; several photographs of Lusitania from that week still exist


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 7 September


1741 – Death of Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (b. 1689)

Admiral Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta, KOGF, OHS (3 February 1689 – 7 September 1741) was a Basque officer in the Spanish Navy best remembered for the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741) in modern-day Colombia, where Spanish imperial forces under his command resisted and defeated a large British invasion fleet under Admiral Edward Vernon.

Throughout his naval career, Lezo sustained many severe wounds; he lost his left eye, left hand, complete mobility of the right arm, caught Typhoid fever and had his left leg amputated in situ after being hit by the projectile of a cannon. Such injuries earned him the nicknames Captain Pegleg and Half-man, both referencing his consequential physical attributes. This has led to Lezo being thought of as a model for the stereotypical peglegged pirate common in modern fantasy novels.

Lezo's actions at Cartagena de Indias consolidated his legacy as one of the most heroic figures in the history of Spain and he has thus been promoted as one of the best strategists in naval history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blas_de_Lezo


1755 – Launch of French Brune at Le Havre – captured by British Navy 30 January 1761, becoming HMS Brune. / Blonde class, (32-gun design by Jean-Joseph Ginoux, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns).


lines & profile Signed by Thomas Bucknall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1755-1762]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 648, states that 'Brune' was surveyed and fitted at Plymouth Dockyard between March and October 1761.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/82724.html#tripwiQw5bDWdxcW.99

1778 – American Revolutionary War: France invades Dominica in the British West Indies, before Britain is even aware of France's involvement in the war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica_(1778)

1798 HMS Phaeton (38), Cptn. Robert Stopford, and HMS Alison captured Flore.

1809 Boats of HMS Mercury (28), Cptn. Henry Duncan, captured French schooner Pugliese in the port of Barletta, Adriatic.

1810 Boats of HMS Dreadnought (98), Cptn. G. B. Salt, carried a French vessel.

1834 HMS Imogene (28), Cptn. Price Blackwood, and HMS Andromache (28), Cptn. Henry Ducie Chads, engaged in the Canton River.

1843 - The Caledonia was a brig of some 200 tons (bm), built in Arbroath, Scotland, and wrecked on 7 September 1843 on Sharpnose Point, near Morwenstow, Cornwall.


The figurehead of the Caledonia in Morwenstow church in Cornwall. The ship was wrecked nearby in 1842.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonia_(1839_brig)


1864 USS Wachusett captures CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil


1917 - Ocean liner SS Minnehaha sank within four minutes with 43 fatalities, after being torpedoed by German U-boat U-48, off the Fastnet. Her sister ships Minneapolis and Minnetonka were sunk while in use as troop transports during World War I

SS Minnehaha was a 13,443-ton ocean liner built by Harland and Wolff and launched on 31 March 1900. Operated by the American-owned Atlantic Transport Line, she was the sister ship of Minneapolis, Minnetonka, and Minnewaska.

In her first year of operations, the Minnehaha collided with and sank a tug in New York Harbor on 18 September 1900. The tug suffered two fatalities.

On 18 April 1910, the liner grounded on rocks on Bryher in the Isles of Scilly while en route from New York City to Tilbury, near London;[2] she remained stranded until 13 May when two tugs managed to pull her off the rocks. The cattle on board were saved by swimming them onto the island of Samson, Isles of Scilly where there was temporary pasture; no lives were lost.

The ship was being used to ferry munitions to Britain from the U.S. during the early years of World War I. During a multi-state crime spree, German sympathizer Eric Muenter planted a timed bomb on the Minnehahaafter bombing the U.S. Capitol and before shooting financier J. P. Morgan, Jr.. Days after his jail-cell suicide, Muenter's bomb exploded, setting off a fire, though the explosion did not reach the munitions and caused minimal damage to the ship itself.

On 7 September 1917, Minnehaha sank within four minutes with 43 fatalities, after being torpedoed by German U-boat U-48, off the Fastnet. Her sister ships Minneapolis and Minnetonka were sunk while in use as troop transports during World War I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Minnehaha


1929 – Steamer Kuru capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. 136 lives are lost.

SS Kuru was a steam ship which sank on 7 September 1929 in the lake Näsijärvi, in Tampere, Finland.



The sinking is still the most severe maritime disaster in Finnish lakes or rivers. It led to the loss of 136 lives, according to the passenger counts and the officers; most sources frequently list the death toll as 138. There were 150 passengers and 12 crew members.

The ship capsized due to heavy wind – 8 Beauforts (17–20 metres per second (61–72 km/h; 38–45 mph)), and there were some claims of up to 11.5 Beauforts. The capsizing was mostly due to an overly-high centre of gravity; in 1927, a third deck level had been added without expert help or inspecting the balance of the ship. The big waves brought water onto the deck, and the water couldn't flow away.

The wreck was raised in the same year and repaired; the ship had suffered only minor damage. Some cabin structures were removed to improve the balance. She served in use until 1939.

During the First World War, the ship served as a part of the Imperial Russian Navy's Satakunta Flotilla.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kuru


1984 – An explosion on board a Maltese patrol boat disposing of illegal fireworks at sea off Gozo kills 7 soldiers and policemen.

The C23 tragedy refers to when the Swift-class patrol boat C23 of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta was severely damaged in an explosion while dumping illegal fireworks off Qala in Gozo, Malta, on 7 September 1984. Seven people – five soldiers and two policemen – were killed, and the only survivor of the incident was severely injured.

The patrol boat C23 was repaired and it returned to service, later being renamed P23. It was decommissioned in 2010 and it now remains at the AFM base at Hay Wharf as a memorial to those killed in the explosion.


The patrol boat P23 (ex-C23) moored off Msida Bastion in 2006

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C23_tragedy


2010 – A Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands.

The 2010 Senkaku boat collision incident (or the Minjinyu 5179 incident) occurred on the morning of September 7, 2010, when a Chinese trawler, Minjinyu 5179, operating in disputed waters collided with Japanese Coast Guard's patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands. There were several Japanese Coast Guard (often abbreviated JCG) boats involved, including Yonakuni and Mizuki, which collided with Minjinyu 5179, plus Hateruma and other JCG boats.


JCG PS Bizan class patrol boat similar to Mizuki which collided with Minjinyu 5179

The collision and Japan's subsequent detention of the skipper (Zhan Qixiong (Chinese: 詹其雄)) resulted in a major diplomatic dispute between China and Japan. When China's repeated demands for the release of the skipper were refused and the detention of the skipper extended for a further 10 days, the Chinese government cancelled official meetings of the ministerial level and above. Though denied by the Chinese government, it was reported that China halted exports of rare earth minerals to Japan.

The detained Chinese crew members were released without charge and were allowed to return home. In China the overall event is perceived as a diplomatic victory, while in Japan the Japanese government's "weak-kneed" handling of the issue was criticized

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Senkaku_boat_collision_incident

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1298 - Battle of Curzola (today Korčula, southern Dalmatia, now in Croatia)


was a naval battle which was fought on September 9, 1298 between the Genoese and Venetian navies; it was a disaster for Venice, a major setback among many battles fought in the 13th and 14th centuries between Pisa, Genoa and Venice in a long series of wars for the control of Mediterranean and Levantine trade.

Battle
The battle took place in the channel between the island of Curzola (Korčula) and the mainland peninsula of Sabbioncello (Pelješac), and ashore, where Venetian men had been landed on the island's far side. The Venetians were led by Admiral Andrea Dandolo, son of Doge Giovanni Dandolo, and the Genoese by Lamba Doria, whose son was killed in the fighting: "Throw my son overboard into the deep sea," Doria was said to have ordered: "What better resting place can we give him?".


Venetian galley at Curzola

The fleets of the two states were apparently equal in number, but, after the Venetians ran their galleys aground while trying to capture the Genoese galleys, Doria exhibited superior strategy and managed to inflict a resounding defeat on his enemies. The disaster seemed almost complete for Venice: 83 of their 95 ships were destroyed and about 7,000 men were killed. The Genoese were victorious and Dandolo committed suicide in his first days of captivity. Venice suffered heavy losses, but she managed to immediately equip another 100 galleys and sought to obtain reasonable peace conditions that did not significantly hamper its power and prosperity.

According to a later tradition (16th Century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Marco Polo was one of those among the Venetian prisoners and he dictated his famous book during the few months of his imprisonment; but whether he was actually caught at this battle or at a previous minor engagement near Laiazzo (Ayas) is unclear.


Marko Polo and Korcula by dr. Zivan Filippi
The Battle Before Korcula

The great world traveller Marko Polo could not rest in the narrow confines of Venice, so he travelled along the Dalmatian Coast making trade with small town-principalities, which were under the reign of the Serenissima. He very probably visited his native town of Korcula. Marsilie Zorzi, the first Venetian duke of Korcula, died in 1271. According to his testament he was succeeded by Ruggiero Zorzi, and a respected member of the Venetian Big Council, Marin Zorzi, reigned over Korcula in 1281. This supreme body of the Venetian Republic gave him one galley which he had to keep at the ready for the defence of Korcula and Venetian interests at sea. The crew of the galley consisted of young Korcula men, who were always on call. Korcula ship-builders were among the first in the building of wooden war galleys for Venice, either in the Korcula shipyards or in Venetian ones. They were a precious source of that craft for Venice, so that they played an outstanding role in its Arsenal in the town of Venice itself.

In one of the biggest and cruellest sea battles of the Middle Ages, in the conflict between the fleets of Venice and Genoa on September 7th 1298, in front of the town of Korcula, the great Venetian traveller and explorer, originating from Korcula, Marko Polo, was taken prisoner. His imprisonment and his stay in a Genoese prison are significant events in the life of that citizen of the world.

Already in the 11th century, the power of Genoa, a free commune on the coast of the Ligurian Sea, was representing a threat to the business trade of the Venetian Republic, both on land and on the islands of the Levant - Eastern Mediterranean. Genoa was becoming stronger and stronger and their seamen ever more enterprising. They were already sailing on the Atlantic in the 13th century, in an effort to reach by sea the promised lands of the Far East.

In the middle of the 13th century the conflict between the two Mediterranean powers culminated in open war for the prize of Constantinople and other towns of the newly created Byzantine empire. The armistice of 1269 did not hold, and a new war began in 1293. The climax of that war came when the Venetian admirals, Ruggiero Morosini Malabranca and Giovanni Soranzo sailed towards the port of Constantinople with the intent of destroying the Genoese ward Pere, which they did. Morosini in the Golden Horn, lowered his anchor demonstratively in front of the imperial palace. They ravaged and burned down the important Genoese plant of alaun on the Anatolian coasts. Thus they endangered the significant trade of alaun, important for the production of colours and they broke the chains of the slave trade, and endangered the Genoese sea routes. The Genoese and the Greeks replied by massacring the Venetians in Constantinople, and they even killed the president of the Genoese colony, "bailo" Marco Bembo throwing him down from the roof of his house. The hatred between the Venetians and Genoese was made into verses of ridicule, intolerance and vengeance, which echoed on board both fleets. The final endeavour for settling of accounts between these two strong powers was at hand.

Both parties had strong well-built ships, skilful sailors and ready commanders, as well as experience in great sea battles. So, the Genoese, under the command of Oberto Doria, in the battle of Melori, in 1284, completely defeated the Pisan fleet and took control over all shipping on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The galleys - traditional vessels of the Mediterranean - were the basis of both fleets. At the time of the battle in front of Korcula, they were already equipped with a modern rudder in the middle of the stern. That technical invention made them quick and mobile in manoeuvring, and the Genoese were the better masters of that technique. The galleys were moved both by rowing and sailing. They were 40 to 60 metres long, and they were distinguished, first by the number and arrangement of oars - from one-oar galley, "zenzila" to mighty three-oar and four-oar galleys - as well as by the number of rowing "galliots", which numbered between 50 and 120. The lateen sails were raised on two masts, and one could sail down-wind only. On the elevated "scafs" - castles - on the prow and on the stern, there were devices by means of which lances, arrows, stones and other projectiles could be thrown on to enemy boats. The "beak" for piercing another boat was already fading out in the 13th century, and there was a prolongation - "proboscis" on the prow of the boat instead of the beak. The soldiers and sailors would rush across it and board the enemy boat in the procedure of "abordaza" and occupy it. The defence of the "boarded" boat consisted of the close battle at the barricades set in advance from the prow to the stern of the threatened ship.



The commander of the galley was a "sopracomito" with the aid of one or more officers, "comiti". Military officers were in charge of the battle and commanded both soldiers and gunmen - "bombardieri", and sopracomito, while officers ran the boat with sailors and rowers - galliots.

The admiral or "captain general" was issuing battle commands to other boats by means of signals; he used flags and a trumpet for the commencement of the battle and gave other commands with a cone hanging on the mast during the day, and with lamps during the night. He also had at his disposal smaller but quicker reconnaissance boats.

The Venetians equipped their war galleys using contributions from trading families depending on their ability to pay, and their credits were then transformed into a public debt with interest. Soldiers and sailors were recruited from various regions - "contradas" - between the age of 20 and 60 years in the following way: dice were cast in the group of twelve recruited and this determined the priority of entering the service. A person who was alloted by the die to enter the service received five liras a month from the state, and one lira from each of the group who stayed at home. The communes under Venetian rule on the Adriatic Sea or in other seas of the Eastern Mediterranean, were required to produce one or more equipped ships for the fleet, which was quite a significant expense for them. This was one of the heavier obligations of the Korcula commune during its history.

The usual tactical arrangement at the commencement of battle was the formation of ships arranged like a sickle or crescent; the aim being to incite confusion in the enemy ranks. The commanders always tried to use the advantage of open sea in this so that they had a greater choice of movement, while those on the windward side gained absolute advantage.

There is more data about the composition of the fleet, and about the preparations and the very unfolding of battle, on the Genoese side - the side of the winner - where even today there still exist public monuments and inscriptions commemorating the great victory.

Genoa gave the command of the fleet, in the range of "admiral general" to Lamba Doria, younger brother of the legendary Oberto Doria, under whom Lamba served in the afore mentioned battle against the fleet of Pisa by the rock of Melori 14 years earlier. The aims of the campaign were faithfully described by a contemporary poet: to burn down and destroy everything, houses, ships... The poem says that this time Genoa would challenge St. Marco's Lion in his own den. A mighty fleet of 85 war ships gathered in the bay of La Spezia and moved towards the Adriatic. On its way, it put to shore in the Tunisian port of Djerba, and then at Messina, continuing towards Korcula (Curzola). When it passed Gates of Otranto, a stormy wind (the August south wind) scattered the fleet, so that Lamba Doria had to take shelter in the Albanian port of Antivari (present-day Bar) with a fleet of twenty ships. He was joined the following day by 58 vessels and he continued with them, sailing along the Dalmatian coast ravaging and destroying all Venetian property on his way. The 16 boats that lagged behind were to join him later; this was to be crucial for the result of the battle. Doria came to the island of Korcula, "Black Korkyra", whose "main town is a rich and prosperous place" at the beginning of September. Doria started to plunder and pillage on the island and in the town of Korcula, and he burned down some houses. At that moment his messenger reported that the Venetian fleet was in sight.



At the first sign of the Genoese campaign, the Venetians sent to the Adriatic the Admiral Andrea Dandolo with the order to take over the naval squadron of Maffeo Quirini, which was patrolling along the Ionian Sea. Receiving more precise reports about the strength of Doria's ships, Venice quickly equipped and dispatched 32 galleys from Chioggia and from the Dalmatian communes. Ruggerio Zorzi was reigning in Korcula at that time, and the Venetian doge was Pietro Gradenigo, whereas Andrea Dandolo himself was the son of the doge Giovanni Dandolo, who died in 1289. Chroniclers speak about the difficulties of such a quick equipage of the boats: neither military nor ship's crews were up to the level of Venetian reputation. The Sopracomito of the galley, equipped at their own expense, by the Polo family, was the great traveller, Marko Polo himself. This was the biggest war fleet the Venetians had ever sent to sea: 96 galleys and three big ships. The only fleet which could match it was the fleet the Venetians equipped for the Saint League at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

In the afternoon of September 6 1298, visual contact occurred between the opposing sides. The Venetian fleet was sailing from the west along the south side of the island of Korcula towards the cap of Ra`njic, whereas the Genoese fleet was situated in the sheltered area of cap Ra`njic, in the vicinity of the village of Lumbarda, northeast towards the peninsula of Peljesac (location Mokalo-Postup), the island of Mljet being on its left side. As sunset approached, both fleets showed in their manoeuvres a readiness to postpone battle until the next day, a Sunday. When the Genoese saw the strength of the Venetian fleet they were amazed. However, Doria called a meeting of his commanders and they all voted to attack. The Venetians, on the other hand, considered the Genoese fleet to be a ready prey and they sent out small reconnaissance boats in order to be sure that the Genoese fleet did not escape under the darkness of night.



The battle started early on Sunday September 7th and lasted until the afternoon. The Venetians had the wind (north-west) in their favour but the morning sun was blinding their vision. They took advantage of the wind and captured ten Genoese galleys. However, some Venetian galleys were sunk in a fierce skirmish, and some of them were grounded. The Genoese captured one of them and used it against the Venetians, after they had changed the crew. This produced the confusion among the attackers, and the Genoese changed their order of battle. Lamba Doria ordered the arrangement of a dense row of ships and began attacking the scattered Venetian fleet. The day was coming to an end, when the sixteen Genoese galleys, which had lagged behind at Otranto, appeared from the direction of Mljet. They engaged themselves in the battle readily attacking the tiresome Venetian flank. Maybe that was not only the luck of war but the skilfulness of the Genoese, who used tactical flanking reserves in other battles as well, producing them in battle only at the last moment. Doria's victory was great: all Venetian vessels were captured or destroyed, including Admiral Dandolo's big ship. Only a few Venetian boats managed to escape from the battle site of this historic event, in order to bring the news to Venice of their defeat. The Genoese losses, which occurred at the beginning of the battle, were also significant. Octavian Doria, the older admiral's son was also killed. The proud Genoese poet describes that happening:

"The Genoese are deemed the most valiant men in the world. Such an one was Lamba, of that very Doria family - a man of high courage. For when he was engaged in that sea-fight against the Venetians, and was standing on the poop of his galley, his son, fighting valiantly at the forecastle, was shot by an arrow in the breast, and fell wounded to death; a mishap over which his comrades were sorely shaken, and fear came upon the whole ship's company. But Lamba, hot with the spirit of battle, and more mindful of his country's service and his own glory than of his son, ran forward to the spot, loftily rebuked the agitated crowd, and ordered his son's body to be cast into the deep, telling them for their comfort that the land could never have afforded his boy a nobler tomb. And then, renewing the fight more fiercely than ever, he achieved victory."

The Venetian losses were scarcely to be believed: 18 sunk galleys, 66 captured galleys, which Lamba burned on the Korcula beaches because he could not tow them as far as Genoa; 7,000 soldiers, sailors and rowers killed, and 7,400 captured. The entire galley of the Polos was destroyed - a big ship with a total of 120 oars, a massive catapult at the forward castle, a boat with the ancient oar-rudder, with two masts and lateen sails, on which the flags of the Republic waved on the forward mast, and the flag of the Polos with three crows on the stern mast. Marko Polo himself was imprisoned and his heroism was described in these words: "He was captured because he threw himself and his galley to the front of the battle and because he was fighting for his country with great courage and then injured, in chains, he was taken off to Genoa."

Marko Polo, then a mature man of forty-four years, had at his disposal all the necessary knowledge and skill demanded by a great naval battle. Besides this, he had a great knowledge of people and human nature, and he had the money necessary for equipping the ship. There were other examples of heroism on the Venetian side. Thus the commander of the Ionian squadron, Maffeo Querini, received the order from Dandolo at the end of the lost battle to withdraw. He gathered 14 galleys together and they were the only ones preserved, withdrew them from the battle, and then returned once more with his boat to the site of the skirmish continuing to fight fiercely until his heroic death.

Among the chained Venetians - and all were in chains without regard to rank and position - was the admiral Andrea Dandolo himself. Dandolo, in despair because of the defeat, and even more in despair at the tought of going to the Genoese prison, committed suicide by bashing his head against the oarsmen's bank. According to some sources he was buried in Korcula, and according to others he was buried, with due respect, in Genoa.


The triumph of Genoese admiral Lamba Doria in the Battle of Curzola - painting by Fedele Fischetti

Lamba Doria celebrated his victory in the town of Korcula for four days, and then sailed towards Genoa where a magnificent welcome was waiting for him. The victorious fleet sailed into the Genoese port on October 16. Genoa was to remember him as the great victor. An annual feast was established of worshipping at the alter of Our Lady in the church of Saint Mathew every September 8th, on the Day of Our Lady, on the eve of which feast Lamba Doria achieved his historic victory. The admiral was given a splendid palace opposite the church of Saint Mathew as a gift of thanks from the town. The glorious admiral, Lamba Doria died in Savona on October 17th 1323, just a few months before his most famous prisoner, Marko Polo died himself. The youngest son Cesare continued in the family tradition of the Doria family. Besides the afore mentioned heroic death of Octavian, it is worth noting the death of another of Lamba's sons, Tadisi, who took part in the Vivaldi Atlantic campaign towards the Far East in 1291, from which he never returned. We meet The Dorias among Croatian admirals in the 14th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th century the star of the great "condonttiero", Andrea Doria, shone high in the sky.

Marko Polo found himself in prison in Genoa, together with thousands of his comrades. In his uncomfortable prison cell, he started to dictate his memoirs of the magnificent travels to China, to Rustichello the writer from Pisa of romantic tales. If the battle before Korcula had not taken place, the stormy and exciting biography of Marko Polo might never have been written. The masterpiece of adventurous and travel literature left unknown!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Curzola
http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/mpolo7.htm

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1810 – The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor
with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrives at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.


The Tonquin being attacked off the shore of Vancouver Island in 1811.

The Tonquin was a 290-ton American merchant ship initially operated by Fanning & Coles and later by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), a subsidiary of the American Fur Company (AFC). Its first commander was Edmund Fanning, who sailed to the Qing Empire for valuable Chinese trade goods in 1807. The vessel was outfitted for another journey to China and then was sold to German-American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Included within his intricate plans to assume control over portions of the lucrative North American fur trade, the ship was intended to establish and supply trading outposts on the Pacific Northwest coast. Valuable animal furs purchased and trapped in the region would then be shipped to China, where consumer demand was high for particular pelts.

The Tonquin left New York City for the Columbia River in late 1810. From there the vessel sailed across the Atlantic Ocean until reaching the Falkland Islands in December. Captain Jonathan Thorn marooned eight PFC employees there, though they were secured the same day after other men threatened to kill Thorn. After passing Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, the Tonquin visited the Kingdom of Hawaii in February 1811. Sorely needed fresh produce and animal products were purchased and 24 Native Hawaiian Kanakas hired after holding negotiations with Kamehameha I and Kalanimoku. The Tonquin finally reached the Columbia River on 22 March 1811. In the subsequent days, attempts to find a safe route over the Columbia Bar killed eight men.

Work began in May 1811 on the sole trading post founded by the Tonquin, Fort Astoria, on the present-day Oregon coast. After construction was completed, the ship departed with a majority of the trade goods and general provisions from the fort, intending to trade them with indigenous tribes on the coast of Vancouver Island. When the crew began bartering with Tla-o-qui-aht natives at Clayoquot Sound in June, a dispute arose due to Captain Thorn's poor treatment of an elder.[4] All but four members of the crew were killed by armed Tla-o-qui-aht led by chief Wickaninnish. The survivors intentionally detonated the ship's powder magazine, and the Tonquin was destroyed and sunk. Joseachal, a Quinault interpreter previously hired by Thorn, was the sole crew member to survive the entire incident and return to Fort Astoria. While there, he held several conversations with Duncan McDougall and gave the only detailed account of how the Tonquin was destroyed.

Pacific Fur Company
Main article: Pacific Fur Company
The Tonquin was sold for $37,860 (equivalent to $592,000 in 2017) to German-American businessman John Jacob Astor on 23 August 1810. Astor purchased the vessel to spearhead his plans for gaining a foothold in the ongoing maritime fur trade on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Tonquin was assigned to the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) to accomplish this major commercial goal. The PFC was a subsidiary venture funded largely by the American Fur Company, the original fur enterprise founded by Astor in 1808. Astor was able to gain the services of United States Navylieutenant Jonathan Thorn and put him in command of the 10-gun merchant vessel.



Atlantic Ocean
On 8 September 1810, the Tonquin departed New York harbor bound for the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Cargo on board included fur trade goods, seeds, building material for a trading post, tools, and the frame of a schooner to be used in the coastal trade. The crew consisted of 34 people including the captain, 30 of whom were British subjects. Four partners of the company were on board: Duncan McDougall, David and Robert Stuart, and Alexander McKay. Additionally there were 12 clerks and 13 Canadian voyageurs, plus four tradesmen: Augustus Roussel, a blacksmith; Johann Koaster, a carpenter; Job Aitkem, a boat builder; and George Bell, a cooper.

After leaving the national waters of the United States, the Tonquin sailed southeast into the Atlantic. On 5 October, the ship came within sight of Boa Vista in the Cape Verde Islands. The enforced policy of impressment by the United Kingdom made Thorn wary of passing British vessels. Consequently, he decided against staying at the holdings of the Kingdom of Portugal and avoided the Cape Verde Islands. After sailing down the coast of West Africa, the Tonquin made way for South America. Off the coast of Argentina an extreme storm struck, ruining many of the sails and adding two additional leaks in the hull. As the voyage continued on, the freshwater supplies dwindled to three gills a day per sailing member.

The vessel landed at the Falkland Islands on 4 December to make repairs and take on water supplies, with a suitable source of freshwater located at Port Egmont.[ Captain Thorn set sail on 11 December without eight of the men, including partner David Stuart, Gabriel Franchère and Alexander Ross. Having only a rowboat, the eight men spent over six hours rowing before they caught up with the Tonquin. Robert Stuart quickly threatened Thorn to stop the ship, saying if he refused then "You are a dead man this instant." This display made Thorn order the Tonquin crew to sail back and pick up the stranded crew. Thorn's actions led to increasing tensions between him and the employees of the Pacific Fur Company. Communication between company workers was no longer held in English to keep the captain excluded from discussions. Company partners held talks in their ancestral Scottish Gaelic and hired PFC workers used Canadian French. The atmosphere of "their jokes and chanting their outlandish songs" greatly frustrated Thorn. On 25 December, the Tonquin safely traversed around Cape Horn and sailed north into the Pacific Ocean.

Pacific Ocean
The Tonquin reached the Kingdom of Hawaii on 12 February 1811, dropping anchor at Kealakekua Bay. The possibility of men deserting the ship in favor of the islands became a major threat. Thorn had no choice but to make amends with the PFC partners to police the crew. Several men abandoned ship but the cooperation of the nearby Native Hawaiians saw their return. One man was flogged, another put in chains. Thorn assembled all of the crew and PFC employees and harassed the men to remain on the ship. Commercial transactions eventually began with the Hawaiians; the crew purchased cabbage, sugar cane, purple yams, taro, coconuts, watermelon, breadfruit, hogs, goats, two sheep, and poultry for "glass beads, iron rings, needles, cotton cloth". A courier from government agent John Young ordered the Tonquin to visit him for meat supplies and then to have an audience with King Kamehameha I who resided on Oʻahu.

Upon entering Honolulu, the crew was greeted by Francisco de Paula Marín and Isaac Davis. Marín acted as an interpreter in negotiations with Kamehameha I and Kalanimoku, a prominent Hawaiian government official. Besides his work in discussion between the Hawaiian Monarch and the PFC officers, Marín also acted as the pilot to guide the ship into port, for which he received five Spanish dollars. Twenty-four Hawaiian kanakas were recruited for three years service, half in the fur venture and the other half as laborers on the Tonquin. One of the Hawaiians, Naukane, was appointed by Kamehameha I to oversee the interests of these laborers. Naukane was given the name John Coxe while on the Tonquin and later joined the North West Company. The Tonquin and its crew left the Hawaiian Kingdom on 1 March 1811.


The Tonquin (left) in 1811 at the Columbia River

The Columbia River was reached on 22 March 1811, but its dangerous bar posed a major problem. Thorn sent five men in a boat to attempt to locate the channel, but the rough surf capsized the vessel and its crew was lost. Two days later another attempt by an additional small boat also sank. Of the five crew members, which included two Hawaiian Kanakas, only an American and a Hawaiian survived. In total eight men died attempting to find a safe route past the Columbia Bar. Finally, on March 24, the Tonquin crossed into the Columbia’s estuary and laid anchor in Baker’s Bay. The personnel then proceeded fifteen miles up the river to present-day Astoria, Oregon, where they spent two months laboring to establish Fort Astoria. Some trade goods and other materials that composed the cargo were transferred to the new trading post. During this work, small transactions with curious Chinookan Clatsop people occurred.

Destruction


Map of Vancouver Island with inset of Clayoquot Sound region
Main article: Battle of Woody Point

On 5 June 1811, the Tonquin left Baker’s Bay with a crew of 24 and sailed north for Vancouver Island to trade with various Nuu-chah-nulth peoples living on the island's west coast. Alexander McKay was aboard the ship as supercargo and James Lewis as clerk. Near Destruction Island, a member of the Quinault nation, Joseachal, was recruited by Thorn to act as an interpreter, being recorded as "Joseachal" by McDougall in company records. He had a sister married to a Tla-o-qui-aht man, a factor that has been attributed to his later survival on Vancouver Island.

While anchored at Clayoquot Sound, the Tonquin crew engaged in fur trading activities with the natives. Members of the neighboring Tla-o-qui-aht nation boarded the ship in large numbers to trade. Commercial dealings were negotiated between an experienced elder, Nookamis, and Thorn. Thorn offered an exchange rate found to be unsatisfactory by the elder, who wanted five blankets for every fur skin sold. These discussions continued on throughout the day and Thorn increasingly became frustrated at the indigenous intransigence to accept his terms. The interpreter later informed McDougall that Thorn "got in a passion with Nookamis", taking one of Nookamis' fur skins and hitting him on the face with it.[36] After this outburst, Thorn ordered the ship prepare to depart, with the Tla-o-qui-aht still on board.

The Tla-o-qui-aht consulted among themselves and on 15 June, as the Tonquin was close to leaving the area, offered to trade their fur stockpiles again. They proposed that in return for a skin, the PFC officers sell three blankets and a knife. McDougall recounted that "A brisk trade was carried on untill all the Indians setting round on the decks of the Ship were supplied with a knife a piece." Violence immediately erupted as warriors led by Wickaninnish attacked the crew on board, killing all but four of the men. Three crew members escaped in a rowboat during the confusion, and one badly wounded man, James Lewis, was left aboard the ship. The following day, 16 June, Lewis allegedly scuttled the Tonquin by lighting a fuse that detonated the ship's powder magazine when the Tla-o-qui-aht returned to loot the ship; the explosion may have killed more than 100 natives. The crew members who had escaped during the initial massacre were allegedly captured and tortured to death by the Tla-o-qui-aht following the explosion. The only known survivor of the crew was Joseachal, who arrived back at Fort Astoria with the assistance of prominent Lower Chinookan noble Comcomly. His account is the only one detailing the fate of the Tonquin.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonquin_(1807)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Fur_Company

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1860 – The steamship PS Lady Elgin sinks on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 300 lives.


The PS Lady Elgin was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that sank in Lake Michigan off Highwood, Illinois after she was rammed in a gale by the schooner Augusta in the early hours of September 8, 1860. The passenger manifest was lost with the collision, but the sinking of the Lady Elgin resulted in the loss of about 300 lives[2] in what was called "one of the greatest marine horrors on record." Four years after the disaster, a new rule required sailing vessels to carry running lights. The Lady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.


1857 Bird's eye view of Chicago, with the Lady Elgin at bottom right

In 1994, a process began to list the shipwreck on the National Register of Historic Places. After it was determined to be eligible for listing in 1999, the process ended after an objection by the owner, so the shipwreck is not listed on the Register.

Career
The Lady Elgin was built in 1851 in Buffalo, New York, at a cost of $95,000. She was named after the wife of Lord Elgin, Canada's Governor General from 1847 to 1854. During her time, the wooden-hulled sidewheeler was one of the most elegantly appointed passenger ships plying the Great Lakes. Rated a first-class steamer, she was a favorite with the traveling public. Early in her career she ran between Buffalo and Chicago, then later between Chicago and Collingwood, Ontario. For many of her later seasons, she plied the route between Chicago and other Lake Michigan ports and Lake Superior.

During the Lady Elgin's career she was involved in numerous accidents. She sank and was repaired in 1854 after striking a rock at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1855, she was towed to Chicago after an accident to her machinery. In 1857, she was damaged by fire. In June 1858, she struck a reef at Copper Harbor, Michigan. In August 1858, she was stranded on Au Sable Point Reef in Lake Superior. In October 1859, she was towed to Marquette, Michigan after breaking her crossbeam. In November 1859, she was towed again when her crank pin broke near Point Iroquois, Michigan. Her final blow came in 1860 when she was rammed by the wooden schooner Augusta ten miles from shore. In 1899, Great Lakes historian J.B. Mansfield called the Lady Elgin's sinking "one of the greatest marine horrors on record"

Final voyage


A woodcut engraving of the collision from Frank Leslie's Illustrated paper

On the night of September 6, 1860 the Lady Elgin left Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from the Dooley, Martin, Dousman, and Company Dock, for Chicago, carrying members of Milwaukee's Union Guard to hear a campaign speech by Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's opponent, although there is no clear historical evidence that Douglas actually appeared. Three hundred men and women spent the day of September 7 listening to political speeches followed by an evening of entertainment by a German brass band on board the Lady Elgin. On the return trip that night, the brightly lit Lady Elgin was steaming through Lake Michigan against gale force winds when she was rammed by the schooner Augusta of Oswego. The Augusta was sailing using only a single white light, mounted on a five-foot Samson on the bow, and did not attempt, or was unable, to turn to avoid the collision in the gale. On the morning of the collision (September 8) at 2:30 am, the Augusta rammed the port side of the Lady Elgin, damaging her own bowsprit and headgear, while holing the latter ship below the waterline.


Lady Elgin at Dock September 7, 1860

Concerned that she was damaged and believing the Lady Elgin had gotten safely away, the Augusta made for Chicago. Aboard the Lady Elgin, Captain Wilson ordered that cattle and cargo be thrown overboard to lighten the load and raise the gaping hole in the Lady Elgin's port side above water level while the steward was down in the coal bunker trying to stop the leak with mattresses. Captain Wilson ordered a lifeboat lowered on the starboard side to check the extent of the damage but it never regained the steamer. Within twenty minutes, the Lady Elgin broke apart, and all but the bow section rapidly sank. The night was lit up at intervals by flashes of lightning showing the scattered wreckage.

The life preservers, 2 in (5.1 cm) hardwood planks, 5 ft (1.5 m) long and 18 in (46 cm) wide, were never used. Two boats with a total of 18 persons reached shore. In addition, fourteen people were saved on a large raft and many others on parts of the wreckage. Over 300 lives were lost and 98 saved. The drummer of the German band, Charles Beverung, saved himself by using his large bass drum as a life preserver. Survivors reported the heroic efforts of Captain Wilson to save about 300 persons collected on a raft. When day broke, between 350 and 400 passengers and crew were drifting in stormy waters, holding on to anything they could, many only to be pulled under by breakers near shore.

Students from Northwestern University and Garrett Biblical Institute were watching the shore on the morning of September 8, looking for survivors. One of the students, Edward Spencer, is credited with rescuing 17 passengers over the course of six hours. He sustained injuries during his rescue efforts that left him an invalid for the rest of his life. A plaque in his honor was first placed in the Northwestern University Gymnasium, and is now housed in the Northwestern University Library.

About 300 people died in the sinking, including Captain Wilson, who was lost trying to save two women when he was caught by the surf and forced into the rocks. Most were from Milwaukee with the majority of those from the Irish communities, including nearly all of Milwaukee's Irish Union Guard. So many Irish-American political operatives died that day that the disaster has been credited with transferring the balance of political power in Milwaukee "from the Irish to the Germans". It is said that more than 1000 children were orphaned by the tragedy, however research shows that there were fewer than 40 children orphaned. The Lady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.

Memorials


State of Wisconsin Historical Marker for the Lady Elgin

A Wisconsin historical marker in the historic third ward in Milwaukee commemorates the tragedy. Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee has a monument dedicated to the Lady Elgin disaster and the many lost in the tragedy who are buried there. For many years in central Canada the memorial song "Lost on the Lady Elgin" was sung at family gatherings and social occasions. The Milwaukee Irish Heritage and Cultural Center has spearheaded a $200,000 project for a mammoth, two-story bronze memorial statue for the Lady Elgin disaster.

Maritime rulings
Following the wreck, the ship's owner, Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, received a $12,000 payment from his insurance company, but neither Hubbard nor the insurance company accepted abandonment of the ship. The captain of the Augusta, Darius Malott, was arrested and tried in Chicago, but found not guilty of navigational negligence. A coroner's jury declared the second-mate, Mr. Budge of the Augusta, to be incompetent, and the crew of the Augusta to be of principal blame. However, steamboat historian Peter Charlebois noted that after the investigation, Captain Malott of the Augusta and the crew and owners of the Lady Elgin were absolved of any blame. He reported:

The judgement was based on a law that not only gave sail the right of way over steam, but did not require sailing vessels to carry running lights. Apparently the Augusta had sighted the passenger steamer twenty minutes before the collision but in the rain had misjudged the distance between them. Four years after the disaster, in 1864, a new ruling was made requiring sailing vessels to carry running lights. Since there were still nearly 1,900 ships under sail by 1870 the regulations were long overdue.​

Cause of the collision was the lack of a $15 lantern on the Augusta, per Professor Mason and Lieutenant Bartlett, Polytechnic Association of the American Institute, Scientific American, New Series, Vol 3, Issue 14, page 214.(September 29, 1860).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Lady_Elgin

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1892 – sinking of the SS Charles W. Wetmore


The SS Charles W. Wetmore was a whaleback freighter built in 1891 by Alexander McDougall's American Steel Barge Company shipyard in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. She was named in honor of Charles W. Wetmore, a business associate of Alexander McDougall, officer of the shipyard, and associate of the Rockefeller family.[


The Wetmore, downbound through the Weitzel lock, at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, en route to London, 1891

Construction and equipment
The Wetmore was built in 1891 as hull #112 of the American Steel Barge Company works. The Wetmore was 264 ft (80 m) long with a beam of 38 ft (12 m) and a 16.4 ft (5.0 m) draft and gross tonnage of 3,000. Her power was a single 700 horsepower (520 kW) steam engine, but she also had four jury masts with sails for emergency use. As typical for freight whalebacks, there was a small turret at the bow which had anchor hoisting machinery and other equipment. Three turrets at the stern raised the stern cabin and pilothouse off the hull. Her single stack exited through one of the turrets. A typical crew complement was 22.

Operating history
The Wetmore was the first whaleback to operate outside the Great Lakes, when in June 1891, as a way to promote the whaleback design, she was sent to London and Liverpool, England, carrying a cargo of 95,000 bushels of grain. This required traversing the rapids of the Saint Lawrence River as she was too big to fit through the locks of the time, and was therefore practically a one-way journey. After her visit to England, where she reportedly caused a "sensation" she returned to New York and loaded machinery and equipment there and in Philadelphia. She then sailed to Everett, Washington, via Cape Horn. Her journey was covered in the Puget Sound local press. The equipment was to be used to start a new shipyard, The Pacific Steel Barge Company, and to outfit a nail mill and iron smelter

Her designer, Alexander McDougall arrived in Everett in early December, in advance of her arrival. When almost there, she lost her rudder (it had gradually been coming unriveted since the Galápagos Islands according to her captain) and she had to be towed in by the SS Zambezi out of Hong Kong. As was typical marine salvage practice at the time, the owners of the Zambezi filed a salvage claim for one third the value of the ship and cargo. She was nevertheless received with great enthusiasm by the local townsfolk.

Her career was short: she ran aground on 8 September 1892 in fog off Coos Bay, Oregon while carrying a load of coal from Tacoma, Washington bound for San Francisco. Salvage attempts were frustrated due to bad weather, and the vessel was abandoned. Meanwhile the Pacific Steel Barge Company yard, founded with the equipment she brought, built the SS City of Everett. No other whalebacks were built by the shipyard.


A whaleback was a type of cargo steamship of unusual design, with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal. When fully loaded, only the rounded portion of the hull (the "whaleback" proper) could be seen above the waterline. With sides curved in towards the ends, it had a spoon bow and a very convex upper deck. It was formerly used on the Great Lakes of Canada and the United States, notably for carrying grain or ore.

The term developed in common usage in response to the ship's appearance when fully loaded. A total of 44 such vessels were constructed from 1887 to 1898 All but two were built initially as lake freighters for service on the Great Lakes. Six were built at Duluth, Minnesota; 33 were built at West Superior, Wisconsin; 2 at Brooklyn, New York; one at Everett, Washington; and one at Sunderland, England. A number of the Great Lakes vessels left the lakes for service on salt water seas.


SS Thomas Wilson in the Soo Locks, unladen, with two consort barges, also whalebacks

The term "whaleback" has also been applied to a type of high speed launch first designed for the Royal Air Force during World War II, and to certain smaller rescue and research vessels especially in Europe that, like the Great Lakes vessels, have hulls that curve over to meet the deck. An example of the former is the British Power Boat Company Type Two 63 ft HSL. The designation in this case comes not from the curve along the gunwale, but from the fore and aft arch in the deck.

Another application of the term is to a sheltered portion of the forward deck on certain British fishing boats. It is designed, in part, so that water taken over the bow is more easily shed over the sides. The feature has been incorporated into some pleasure craft based on the hull design of older whaling boats, in which it becomes a "whaleback deck".


SS Meteor, the only remaining whaleback in existence. It now resides in Superior, Wisconsin, as a museum ship.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Charles_W._Wetmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaleback

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1914 - RMS Oceanic, a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line run aground and wrecked


RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 6 September 1899 and was the largest ship in the world until 1901. At the outbreak of World War I she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. On 8 August 1914 she was commissioned into Royal Navy service.


RMS Oceanic

On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to the Faroes. On 8 September she ran aground and was wrecked off the island of Foula, near the Shetland Islands.

Background
In the late 1890s the White Star Line's existing prestige liners Majestic and Teutonic, both launched in 1889, had become outmoded due to rapid advances in marine technology: Their competitors the Cunard Line had introduced the Campania and Lucania 1893, and from 1897 the German Norddeutscher Lloyd began introducing four new Kaiser-class ocean liners which included the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. In order to compete with these ships the White Star Line needed to produce a new flagship which could rival them.

Design and construction

Oceanic under construction at Harland & Wolff shipyard.

Their new flagship Oceanic whose keel was laid down at Harland and Wolff Belfast in 1897 was named after their first successful liner RMS Oceanic of 1870, and was to be the first ship to exceed Brunel's SS Great Eastern in length, although not in tonnage. Oceanic was not however designed to be the fastest ship afloat or compete for the Blue Riband, as it was the White Star Line's policy to focus on size and comfort rather than speed. Oceanicwas designed for a service speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph), but had the capability of reaching 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph).

In order to build the ship a new 500 ton overhead gantry crane had to be constructed at the yard in order to lift the material necessary for the ship's construction

At 17,272 gross tons, the future "Queen of the Ocean" cost one million pounds sterling (equivalent to £103,310,000 in 2016), and required 1,500 shipwrights to complete. Her launching on 14 January 1899 was watched by over 1,000 invited guests, including the Marquis of Dufferin, Duke of Abercorn and Lord Londonderry. RMS Oceanic's bridge was integrated with her superstructure giving her a clean fluid look, this design feature would later be omitted from the next big four White Star ships, Cedric, Celtic, Baltic and Adriatic with their odd but distinguishable 'island' bridges. "Nothing but the very finest", was Ismay’s policy toward this new venture, and she was constructed at Harland and Wolff’s Queen's Island yard at Belfast, as was the tradition with White Star Line ships.

Oceanic was built to accommodate slightly over 1,700 passengers, with 349 crew. In his autobiography, Titanic and Other Ships, Charles Lightollergives an account of what it was like to be an officer on this vessel.

Career

Old colour postcard of Oceanic

In 1900, in heavy fog (which lasted for four days), Oceanic was rescued by being put on the right course by a local skipper, Captain Peter Harrison on his flat boat the Alice Linda. Oceanic had almost run aground off the seaside town of Cleveleys on the Fylde coast in Lancashire. After that incident, the Oceanic always had a special greeting for Captain Harrison's boat whenever the two met at Liverpool. One of Peter Harrison's valued possessions was a pair of binoculars presented to him by the White Star officials in recognition of his timely action.

In 1901, in a heavy fog, Oceanic was involved in a collision when she rammed and sank the small Waterford Steamship Company SS Kincora, killing seven.

In 1905, Oceanic was the first White Star Line ship to suffer a mutiny, which resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of 35 stokers upset with the officers over working conditions.

In April 1912, during the departure of RMS Titanic from Southampton, Oceanic became involved in the near collision of Titanic with SS New York, when Oceanic was nearby as New York broke from her mooring and nearly collided with Titanic, due to the large wake caused by Titanic′s size and speed.A month later, in mid-May 1912, Oceanic picked up three bodies in one of the lifeboats left floating in the North Atlantic after Titanic sank.[a] After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were buried at sea.

World War I
Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Oceanic was included in a deal with the Admiralty, which made an annual grant toward the maintenance of any ship on the condition that it could be called upon for naval work, during times of war. Such ships were built to particular naval specifications, in the case of Oceanic so that the 4.7 inch guns she was to be given could be quickly mounted. "The greatest liner of her day" was commissioned into Naval service on 8 August 1914 as an armed merchant cruiser.

On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton on naval service that was to last just two weeks. Oceanic was to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to the Faroes, in particular the area around Shetland. She was empowered to stop shipping at her Captain’s discretion, and to check cargoes and personnel for any potential German connections. For these duties, she carried Royal Marines and Captain William Slayter RN was appointed in command. Her former Merchant Master, Captain Henry Smith, with two years' service, remained in the ship with the rank of Commander RNR. Many of the original crew also continued to serve on Oceanic.

Disaster
Oceanic headed for Scapa Flow in Orkney, Britain’s main naval anchorage, with easy access to the North Sea and the Atlantic. From here she proceeded north to Shetlandtravelling continuously on a standard zigzag course as a precaution against being targeted by U-boats. This difficult manoeuvring required extremely accurate navigation, especially with such a large vessel. In the event it appears to have been poor navigation, rather than enemy action that was to doom Oceanic.

An inaccurate fix of their position was made on the night of 7 September by navigator Lieutenant David Blair RNR (previously assigned to, then reassigned from, the Titanic). While everyone on the bridge thought they were well to the southwest of the Isle of Foula, they were in fact an estimated thirteen to fourteen miles off course and on the wrong side of the island. This put them directly on course for a reef, the notorious Shaalds of Foula, which poses a major threat to shipping, coming within a few feet of the surface, and in calm weather giving no warning sign whatsoever.

Captain Slayter had retired after his night watch, unaware of the situation, with orders to steer to Foula. Commander Smith took over the morning watch, and with his former knowledge of the ship was only happy when the ship was in open sea. Having previously disagreed with his naval superior about dodging around the island, he instructed the navigator to plot a course out to sea. Slayter must have felt the course change, as he reappeared on the bridge to countermand Smith's order and made what turned out to be a hasty and ill-informed judgement which resulted in the ship running directly onto the Shaalds on the morning of 8 September. She was wrecked in a flat calm and clear weather. She was the first Allied passenger ship to be lost in the war.

Rescue
The Aberdeen trawler, Glenogil, was the first vessel on the scene, and although she attempted to pull off the massive ship, it proved an impossible task, and with the hull already ruptured, Oceanic would not have stayed afloat long in open waters. Other ships in the area were called in to assist in the rescue operation that was to follow. All of the ship's crew transferred to the trawler via the ship's lifeboats and were then ferried to the waiting AMC HMS Alsatian, and HMS Forward. Charles Lightoller, the ship's First Officer (and also the most senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic), was the last man off, taking the navigation room's clock as a souvenir.

The 573-ton Admiralty salvage vessel Lyons was dispatched to the scene hurriedly, and in the words of the Laird of Foula, Professor Ian S. Holbourn, writing about the disaster in his book The Isle of Foula:

The launch of the Lyons, a salvage boat which hurried to the scene, was capable of a speed of ten knots, yet was unable to make any headway against the tide although she tried for fifteen minutes. Even then it was not the top of the tide, and the officer in charge reckoned the full tide would be 12 knots, he confessed he would not have believed it had he been told.​

Commander Smith is said to have come ashore at the remote island’s tiny pier, and on looking back out to sea toward his stranded ship two miles away, commented that the ship would stay on the reef as a monument and nothing would move it. One of the Foula men, wise to the full power and fury of a Shetland storm, is said to have muttered with a cynicism not unknown in those parts "I‘ll give her two weeks".

Remarkably, following a heavy gale that had persisted throughout the night of 29 September, just two weeks after the incident the islanders discovered the following day that the ship had been entirely swallowed up by the sea, where she remains to this day scattered as she fell apart under the pressure of the seas on the Shaalds.

The disaster was hushed up at the time, since it was felt that it would have been embarrassing to make public how a world-famous liner had run aground in friendly waters in good weather within a fortnight of beginning its service as a naval vessel. The revelation of such gross incompetence at this early stage of the war would have done nothing for national morale.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Oceanic_(1899)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
8 September 1923 - At Honda Point, Calif., seven destroyers are run aground due to bad weather, strong currents, and faulty navigation. Twenty-three lives are lost during the disaster.


The Honda Point disaster was the largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships. On the evening of September 8, 1923, seven destroyers, while traveling at 20 knots (37 km/h), ran aground at Honda Point, a few miles from the northern side of the Santa Barbara Channel off Point Arguello on the coast in Santa Barbara County, California. Two other ships grounded, but were able to maneuver free of the rocks. Twenty-three sailors died in the disaster.


The seven wrecked destroyers on Honda point. The lost ships were:

• USS Delphy (DD-261) was the flagship in the column. She ran aground on the shore at 20 knots (37 km/h). After running aground, she sounded her siren. The siren alerted some of the later ships in the column, helping them avoid the tragedy. Three men died. Eugene Dooman, a State Department expert on Japan, who survived, was aboard as a guest of Captain Watson, whom he had met in Japan.
• USS S. P. Lee (DD-310) was following a few hundred yards behind. She saw the Delphy suddenly stop, and turned to port (left) in response. As a result, she ran aground on the coast.
• USS Young (DD-312) made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks, and the inrush of water capsized her onto her starboard side. Twenty men died.
• USS Woodbury (DD-309) turned to starboard, but struck an offshore rock.
• USS Nicholas (DD-311) turned to port and also hit a rock.
• USS Fuller (DD-297) stuck next to the Woodbury.
• USS Chauncey (DD-296) made an attempt to rescue sailors from the capsized Young. She ran aground.

Geography of Honda Point
The area of Honda Point (now known as Point Pedernales) is extremely treacherous for central California mariners, as it features a series of rocky outcroppings, collectively known as Woodbury Rocks by locals (one of which is today named Destroyer Rock on navigational charts). Called the Devil's Jaw, the area has been a navigational hazard since the Spanish explorers first came in the 16th century. It is just north of the entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel, which was the intended route of the destroyers involved in the disaster.

Captain Edward Howe Watson
Main article: Edward H. Watson
Captain Edward H. Watson, an 1895 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, commanded Destroyer Squadron Eleven. He had served during the Spanish–American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and World War I. Watson was promoted to captain in 1917. Assigned command of Destroyer Squadron Eleven in July 1922, it was his first time as a fleet commander.

Incident
The fourteen ships of Destroyer Squadron 11 (DESRON 11) were steaming south from San Francisco Bay to San Diego Bay on September 8, 1923. The squadron was led by Commodore Edward H. Watson, on the flagship destroyer USS Delphy. All were Clemson-class destroyers, less than five years old. The ships turned east to course 095, supposedly heading into the Santa Barbara Channel, at 21:00. The ships were navigating by dead reckoning, estimating positions from their course and speed, as measured by propeller revolutions per minute. At that time radio navigation aids were new and not completely trusted. USS Delphy was equipped with a radio navigation receiver, but her navigator and captain ignored its indicated bearings, believing them to be erroneous. No effort was made to take soundings of water depths due to the necessity of slowing the ships down to take the measurements. The ships were performing an exercise that simulated wartime conditions, hence the decision was made not to slow down. In this case, the dead reckoning was wrong, and the mistakes were fatal. Despite the heavy fog, Commodore Watson ordered all ships to travel in close formation and, turning too soon, went aground. Six others followed and sank. Two ships whose captains disobeyed the close-formation order survived, although they also hit the rocks.

Earlier the same day, the mail steamship SS Cuba ran aground nearby. Some attributed these incidents in the Santa Barbara Channel to unusual currents caused by the great Tokyo earthquake of the previous week.

Navigational errors
The fourteen Clemson-class destroyers of Destroyer Squadron Eleven were to follow the flagship USS Delphy in column formation from San Francisco Bay, through the Santa Barbara Channel, and finally to San Diego. Destroyer Squadron Eleven was on a twenty-four-hour exercise from northern California to southern California.[5] The flagship was responsible for navigation. As the Delphy steamed along the coastline, poor visibility meant the navigators had to go by the age-old technique of dead reckoning. They had to estimate their position based on their speed and heading. The navigators aboard the Delphydid have radio direction finding (RDF) equipment, which picked up signals from a station at Point Arguello, but RDF was new and the bearings obtained were dismissed as unreliable. Based solely on dead reckoning, Captain Watson ordered the fleet to turn east into the Santa Barbara Channel. However, the Delphy was actually several miles northeast of where they thought they were, and the error caused the ships to run aground on Honda Point.

Ocean conditions
The main cause of the navigational errors experienced by the crew of the Delphy can be attributed to the earthquake in Japan and the underestimation of the resulting ocean conditions. On September 1, 1923, seven days before the disaster, the Great Kantō earthquake occurred in Japan. As a result of this earthquake, unusually large swells and strong currents arose off the coast of California and remained for a number of days. Before Destroyer Squadron Eleven even reached Honda Point, a number of ships had encountered navigational problems as a result of the unusual currents.

As DESRON 11 began their exercise run down the California coast, they made their way through these swells and currents. While the squadron was traveling through these swells and currents, their estimations of speed and bearing used for dead reckoning were being affected. The navigators aboard the lead ship Delphy did not take into account the effects of the strong currents and large swells in their estimations. Since the navigators in the lead ship Delphy did not account for the current and swells in their estimations, the entire squadron was off course and positioned near the treacherous coastline of Honda Point instead of the open ocean of the Santa Barbara Channel. Coupled with darkness and thick fog, the swells and currents caused by the earthquake in Japan made accurate navigation nearly impossible for the Delphy. The geography of Honda Point, which is completely exposed to wind and waves, created an extremely deadly environment once the unusually strong swells and currents were added to the coastline.

Once the error in navigation occurred, the weather conditions and ocean conditions sealed the fate of the squadron. The weather surrounding Honda Point at the time of the disaster was windy and foggy while the geography of the area and the earthquake in Japan created strong counter-currents and swells that forced the ships into the rocks once they entered the area.

Ships involved


USS S. P. Lee prior to grounding


USS Nicholas


USS Woodbury on beach


USS Chauncey

The lost ships were:

• USS Delphy, the flagship in the column. She ran aground on the shore at 20 knots (37 km/h). After running aground, she sounded her siren. The siren alerted some of the later ships in the column, helping them avoid the tragedy. Three men died. Eugene Dooman, a State Department expert on Japan, who survived, was aboard as a guest of Captain Watson, whom he had met in Japan.
• USS S. P. Lee was following a few hundred yards behind. She saw the Delphy suddenly stop, and turned to port (left) in response. As a result, she ran aground on the coast.
• USS Young made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks, and the inrush of water capsized her onto her starboard side. Twenty men died.
• USS Woodbury turned to starboard, but struck an offshore rock.
• USS Nicholas turned to port and also hit a rock.
• USS Fuller stuck next to Woodbury.
• USS Chauncey made an attempt to rescue sailors from the capsized Young. Instead, she ran aground.

Light damage was recorded by:

• USS Farragut ran aground, but was able to extricate herself and was not lost.
• USS Somers was lightly damaged.

The remaining five ships avoided the rocks:

• USS Percival
• USS Kennedy
• USS Paul Hamilton
• USS Stoddert
• USS Thompson

Rescue efforts
Rescue attempts promptly followed the accident. Local ranchers, who were alerted by the commotion of the disaster, rigged up breeches buoys from the surrounding clifftops and lowered them down to the ships that had run aground. Fishermen nearby who had seen the tragedy picked up members of the crew from USS Fuller and USS Woodbury. The crew aboard the capsized Young was able to climb to safety on the nearby USS Chauncey via a lifeline. The five destroyers in Destroyer Squadron Eleven that avoided running aground at Honda Point were also able to contribute to rescue efforts by picking up sailors who had been thrown into the water and by assisting those who were stuck aboard the wreckage of other ships.[6] After the disaster, the government did not attempt to salvage any of the wrecks at Honda Point due to the nature of the damage each ship sustained. The wrecks themselves, along with the equipment that remained on them, were sold to a scrap merchant for a total of $1,035. The wrecked ships were still not moved by late August 1929, since they may be clearly seen in film footage taken from the German airship Graf Zeppelin as she headed towards Los Angeles on her circumnavigation of the globe; the film footage is used in the documentary film Farewell (2009).

Court martial

Captain E.H. Watson, shown here as a commander, 1915

The seven-officer Navy court-martial board, presided over by Vice Admiral Henry A. Wiley, commander battleship divisions of the Battle Fleet, ruled that the disaster was the fault of the fleet commander and the flagship's navigators. They assigned blame to the captain of each ship, following the tradition that a captain's first responsibility is to his own ship, even when in formation. Eleven officers involved would be brought before general courts-martial on the charges of negligence and culpable inefficiency to perform one’s duty. This was the largest single group of officers ever court-martialed in the U.S. Navy's history. The court martial ruled that the events of the Honda Point Disaster were "directly attributable to bad errors and faulty navigation" by Captain Watson. Watson was stripped of his seniority, and three other officers were admonished. Those officers who were court-martialed were all acquitted Captain Watson, who had been defended by Admiral Thomas Tingey Craven, was commended by his peers and the government for assuming full responsibility for the disaster at Honda Point. He could have tried to blame a variety of factors for the disaster, but instead, he set a example for those others by accepting the responsibility entirely on his shoulders.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_disaster