Ava (ship)
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The Ava (II) was a 1873 posed in service passenger ship of the British shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company . She went down on May 24, 1879 after a collision with the freighter Brenhilda in the Indian Ganges Delta .
The ship
The 2600 GRT steamship was built at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard in the Scottish port city of Dumbarton . Consisting of iron built barquentine was with the hull number 167 under the name Puttiala placed on Kiel . The launch took place on October 6, 1873 and on December 23 of the same year the ship was completed. Upon completion, the ship was renamed Ava, based on a ship sold to India in 1872 .
The Ava had room for 41 first class and 18 second class passengers . It was powered by composite steam engines, but like many steamships of its time, it also had three masts with full rigging . Their machines made 300 nominal horsepower and allowed a speed of up to twelve knots. Like most of her shipping company's passenger steamers, she was used to transport passengers and cargo from Great Britain to various ports in India.
Downfall
On Thursday, 22 May 1879 ran Ava in Calcutta under the command of Captain Dickinson to another ferry to Madras , Colombo and London via the Suez Canal from. On board were 123 passengers and crew members as well as an ordinary cargo worth about 100,000 pounds sterling (after's then monetary value ).
In the early morning of May 24 in front of the sand Heads went to the mouth of the river Hooghly in the Ganges Delta of the pilot to disembark. Shortly afterwards, at around 2 a.m., she collided with the British sailing ship Brenhilda (1393 t), which was under the command of Captain J. Scurr with its cargo on its way from Gravesend to Algoa Bay. The Ava was struck amidships by the Brenhilda and almost split in half.
Of the five existing lifeboats , one was so damaged by the collision that it could no longer be used and another crashed while launching. The other three could be safely lowered into the water with a total of 53 people on board. The Brenhilda remained buoyant. In the rough seas, however, she drifted, so that it took two hours for the Ava's lifeboats to reach her. The badly damaged Brenhilda then ran to Calcutta. 70 passengers and crew were killed in the sinking, including Captain Dickinson, the purser EW Deare and the fourth machinist.