Blackwall frigate

The Blackwall frigate Northfleet (1853)

Blackwall frigate was the colloquial name for a three-masted full ship that was built between the late 1830s and the mid 1870s. This type of ship was originally intended as a replacement for the British East Indiamans, who were engaged in trade between England , the Cape of Good Hope , India and China , but were also used on the routes from England to Australia and New Zealand from the 1850s .

The first Blackwall frigates were built by Wigram & Green , based in Blackwall Yard on the Thames . Under changing management, these shipyards had built East Indiamans and warships for the Royal Navy since the early 17th century . While the traditional East Indiaman has double stern galleries, the Blackwall frigate was only equipped with a single one and was broadly similar to a frigate . Due to the single gallery, the shape of the ship's hull at the stern was very sleek, as were the hull lines at the bow below the waterline. Blackwall frigates, for example, were very fast sailors, if not quite as fast as the clippers that became fashionable in the late 1840s. Another typical feature of the Blackwall frigates was the strongly rounded bow above the waterline; these forms were called "apple cheeks". The first two Blackwall frigates, the Seringapatam with 871 GRT and the Madagascar with 951 GRT, were launched in 1837 and bore the names of two frigates of the Royal Navy built in India, as well as a number of their successors. This was obviously the reason for the popular naming of this type of ship.

Over 120 Blackwall frigates have been built in shipyards in the UK and India; the last was the 1,857 GRT iron-hulled ship Melbourne , which was laid down by the Green family in 1875. These ships were generally considered safe and comfortable and were used on the main trade routes. However, they were also victims of some of the most famous shipping accidents of the 19th century, e.g. B .:

The Madagascar was lost in 1853 on a trip from Melbourne to London and 150 lives with it.
The Dalhousie sank in front of Beachy Head on October 13, 1853, killing about 60 passengers and crew.
The Dunbar ran aground on August 20, 1857 off the Sydney Heads and 121 people died.
The Northfleet collided with a steamship in the English Channel on January 22, 1873 and sank, killing 320 people.
The Cospatrick was destroyed by fire on November 18, 1874 south of the Cape of Good Hope and 473 people died.

A well-known later Blackwall frigate was the True Briton , a 1,046 GRT ship built in 1861 that made frequent voyages to Australia and New Zealand, carrying passengers, prisoners and cargo. Photos of this ship can be seen in the State Library of Victora in Melbourne.

The half-clipper Clyde (1860) with 1,151 GRT

In the 1860s, the main differences between Blackwall frigates and clippers were the stern gallery (which "real clippers" never had, but the "half-clippers" did) and the retracted hulls, which were narrower at deck level than at waterline level were. The latter feature was more pronounced in Blackwall frigates than in clippers and half-clippers.

In the 1870s, both types of sailors were replaced by steamers in passenger traffic, and cargo sailers, commonly known as windjammers , were later built .

Web links

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Basil Lubbock: The Blackwall Frigates . Brown, Son & Ferguson. Glasgow (1922), online
Lloyd's Register of Shipping
David Lyon: The Navy Sailing List - All the Ships of the Royal Navy built, Purchased and Captured - 1688-1860 . Conway Maritime Press. London (1993)