Burutu (ship)
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The Burutu (I) was a passenger ship put into service in 1902 by the British shipping company Elder Dempster & Company . The steamer sank on October 3, 1918 after a ship collision in the Irish Sea , with 148 passengers and crew members killed.
The ship
The 3,863-ton steamer Burutu 1902 in Glasgow district Linthouse on the shipyard Alexander Stephen and Sons built. The ship was on 11 February 1902, the hull number 394, stack and was completed in May of the same year. The hull was 109.7 meters long, 13.5 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 4.36 meters.
The triple expansion steam engine developed 525 nominal horsepower and accelerated the ship to a maximum speed of 14 knots. The Burutu had a single propeller , a chimney, and two masts .
The ship was built for the Elder Dempster & Company Limited (often abbreviated Elder Dempster Lines ) founded in 1852 , which specializes in passenger and freight traffic to the United States and Canada , but also to more distant destinations such as Africa , the Caribbean and the Canary Islands Islands and India . The shipping company was based in London , but the Burutu's home port was Liverpool . The Burutu was used for the West Africa service and called at ports in Sierra Leone and Nigeria . She transported passengers, cargo and mail . The ship was named after a town in the Nigerian state of Delta .
Downfall
On Thursday October 3, 1918, the Burutu approached the island of Anglesey in the Irish Sea . She came with 114 passengers and 98 crew members as well as mail and cargo under the command of Captain Frederick Austin Blythe from Freetown (Sierra Leone) and was on her way to Liverpool.
The course of the incoming Burutu crossed with that of the departing City of Calcutta (7,653 t), a cargo steamer of the British Ellerman's City Line, which was on the way from Manchester to Montreal . There were 156 crew members on board the City of Calcutta . The two ships sailed in different convoys and, in accordance with the regulations of the British Admiralty, were darkened due to the submarine danger and therefore difficult to see.
It was dark, rainy and stormy. At 11 p.m. the collision occurred 25 nautical miles southwest of Bardsey Island at the tip of the Lleyn Peninsula . The Steven the City of Calcutta slammed into the port side of the ocean liner, the full quickly ran and sank a few minutes after the collision. 148 passengers and crew, including Captain Blythe, were killed in the accident. In the subsequent judicial investigation into the downfall, negligence was ruled out. According to Judge Hill's verdict, darkness and compliance with Admiralty orders were the cause of the accident.