Cambria (ship)
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The Cambria was a passenger ship of the British shipping company Anchor Line put into service in 1869 . It carried passengers and cargo on the North Atlantic from Glasgow to New York . On October 19, 1870, the Cambria crashed into the rugged cliffs of the island of Inishtrahull off the coast of the Irish county of Donegal at high speed and in stormy seas . The penetrating water put out the fire under the kettlesand let the ship sink quickly. 179 people died. Only one passenger survived the accident.
The ship
The steamship Cambria was built in 1869 by the Scottish shipbuilder Robert Duncan and Company on the Clyde for the Anchor Line, a British steamship company based in Glasgow, founded in 1856. The almost 99 meter long hull was made of iron and had two decks. The three masts were equipped with the rigging of a barque .
The steamer was powered by a two-cylinder low-pressure steam engine from the Finniston Steamship Works in Glasgow and a single propeller, which achieved up to 400 hp and made a cruising speed of 13 knots possible. In the list of the ship classification society Lloyd’s Register of Shipping for the year 1870, the Cambria was number 53-C. Media reports described her as a very safe and seaworthy ship.
The Cambria was launched on March 1, 1869, and was completed two months later. On May 8, 1869, she ran from Glasgow on her maiden voyage . The ship transported passengers and cargo from Glasgow to New York via Moville .
Downfall
On October 8, 1870, the Cambria set sail in New York under the command of Captain George Carnaghan for her twelfth Atlantic crossing . She was on her way back to Glasgow with 74 crew members and 106 passengers. Among the passengers were many Americans, but also many residents of the Northern Irish city of Derry . As the steamer approached the Irish coast, the weather deteriorated.
On Wednesday evening, October 19, 1870, the Cambria passed dangerously close to the cliffs on the coast of the small island of Inishtrahull , about ten miles off the coast of the Irish county of Donegal, at high speed and with full sails . A severe storm raged in the area, so that on board the Cambria, the lights of the lighthouse on the island could not be seen due to the high waves and the foaming spray .
At around 11 p.m. the steamer hit the rugged cliffs of Inishtrahull, about seven miles southeast of the entrance to Lough Foyle . Large amounts of water penetrated through the torn hull and extinguished the fire under the kettles . Passengers and crew members stormed on deck. Four of the six existing lifeboats were able to be lowered into the water before the ship sank. One of the boats capsized in the troubled sea. Of the 16 occupants, only the tween deck passenger John McGartland from the Northern Irish town of Omagh managed to climb back into the boat after it had straightened up. The three other boats disappeared into the darkness.
The noise of the disaster and the cries of help and fear from the castaways were heard by the lighthouse keeper of Inishtrahull and his wife. Because of the darkness and the stormy weather, the two could not assess where the noises came from and what their cause was. McGartland's boat was picked up at 2:30 a.m. off Inishowen by the steamer Enterprise , which was en route from Liverpool Port Garston to Derry. Captain Gillespie aboard the Enterprise let his ship search for more survivors for some time, but no one was found. McGartland was the sole survivor of the disaster. He was brought ashore in Derry.
The missing lifeboats were later found drifting off Giant's Causeway on the County Antrim coast . There was no trace of passengers or crew. The torn stern of the Cambria was washed up on the coast of the Scottish Hebridean island of Islay .
“A telegram was sent from Dublin on the 20th morning that the steamer 'Cambria' had failed on the Derry coast. He had about 170 people on board and it is feared that all but one were killed. A man named Gartlan was rescued after floating around on an overturned boat for seven hours. According to him, four boats were lowered: three he knows nothing, and the fourth, in which he was and which contained 15 people, turned over. Fourteen drowned and he alone was saved. "
literature
- Charles Hocking. Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam: Including Sailing Ships and Ships of War 1824–1962 . Lloyd's Register of Shipping (London), 1969
Individual evidence
- ↑ Daily news. In: foreigners sheet of the imperial and royal capital Vienna / foreigner sheet and tag news of the imperial and royal capital Vienna / foreigner sheet / foreigner sheet with Vedette / foreigner sheet with military supplement Die Vedette , October 24th 1870, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
- Detailed description of the sinking on a shipping disaster website in Irish waters
- The Cambria in the Clydebuilt Ships Database
- Some technical data and a short version of the downfall
- Key data, timetables and a picture of the Cambria
- Passenger list of the last completed voyage of the Cambria (September 30, 1870)
- LOST AT SEA (Report of the sinking in the New York Times of October 22, 1870)
- THE LOST STEAMERS (report in the New York Times of October 23, 1870)