Kapunda (ship)
.jpeg) |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
The Kapunda was an iron - Klipper , who for the British shipping company Trinder, Anderson & Co. passengers and freight from the UK to Australia brought and thereby mainly emigrants transported. On January 20, 1887, the Kapunda sank on the Brazilian coast after colliding with the barque Ada Melmore . The kapunda was almost cut in half and sank within five minutes. Of the 313 people on board, only eight crew members and eight passengers were rescued. 297 people were killed.
The ship
The iron clipper Kapunda was built in 1875 in the A. McMillan & Sons shipyard in Dumbarton , Scotland , and was launched on the River Clyde on June 21, 1875 . The 1095 ton sailing ship was 67.51 m long, 10.54 m wide and had a draft of 5.97 m. There were three masts .
The ship was built for the London-based company Trinder, Anderson & Co., where the Kapunda was also registered. In the interests of the Crown Agency , the shipping company used them in the flourishing emigrant traffic to Australia. A nomination process by the Crown Agency, an agency of the British Empire , made it possible for young, healthy and able-bodied people to travel to Australia with their families free of charge and to help build the economy and infrastructure there.
The ship classification society Lloyd’s Register of Shipping classified the Kapunda in the "100 A1 Special Survey" category. It was also subject to the regulations of the Board of Trade . The ship was specially built for her owners and exceeded the number of navigational personnel required by the Board of Trade by one person.
Downfall
On Saturday, December 11, 1886, the Kapunda left London under the command of Captain John Masson for another voyage to Fremantle in Western Australia . On board were 41 crew members and 272 passengers. William Field, his wife, and two children were the only first class passengers. The rest of the people traveled on the tween deck, including numerous Scots and Irish. 217 of the tween deck passengers had been selected by the Crown Agency and the remaining 51 were paying customers. About 30 passengers came to Australia to build a railway line from Beverley to Albany for the West Australian Land Company . The cargo included around 600 tons of general cargo and a good 300 tons of ballast stones. After a stopover in Plymouth on December 18th, the Kapunda sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean .
On Thursday, January 20, 1887, the sailor collided south of Maceió off the coast of the Brazilian state of Alagoas with the 591-ton barque Ada Melmore , which was coming from Coquimbo to England . According to witnesses, the Ada Melmore was not illuminated and therefore not visible. The Kapunda was almost cut in half by the force of the collision and sank in less than five minutes. The passengers sleeping below deck had no chance of saving themselves in the short time. No lifeboats could be launched either.
The crew of the Ada Melmore launched a lifeboat and rescued some people from the water. A few others managed to jump from the deck of the Kapunda to the barque. However, the Kapunda sank so quickly that only eight crew members and eight passengers could be rescued. 297 people drowned, including all women and children on board and the captain. Some of the survivors were brought to Rio de Janeiro by the French barque Ulysse , others to Maceió. The Ada Melmore , built in Glasgow in 1877 and owned by Belfast's W. Porters and Sons , did not sink, but was so badly damaged that it was abandoned eight days after the incident.
Web links
- Brief summary of the sinking of the Kapunda
- "The Wreck of the Kapunda" (pamphlet by SG Pumphrey from the late 19th century)
- Contemporary newspaper articles about the sinking with passenger and crew lists
- The Kapunda in the Clydebuilt Ships Database
- THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE DROWNED (report in the New York Times of February 1, 1887)
- THE SINKING OF THE KAPUNDA (report in the New York Times of March 1, 1887)