Pericles (ship, 1908)
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The Pericles (II) was a 1908 passenger ship of the British shipping company Aberdeen & Commonwealth Line , which was used in passenger and freight traffic from Great Britain to Australia . In her day she was the largest ocean liner on the Australian route. On March 31, 1910, the Pericles sank on only its fourth voyage after crashing onto a rock near Augusta on the southwest coast of Australia . All 401 people on board survived.
The ship
The 10,925 GRT steamship Pericles was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast , Northern Ireland , and launched on December 21, 1907. The Pericles was a 152.6 meter long, 19 meter wide, steel- built passenger and cargo ship , which had a ship's chimney , four masts and two propellers . She was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines that developed 1075 nominal horsepower and allowed a speed of 15 knots.
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The hull was divided into eight watertight compartments and had a continuous double floor . Lloyd's Register of Shipping placed the Pericles in the highest possible category, 1A. The steamer could take 100 first class passengers and 400 third class passengers on board. 150 crew members took care of the ship's operation . The passenger quarters extended over four decks .
A dining room, a smoking salon, a lounge and a library were available to travelers . The public rooms were lavishly paneled, furnished with curtains, carpets and comfortable sofas, and had skylights to let in sufficient daylight. All cabins had portholes , there were no inside cabins. The cabins could accommodate two or three people. All accommodations were equipped with electric lighting and ventilation systems.
After the clipper Pericles (I) (1598 BRT) built in 1877 , she was the shipping company's second ship with this name. It was completed on June 4, 1908 and left on July 8, 1908 for its maiden voyage to Australia. Command of the ship was given to the Aberdeen Line's Commodore , Captain Alexander Simpson. On August 18, 1908, she arrived in Melbourne at the end of the maiden voyage . The average cruising speed during the first voyage was given as 13.07 knots. The Pericles got a lot of press and was considered one of the largest and most luxurious steamers in the Australian service during its brief period of service.
Downfall
On Friday, March 25, 1910, the Pericles left Melbourne with 163 crew members and 238 passengers on its fourth crossing to London . As always, Captain Alexander Simpson was in command. A few days later, on 31 March 1910 which gave Pericles six nautical miles south of the lighthouse of Cape Leeuwin off the coast of the state of Western Australia on a hitherto uncharted rock. The rock tore a large leak in the hull of the ship, so that the steamer went down bow first within two and a half hours .
Due to the relatively slow sinking and the favorable sea and weather conditions, all 401 people on board could be brought from board and ashore in the twelve existing lifeboats . There were no fatalities. The boats managed using a beacon of the lighthouse keeper from Cape Leeuwin to shore. In the days after the accident, numerous debris and parts of the cargo were washed ashore, but the wreck itself remained missing. It was not until the 1950s that the Pericles wreck was located at a depth of 34 meters within sight of the lighthouse. Due to strong currents , however, it is difficult to access for divers . Several diving teams, including the Pericles Research Group, have been able to explore the wreck so far ( 34 ° 23 ′ 21.5 ″ S , 115 ° 5 ′ 26.7 ″ E, ).
After the Pericles sank , there was speculation as to which rock it exactly hit. If the ship had been sent around the Cape on an unsafe course, it would have been the responsibility of the shipping company, so Lloyd's Register of Shipping would have been exempt from any insurance payment. There was an official hearing the ship's officers and even became a Navy - ship dispatched to the uncharted rocks to find. But nothing was found. The investigation came to the result that it must have actually been a previously unknown rock and that it had broken off as a result of the collision. As a result, there was no longer any danger to other ships in the area.