RMS Teuton

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Teuton p1
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Service Flag at Sea) United Kingdom
other ship names

Glenartney

Ship type Passenger ship
home port Southampton
Shipping company Union Steamship Company
Shipyard William Denny and Brothers , Dumbarton
Build number 135
Launch March 13, 1869
takeover April 14, 1869
Whereabouts Sunk August 30, 1881
Ship dimensions and crew
length
101.46 m ( Lüa )
width 10.48 m
Draft Max. 7.65 m
measurement 2,313 GRT / 1,466 NRT (from 1876)
 
crew 85
Machine system
machine Two-cylinder composite steam engine from Thomas Clark & ​​Co.
indicated
performance
Template: Infobox ship / maintenance / service format
1,345 hp (989 kW)
Top
speed
13.2 kn (24 km / h)
propeller 1
Transport capacities
Permitted number of passengers 250 in three classes
Others
Registration
numbers
Register number: 60927

The RMS Teuton was a passenger ship put into service in 1869 , which initially belonged to Jardine, Matheson & Co. and from 1873 to the British shipping company Union Steamship Company , for which it brought passengers and cargo from Great Britain to South Africa . On August 30, 1881, the rammed Teuton on the coast of the South African Cape Colony a reef and sank during the trial, the port of Simon's Town to reach. Of the 272 passengers and crew members, only 36 survived.

The ship

The steamship was built in 1869 at the William Denny & Brothers shipyard in the Scottish town of Dumbarton on the River Clyde . The iron- built hull with hull number 135 was 87.29 m long, 10.48 m wide and had a draft of 7.65 m. William Denny's two-cylinder compound steam engine developed up to 1345  PSi (300  nhp ) and helped the steamer to a cruising speed of up to 13.2 knots. The passenger and cargo ship ran on 13 March 1869 by the stack and was the name Glenartney baptized. The ship was completed on April 14, 1869. The owner was the company Jardine, Matheson & Co., headed by the British merchant and ship magnate Robert Jardine, with headquarters in London and Hong Kong .

In February 1873, the ship was bought along with four others from the Union Steamship Company, founded in 1853 and based in Southampton , which operated regular passenger, freight and mail services between Great Britain and South Africa . The shipping company renamed the ship Teuton . From then on, the Teuton was used in regular services to and from the South African Cape Colony . The Teuton was registered on February 12, 1873 and first entered Cape Town on April 22, 1873 .

In 1875 the hull was lengthened to 101.46 m. This increased the volume of the ship from originally 1740 GRT (1087 NRT) to 2313 GRT (1466 NRT). In 1878 the Teuton was equipped with new steam engines from Thomas Clark & ​​Co. from Newcastle upon Tyne . In 1879 the ship served temporarily as a troop transport during the Zulu War . In May 1880, the Teuton brought the American survivors to Cape Town. The American , which was also part of the Union Steamship Company, sank in the North Atlantic on April 23, 1880 after its shaft broke and water was able to penetrate its hull. The shipwrecked were picked up by the Senegal , which ran into a reef off Gran Canaria a few days later . The Teuton , which had just left Las Palmas , returned and took the passengers.

Downfall

On Saturday , August 6th, 1881 at 2 p.m., the Teuton cast off under the command of Captain Edward Manning in Plymouth for another crossing to Cape Town. After a stopover in Madeira on August 10th, Cape Town was reached on August 29th. On Tuesday afternoon, August 30, 1881, the Teuton began its return journey to England. In addition to the cargo, 85 crew members and 187 passengers were on board. Over half of the passengers were women and children. The first stop should be Port Elizabeth on the south coast of South Africa.

After leaving Table Bay , the Teuton reached the outermost foothills of Quoin Point that same evening, where rocks lay dangerously close to the water surface for several miles out to sea . There it collided with an underwater reef around 7.30 p.m. four miles from Quoin Point between Danger Point and Cape Agulhas . The passengers were ordered to the quarterdeck and the lifeboats were equipped with provisions and compasses and prepared for watering. Captain Manning assumed, however, that an evacuation of the ship would not be necessary and that he could reach the nearby port city of Simon's Town without outside help . Since the Teuton's hull was divided into six watertight compartments, Manning was convinced that nothing would happen to the ship. He kept course for Simon's Town until the bow sank below the surface and the stern protruded high above the water.

At about 10.30 p.m. Manning gave the order to leave the ship. According to eyewitness reports, passengers and crew behaved calmly and disciplined, and the watering of the boats was orderly. Women and children were put in a lifeboat when suddenly the watertight bulkheads broke and the Teuton shuddered. The ship capsized and went down bow first in seconds. A survivor later reported that she “sank as quickly as lightning” and that he had not previously believed that a ship “could sink that quickly”.

Four lifeboats, which were still attached to the ship with lines, went down with the Teuton . The boat with about 30 women and children in it was flooded and sank. Numerous people were torn into the depths by the suction of the sinking ship. Those who came back to the surface clung to wreckage and oars. Of the 272 people on board, only 11 passengers and 25 crew members survived. Most of the women and children perished. Captain Manning went down with his ship . His body was the only one found later. She was transferred to Great Britain to be buried there. The steamer Danube and the corvette Dido searched for more survivors and corpses at the scene of the accident, but could not find any more.

examination

The sinking was followed by an investigation by the Court of Inquiry, which was held in Cape Town and signed its final report on September 19, 1881. The commission of inquiry concluded that the Teuton should have been one and a half nautical miles from the foothills of the cliffs at Quoin Point at the time of the collision and that it was the navigation of the ship carried out by Captain Manning that prevented this from happening was.

Manning's decision not to evacuate the ship immediately was also wrong, according to the commission, and contributed to the high loss of life. Manning and the surviving third officer, Robert Diver, who was in command at the time of the disaster, were blamed for the disaster. The investigation report was signed on September 27, 1881 by Hercules Robinson , the incumbent governor of the Cape Colony.

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