Thermopylae (ship, 1891)

Thermopylae

Ship data flag  United Kingdom home port Aberdeen Owner George Thompson & Co. Shipyard Hall, Russell & Company Limited, Aberdeen Keel laying September 19, 1891 Launch 1891 Whereabouts wrecked on September 12, 1899 and abandoned

Ship dimensions and crew length 110.4 m ( Lüa ) width 13.5 m Draft Max. 7 m   crew 84

Machine system machine Triple expansion steam engine Machine performance 3,000 PS (2,206 kW)

Transport capacities Permitted number of passengers 45 First class 650 emigrants

The Thermopylae was a British passenger and cargo ship that ran aground in 1899. She was a steamship with additional sails, the three- master was rigged as a yard schooner .

history

The steel ship with clipper bow was built in 1891 by Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd. built in Aberdeen . Its first captain was Alexander Simpson. It was used for journeys between Australia and England or South Africa and England; it was part of the Aberdeen White Star Line from George Thompson & Co. in London . In 1896 a refrigeration machine was installed to transport frozen meat. An 1893 painting by W. Hutchieson showing the ship is in the collection of the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums.

The stranding

The Thermopylae came under captain William Phillip junior, who had taken command of the ship about two years earlier and had been in the service of its owners for a long time, on the night of September 11 to 12, 1899 near Cape Town in distress and had to be abandoned. The people and the mail on board were rescued; most of the cargo could only have been removed from the wreck with the help of divers.

Photo of the stranded Thermopylae

According to the investigation report, the accident happened as follows: The Thermopylae had cast off on August 11, 1899 in Sydney and was on its way to London via Melbourne , Albany, Port Natal and Table Bay. There were 52 passengers and 84 crew members on board; the ship was fully loaded, including wool and food. On September 11, 1899, the ship passed the Cape Point beacon in the evening ; According to the captain's statement - the documents that were used on the ship were apparently lost in the accident - the Robben Island beacon came into view at 10 p.m. Twenty minutes later, in view of the green Green Point beacon, the captain changed course east to keep the ship away from any danger between Green Point and Whale Rock. After a while the red light from Mouille Point came into view. The captain had already covered the route in this way several times and was not aware of any danger to his ship, but then suddenly realized that the light from Mouille Point seemed much closer than expected, while the distance to the light from Green Point seemed to have changed imperceptibly. A little later he initiated an evasive maneuver, which came too late. The ship ran at a speed of about ten knots on a rock about a quarter of a mile from the Green Point lighthouse. The crew and the captain did everything in their power to save the people on board and the cargo. Nobody died in the accident.

In contrast to other reports that spoke of thick fog, the committee of inquiry said there was sufficient visibility at sea. The captain was guilty of negligence because he failed to verify the assumed position of his ship. Therefore it was proposed that William Phillips junior be suspended from duty for six months.

Insured for only about £ 15,000, the ship was actually worth over £ 80,000. Part of the wreck can still be seen above the waterline.

The racehorses

Two racehorses named Kiora and Chesney, which had been transported on deck in a shed, were freed in time and saved themselves injured on land. Chesney had been loaded in Melbourne, Kiora in Sydney. Chesney had just been sold to England for 2000 guineas at the time of its transport . Years later, in 1904, Kiora ran at the Grand National in Liverpool and lost to Moifaa , who was later often credited with the ship adventure that Kiora and Chesney had survived.

See also

• Moifaa the castaway?

Web links

Commons : Thermopylae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} data on aberdeenships.com
2. ↑ Data on wrecksite.eu
3. ↑ Model of the Thermopylae ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Thermopylae on TheShipsList
5. ↑ Hutchieson's painting ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ In this newspaper article the name, unlike other sources, is written Philip.
7. ↑ picture of the wreck
8. ↑ Other numbers can be found here .
9. ↑ ^{a b} The Termopylae , in: Press , Vol.LVI, Issue 10450, September 14, 1899, p. 5
10. ↑ ^{a b} The SS Thermopylae. Racehorses Safe , in: The West Australian , September 15, 1899, p. 5
11. ↑ Information on wannasurf.com
12. ↑ Report about Moifaa on grand-national.net ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Coordinates: 33 ° 53 ′ 56 ″  S , 18 ° 24 ′ 32 ″  E