Vicksburg (ship)
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The Vicksburg was a passenger ship put into service in 1872 by the British shipping company Dominion Line . It carried passengers and cargo in the transatlantic liner service on the North Atlantic from Great Britain to Canada . On June 1, 1875, the Vicksburg sank off Newfoundland after colliding with an iceberg . 47 people died.
The ship
The 2,484-ton steamer Vicksburg was on the shipyard A. McMillan & Sons Ltd. in the Scottish port city of Dumbarton built and ran on 28 March 1872 by the stack . Consisting of iron -built hull was 99.63 meters long, 11.57 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 7.74 meters. The ship was propelled by composite steam engines from J. & J. Thomson of Glasgow and a propeller and accelerated the steamer to twelve knots (22.2 km / h). The Vicksburg had a straight stem , a chimney and two masts .
The Vicksburg was built for the only two-year-old Dominion Line, which in its first few years was mainly involved in passenger and freight traffic from Liverpool to various ports on the Canadian west coast. She was the sister ship of the Memphis (hull number 165) , which was launched at A. McMillan & Sons in September 1871 . The two steamers were the first ships built for Dominion. Liverpool was the seat of the shipping company and home port of the ships.
The ship had space for 80 first-class passengers and 600 tween deck passengers. On June 9, 1872, the Vicksburg cast off in Glasgow on her maiden voyage to Québec and Montreal and ran into Montreal on June 20. On July 27, 1872, she began her first voyage on the Liverpool – Québec – Montreal route, on which she ran aground on August 8 in the St. Lawrence River . It reached Montreal on August 11th.
From February 21, 1874 the Vicksburg drove from Liverpool to New Orleans . In May 1874 she returned to her old route Liverpool – Québec – Montreal, on which she stayed from then on. On April 29, 1875, the ship left Liverpool for the last crossing in a westerly direction and arrived in Québec on May 13.
Downfall
On Thursday, May 27, 1875, the Vicksburg cast off under the command of Captain William L. Bennett in Québec for the return journey to Liverpool. On board were 59 crew members, seven first class passengers (including two women) and 25 third class passengers (including four women), a total of 91 people. Bennett had previously commanded the Allan Line's Prussian . The freight included 92 cattle that were insured for $ 14,000. The entire cargo was insured for $ 85,000.
On the evening of May 31, the Vicksburg reached a large field of icebergs and floes about 120 miles southeast of Saint John off Newfoundland and was quickly surrounded by the drift ice . The ship drove slowly to avoid a collision. At 11 p.m., the stern of the steamer collided with an undersea iceberg, which separated the propeller and tore open the outer skin in the area of the coal bunker on the port side .
The ship took in water quickly. The pumps worked incessantly for the following hours. The situation became so critical that Captain Bennett ordered the ship to be abandoned around 6 a.m. The lifeboats were made ready for sea and provided with provisions. The first boat to be launched with four men on board was flooded after touching down. The second boat had a leak that was plugged with a blanket. Another lifeboat, which had First Officer Joseph Laybourne and six other people on board, was later seen drifting keel up. At 06.30 pm was Vicksburg in position 46 ° 20 ' N , 48 ° 9' W below.
Of the 91 people on board, 47 were killed, including Captain Bennett and several women. Bennett was spotted on the bridge shortly before. The State Line's State of Georgia passenger steamer picked up five surviving crew members from a lifeboat and took them to New York on June 10 . 12 other survivors were brought to Saint John by an American fishing trawler .
A few days later, a passenger in Québec , which is also part of the Dominion Line , reported that this ship had passed the Vicksburg and had warned its captain about the ice, as the Québec itself had had difficulty getting through the ice field. In its final report, the Board of Trade concluded that Captain Bennett was responsible for the misfortune for failing to comply with the shipping company's regulations on dodging ice and deploying lifeboats. He was also charged with ordering to leave the ship too late.
Web links
- Entry in the Miramar Ship Index
- Key data for Vicksburg in the Clydebuilt Ships Database
- Brief description of the Vicksburg in The Ships List (a little further below)
- Report of the sinking in the Times, June 12, 1875
- Report of the sinking in The Independent, June 24, 1875
- Report of the sinking in the New York Times, June 11, 1875
- Report of the sinking in the New York Times, June 13, 1875