Mr. THOMAS CARMICHAEL, of A. & J. Carmichael.
Mr. THOMAS CARMICHAEL, of A. & J. Carmichael.
Itwas in the Australian trade that the iron passenger ship was to be seen in her perfection. She succeeded the great Liverpool clippers and the little Blackwall frigates, and she was as beautiful and perfect as any of her wooden sisters.
In the sixties, seventies and even eighties thousands of emigrants were carried from the Old Country to Australia and New Zealand in these magnificent iron clippers. They also took out blood stock of every description from racehorses to pedigree bulls and rams; and a nice time some of these animals must have had when the clippers were carrying on running their easting down.
Most of the ships raced home again with wool for the London sales, but a few, notably Heap’s fine ships, went on from Australia to India and Burma, generally with a load of walers for the army in India. In the Bay of Bengal they either loaded jute home from Calcutta or rice from Rangoon. Messrs. J. Heap & Sons were rice millers, and their ships took the firm’s rice home.
In the seventies and eighties these beautiful clippers were a never-ending interest in the London River, the Mersey, the Clyde and the great ports of the Antipodes. In Sydney landsmen made special Sunday excursions to Circular Quay to see the ships, and it was the same with the other ports in the days of masts and yards. Every Australian, whether native-born or new chum, kept a tender corner in his heart for the tall ships which had had so much to do with the development of his country. The Sydney-side native, indeed, not only took a pride in the regular traders to the port, but knew them intimately, and could generally berelied on to name an incoming clipper correctly long before she had reached the anchorage.
Avisit to the docks of the London River is only made nowadays from dire necessity. Their charm has entirely departed. Instead of a forest of spars, nothing now shows above the warehouse roofs but the soot-covered, stumpy masts, blunt-nosed derricks, and squat funnels of a few steamers. Truly the glory of the docks has departed for ever, and only the sentiment remains. Joseph Conrad, in his delightfulMirror of the Sea, thus describes the New South Dock in the days of the iron wool clipper:—
To a man who has never seen the extraordinary nobility, strength, and grace that the devoted generations of shipbuilders have evolved from some pure nooks of their simple souls, the sight that could be seen five-and-twenty years ago of a large fleet of clippers moored along the north side of the New South Dock was an inspiring spectacle. Then there was a quarter of a mile of them, from the iron dockyard gates guarded by policemen, in a long, forest-like perspective of masts, moored two and two to many stout wooden jetties. Their spars dwarfed with their loftiness the corrugated iron sheds, their jibbooms extended far over the shore, their white and gold figure-heads, almost dazzling in their purity, overhung the straight, long quay above the mud and dirt of the wharfside, with the busy figures of groups and single men moving to and fro, restless and grimy under their soaring immobility.
To a man who has never seen the extraordinary nobility, strength, and grace that the devoted generations of shipbuilders have evolved from some pure nooks of their simple souls, the sight that could be seen five-and-twenty years ago of a large fleet of clippers moored along the north side of the New South Dock was an inspiring spectacle. Then there was a quarter of a mile of them, from the iron dockyard gates guarded by policemen, in a long, forest-like perspective of masts, moored two and two to many stout wooden jetties. Their spars dwarfed with their loftiness the corrugated iron sheds, their jibbooms extended far over the shore, their white and gold figure-heads, almost dazzling in their purity, overhung the straight, long quay above the mud and dirt of the wharfside, with the busy figures of groups and single men moving to and fro, restless and grimy under their soaring immobility.
I have a photograph of the South Dock just as it is depicted by Conrad, showing the long row of lean, knife-like cut-waters, surmounted by their spotless figure-heads, and with their bowsprits stabbing the sheds opposite, whilst the masts and yards criss-cross the dull grey of the London sky.
Beforeproceeding to the ships themselves, I must not omit to say a few words about the men who built these splendid iron sailing ships.
The London River, partly owing to an ill-advised strike and partly owing to its distance from the raw material in comparison to the northern ports, entirely lost its shipbuilding business in the latter half of the nineteenth century; and the builders of the iron wool clipper were pretty evenly distributed over the Clyde, the Mersey and Aberdeen. Once more, as with the tea clippers, there was a keen rivalry between Glasgow and Aberdeen, and it is difficult to say which carried the day, for both cities were represented by countless beautiful ships. Duthie, Hall and Hood had, however, to contend with more than twice their number of Clydeside rivals. If I were asked to give my humble opinion, I should award the palm to Messrs. Barclay, Curle & Co. for producing the most perfect iron ships that ever sailed the seas. They built many of the best “Lochs,” such asLoch Maree, and the four-postersLochs Torridon,CarronandBroom. They were responsible for the whole of Carmichael’s splendid fleet, and the two famous “Bens”—VoirlichandCruachan—emanated from their drawing lofts.
Thomson, of Glasgow, built some half-dozen “Lochs,” his masterpiece being theLoch Garry. The rest of the Loch Line were divided amongst Lawrie, Inglis, Henderson, and Connell. Duthie’s finest ship was theBrilliant. Hall built the well-knownPort Jackson, whilst Hood was the originator of all the Aberdeen White Star ships and also built the smart littleCimba.
Heap’s ships were mostly built by Evans, of Liverpool; and Potter, of Liverpool, produced the two well-known London ships,Thomas StephensandOld Kensington. Of the other London owned ships,HesperusandHarbingerworthily upheld the name of Steele,while Pile, of Sunderland, was represented byRodney.
I must now turn to the ships themselves, and, taking them in order of date, will begin with that famous veteran theDarling Downs.
Shewas one of that numerous fleet of ships, the converted from steam to sail, about which one could make a largish book without much trouble. And she was one of the most successful of the lot. She was built as far back as 1852 and sailed under the flag of the General Screw Steamship Company, as theCalcutta, an auxiliary steamer with a 300 horse-power engine. Like nearly all early steamship businesses the General Screw S.S. Co. did not remain solvent very long, their ships were sold and were promptly converted into sailing ships, and in many cases renamed.
As a sailing ship, theDarling Downswas a very favourite passenger ship to Sydney. Like all converted steamers she was a very fast sailer, and made very good and regular passages. After a prosperous career as a Sydney trader, she was finally run into and sunk off the Nore in 1887.
Thesetwo early iron ships were both exceedingly fast and made many a good passage to the Colonies.City of Agraonce landed her passengers in Melbourne when only 65 days out from the Tuskar; on another occasion she passed Port Phillip Heads on her way to Queensland, when 63 days out; and she made the run out to Lyttelton, New Zealand, in 71 days.
In 1881, when commanded by Captain Young, she left Gravesend on 25th May, took her departure from theLizard on the 29th, and crossed the equator on 17th June in 27° W., 19 days from soundings. Between the N.E. and S.E. trades, she had very squally variables and lost her fore topgallant mast. She crossed the meridian of the Cape on 11th July and ran her easting down in 39° and 40° S., making a very steady average, as her best run was only 270 miles, and she crossed the Leeuwin meridian on 30th July, signalled the Otway on 5th August and arrived in Hobson’s Bay the following day, only 69 days out from the Lizard.