Falstaff

Official Number
70923

The Falstaff was the second full-rigged sailing ship built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company. She was Yard No.20 and was launched on the 24th February 1875. She had been built for James Beazley & Sons, of Liverpool. Beazley was already managing Barrow's first iron sailing ship, the British Duke, built the previous month for the British Shipowners Association. The maiden voyage of the Falstaff was from Liverpool to Sydney, where she arrived in August 1875, under the command of Captain John Glennie Greig (see Crew List).

The Falstaff was commanded for one voyage only by Capt.Thomas Yardley Powles, a well-known sailing ship captain whose career was discussed by Basil Lubbock in "The Last of the Windjammers". He left after the voyage noted below, to take command of the new four-masted barque James Kerr, also owned by Beazley.

The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 4th November 1891, page 6;

" A FAST PASSAGE - The ship Falstaff, belonging to Messrs.James Beazley and Co., of Liverpool, has recently made the passage between Iquique and Falmouth in the quick time of 81 days. Captain Powles, the master, formerly of the John O'Gaunt, has made smart passages on this route in other vessels of the company, one in 79 days to Queenstown, and another in 88 days to Falmouth."

Some time soon after this voyage the Falstaff was sold by Beazley to W.B.Jones, and was registered at Swansea. In 1903 the vessel was under the command of Capt.Benjamin Phillips, who was lucky to survive a voyage from London to Melbourne, described below. Despite being refered to as a barque in this report, shipping registers continued to describe the Falstaff as ship-rigged.

The Argus, Tuesday 9th June 1903, page 5;

" STORM-BEATEN BARQUE. AN EXCITING ENCOUNTER.

Another woeful tale of fierce gales and heavy seas was related by Captain Phillips of the British barque Falstaff, upon the arrival of that vessel in Hobson's Bay last evening. She bore unmistakeable signs of having passed through a severe ordeal, but, although she sustained considerable damage on deck, her crew were all in good health and spirits. The troubles of the vessel began and ended in the English Channel, where she was beset for nearly four weeks by fearful gales. She was throughout this period tossed about as if she had been a cork, prodigous seas meanwhile rushing all over her, and either carrying away or breaking everything of a movable nature on deck. Several times it appeared as if the ship would succumb to the almost overwhelming seas which visited her, and on these occasions the master and his officers and crew were naturally filled with grave anxiety. The climax was reached when a sea of mountainous proportions thundered down on board, and threatened to engulf the vessel. For a minute the barque seemed unable to cope with this onslaught, but eventually she shook herself free of her enormous load. The captain and second officer were together on the poop when the seas burst on board, and it was entirely due to good fortune that they were not carried away or injured. A lifeboat was lifted out of the davits and carried away, whilst one of the davits was snapped asunder as cleanly as if it had been a carrot, and disappeared over the side. This davit, which was composed of solid iron, measured between 16 in. and 17 in. in circumference at the spot where it was broken, and it seemed almost incredible that the weight of water alone could have caused its destruction. Captain Phillips states that the storm was the most severe that he ever remembers, and he considers that the barque was lucky in emerging from the ordeal without suffering much greater injury.

The Falstaff is built of iron, and was a famous clipper in her best days. Recollections of the times when pirates were a menace to merchantmen are recalled by a row of antiquated 'hammerlock' rifles, which can still be seen in the cabin. The warlike character of the barque is increased by a couple of equally obsolete 'brass cannon guns,' but these, says Captain Phillips, are stowed away in the sail locker, together with a score or more cutlasses, which have grown as rusty as old hoop-iron, but which were once kept bright and ready to hand for an emergency. Captain Phillips, who is well known in Sydney and Newcastle, is visiting Melbourne for the first time. He states that the Falstaff left London on the 16th February."

By 1905 the Falstaff was being used as a coal hulk at Callao, and was owned by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. Together with the grounded hulls of two other sailing ships, the Hipparchus and the County of Peebles, the hull of the Falstaff today forms a breakwater at Punta Arenas, Chile.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Falstaff
1875
1465
238.0
38.0
23.5
3
Man
Elliptical
100 years A1, Special Survey

Sources :

    1. "Portrait of a Shipbuilder: Barrow-Built Vessels since 1873", ed. Nigel Harris ISBN 0 947971 32 7 (published 1989).
    2. Information from Tony Salter-Ellis, BAE Systems, Editor, Marine Publications.
    3. "A History of Local Sailing Ships" by H.Peck, an article in "The Proceedings of the Barrow Naturalists Field Club" Vol.7 (1951).
    4. There is a photo of the Falstaff at the Picture Australia website.
    5. Photo of Falstaff is available at the San Francisco Public Library.
    6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1874-5 (Supplement): Falstaff, iron ship, 1465 grt, official no.70923, signal letters NTVP, built by the Barrow SB Co., in February 1875, owned by J.Beazley, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.W.Lyall.
    7. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1887-8: Falstaff, iron ship, 1465 grt, official no.70923, owned by J.Beazley, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.Carnell.
    8. Obituary of Capt.Thomas Yardley Powles (from the Times, 21st February 1911, page 11).
    9. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1894-5: Falstaff, iron ship, 1465 grt, official no.70923, owned by W.B.Jones, registered at Swansea, master Capt.F.Thomas.
    10. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1899-1900: Falstaff, - same details as 1894.