George B Balfour
Official Number
83999
Launch Report from the Carrickfergus Advertiser:
" On Tuesday at high water, a very handsome three-masted schooner was launched from the shipbuilding yard of Mr. Rodgers. The vessel is named the George B. Balfour, and has been built for the order of Messrs. James Fisher & Sons, Barrow-in-Furness. Her dimensions are - Length 125 ft; breadth 24 feet; and depth 10 feet. Her frames are iron and the plating of steel. She has been built under special survey and will class 100 A1 at Lloyds. The ceremony of christening was performed by Mrs. Lynn. The George B. Balfour will be fitted out under the superintendence of  Captain Henry Watkinson, and when finished will be engaged in the foreign trade. We are glad to learn that Mr. Rodgers has another vessel in hands for the same firm. "
George B balfour, painting by William Mcillvenney, from postcard reproduced by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
When she was launched on 27th October1885 the schooner George B Balfour was the first of six steel schooners to be built by Paul Rodgers for Barrow shipowners James Fisher & Sons.  They had previously ordered six wooden three-masted schooners from the shipyard, and  were eventually to order another five  steel schooners. Rodgers also later built the Result for the Barrow company of Thomas Ashburner & Co.

The George B Balfour survived only eight years before being lost in the English Channel. She sank on 3rd May 1893, five miles off Beachy Head, in collision with the steamer City of Khios. Her cargo was cement.

From the Times newspaper, Friday, 2nd June 1893, page 11 :

" At Glasgow, yesterday, judgement was delivered in the Board of Trade inquiry into the circumstances attending the collision in the English Channel between the steamer City of Khios and the sailing ship George B.Balfour. The latter vessel sank and nine lives were lost. The Court held that the City of Khios was not navigated with seamanlike care when the sailing vessel was sighted, and that the City of Khios had plenty of time to avoid the collision. The Court also held that the captain should have been on the bridge, and suspended the third officer's certificate for six months. "
Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
George B Balfour
 1885
 
 125.0
 24.0
 10.0
 3
 
 
100 A1 

Sources :

  1. Michael McCaughan "Paul Rodgers, an Ulster Shipbuilder" Maritime Wales (1983) pp46-63.
  2. Research by Derek Blackhurst
  3. Report of loss in "The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" by  Richard and Bridget Larn.
  4. A photo of the George B Balfour is reproduced in the book "Schooners" by Basil Greenhill.
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