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George B Balfour
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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. "
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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. "
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Name
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Year Built
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Gross Tons
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Length (feet)
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Breadth (feet)
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Depth (feet)
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Masts
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Figurehead
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Stern
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Lloyd's Classn.
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George B Balfour
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1885
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125.0
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24.0
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10.0
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3
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100 A1
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Sources :
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Michael McCaughan "Paul Rodgers, an Ulster Shipbuilder" Maritime Wales
(1983) pp46-63.
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Research by Derek Blackhurst
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Report of loss in "The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" by Richard
and Bridget Larn.
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A photo of the George B Balfour is reproduced in the book "Schooners"
by Basil Greenhill.