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Official
Number
83999 |
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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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The George B Balfour survived only eight years before being
lost
in the English Channel. Under command of Capt.Evans, she left
Northfleet, on the Thames, on the 1st May, bound for Barrow with a
cargo of 310 tons of cement, a voyage that would normally take 10 to 14
days. Becalmed five miles off Beachy Head, she was run down on the
evening of 3rd May 1893 by the steamer City of Khios, in full
view of several other vessels. There were no survivors.
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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