Aladdin

Official Number
14529

The Aladdin was a full-rigged ship built at Maryport by Messrs.Ritson & Co., and launched on Saturday, 9th February 1856. She operated in the trade to India for J.Aikin, a Liverpool shipowner. Her first voyage was made from Liverpool to Calcutta, and her master, Capt.Charles T.Valentine, died at that port on the 15th August.

The Aladdin, Capt.Ermal, arrived at Calcutta from Bombay on the 15th September 1864, mooring in the harbour. On the 5th October 1864 a cyclone hit the area and did great destruction to the city, its surroundings and the local shipping, claiming 12,000 people drowned and 110 vessels wrecked. One report claimed that of 200 vessels in the harbour, only 10 had been left at their moorings, the rest sunk or ashore. The Aladdin was swept onto the railway pier and was "greatly damaged". Her cargo was discharged and it was hoped she could be got off at spring tides. This attempt failed and the vessel was declared a total loss.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Aladdin
1856
867
 175.7 
32.7 
  21.3
3 
 
 
 13 years A1 

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding at Maryport - A Checklist", published in 1989 by the Friends of Whitehaven Museum.
  2. Launch reported in the Liverpool Mercury, Monday, 18th February 1856 - owner named in the newspaper as J.Aikin, of Liverpool.
  3. Obituary of Capt.Valentine in the Liverpool Mercury, 18th October 1856.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1862-3:  Aladdin, ship, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.Wood, owner J.Atkin.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1864: Aladdin, registered at Liverpool, 866 tons, official no.14529, signal letters LNMP (NB.the vessel was not listed in the Mercantile Navy List 1867).
  6. Calcutta cyclone reports from the Liverpool Mercury, 1st, 7th, 9th and 17th November 1864 - names master as Capt.Ermal.
  7. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1865-6:  - ship, reg.Liverpool, master E.Tamuth, owner J.Atkin, London - India trade.
  8. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1867-8: Aladdin, ship, reg.Liverpool, master E.Tamuth, owner J.Atkin, London - India trade.
  9. "Report on the Calcutta cyclone of the 5th October 1864" by James Eardley Gastrell, Henry Francis Blanford (see Google Books).
  10. Photograph of the wreck of the Aladdin and the paddle steamer Mirzapore at Armenian Ghant (George Eastman Collection, photograph by John Thomson).