Criffel

Official Number 97838

The Criffel was a steel barque launched at Maryport by Robert Ritson & Co.in January 1891. She was owned by McDiarmid, Greenshields & Co. (who had bought the Ellenbank, a previous vessel from the Ritson shipyard, in 1888). The Criffel was registered at Liverpool.

The last voyage of the Criffel under the British flag started at Barry, Wales, in August 1907. Her master, Capt.S.A.Buley, was 24 years old. The vessel sailed to Montevideo with coal, which she reached in 77 days. The barque then sailed in ballast to Adelaide (52 days), then to Newcastle, NSW, to pick up another coal cargo. This she took to South America, and then she returned to Falmouth, and finally Plymouth. The Criffel was then sold to Norwegian owners (see Sources 3 and 4), renamed Baunen and finally sent to the breaker's yard in 1924.

Another vessel named Criffel was built at Harrington, renamed Iris by 1873.
 

Sources :

1. Mystic Seaport Library Ship Register Search has shipping register details for most years from 1895 to 1900.
2. Record of American and Foreign Shipping, 1896 and 1900 - name master as Capt.A.Billet.
3. "Ships of West Cumberland" by Desmond G.Sythes, reprinted by the Friends of Whitehaven Museum, April 2006.
4. "Fortunes of the Knight Line" by David Burrell, in Sea Breezes magazine, Vol.60, No. 485 (May 1986).
5. Two photos (1 & 2) of Baunen in the State Library of Victoria Pictures Collection.
6. Very good photo at the State Library of South Australia.