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Mahanada | Official Number
29901 |
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Mahanada | Official Number
29901 |
The Liverpool Mercury, Monday, 1st May 1865;
" LAUNCH OF THE LAST OF T. AND J. BROCKLEBANK'S
WHITEHAVEN-BUILT SHIPS
- On Wednesday last, shortly after eleven o'clock a.m., the clipper
ship Mahanada was launched
from the building-yard, on the North Sands,
at this port, so long occupied by the princely Liverpool house of
Messrs.T.and J. Brocklebank. The Mahanada
is the fourth vessel the
Messrs.Brocklebank have built on the same model, a remarkably fine one,
combining great carrying capacity with strength, durability, and rapid
sailing qualities. Her register tonnage is 1003 tons, and her class A1
at Lloyd's for 14 years. Her length is 195.2 feet; breadth, 35.3 feet;
and depth, 22.9 feet. She is intended for the East India trade, and
will be commanded by Captain Clement Mossop, late of the Rajmahal.
Her
name was given her, as she moved easily and steadily from the ways, by
Miss Robinson, daughter of Mr.Joseph H.Robinson. Amongst all of our
townspeople we found the impending removal of the Messrs.Brocklebank's
shipbuilding establishment to the Mersey or another port a topic of
very general conversation and regret. The superior style, regardless of
cost, in which their vessels have been invariably turned off have
conferred on Whitehaven-built ships a reputation all the world over - a
source of no little pride to the town. The money which they have thus,
during the long series of years in which the firm has been connected
with the port, put into circulation amongst us, through carpenters,
smiths, sailmakers, ropemakers, and the host of other artificers and
tradesmen dependent on such a business, could it be told, would appear
almost fabulous. Only a faint idea of its amount may be formed when we
state that the Mahanada is
the 153rd they have built in the same yard;
and in the opinion of gentlemen well informed in such matters whom we
conversed with during the launch, her value, when she leaves
Whitehaven, cannot well be under £25,000, if not indeed over that
figure. A business distributing capital like this is not one to be
withdrawn from such a town as Whitehaven without being felt, more or
less, by all and sundry, more especially when, as in the present
instance, the proverbial saying that no door ever shuts but another
opens is not, as yet, seen to hold good. - Whitehaven Herald. "
The Mahanada was a full-rigged ship built by Thos. &
Jno.
Brocklebank at Bransty, Whitehaven in April 1865. She was the 153rd and
last vessel built there by the Brocklebanks. The launch report
mentions that she was the fourth vessel to be built to the same model,
and her sister ships were the Cambay,
Tenasserim and
Bowfell.
Capt.Mossop had previously commanded the Bonanza in the trade to China,
as well as the Rajmahal.
The Mahanada left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to Calcutta on the 8th July 1865. She arrived at Sand Heads on the 7th October, a 91 day passage. Having discharged and loaded a return cargo, the ship left Calcutta on the 6th November and arrived at Liverpool on the 28th January 1866. This round trip to Calcutta, including time in dock, took 6 months and 20 days, reported by a Whitehaven newspaper to be the shortest out and back on record.
The Mahanada spent her early years trading for the Brocklebank Line to Calcutta, under the command of Capts. C.Mossop, William Douglas, John Kenworthy and A.G.Marley. She then went into the trade to Manilla, her commanders including Capts.Joseph Forshaw, Wilson and Bartlett.
The Mahanada was renamed Sigrid in 1883 when she was sold to owners in Norway. On the 11th April 1904, whilst on passage to Mobile from Trondheim, in ballast, the ship sank 8 miles NW by W of Noup Head, isle of Westray in the Orkneys. Her 14 crew were all rescued. The Sigrid was owned by J.Schjervig of Dronthiem.
The Times reported in August that the master of the Sigrid,
Captain
Carl Gabrielson, was charged with sinking the barque with criminal
intent.
The vessel had been dismasted and the Hull steam trawler St.Clair
had been standing by since the 9th April. On the 12th the crew, apart
from
Capt.Gabrielsen and the two mates, rowed across to the trawler.
Capt.Hambling
of the St.Clair offered to tow the Sigrid, but the
offer
was declined. Hambling later claimed that he saw the two mates go below
with an axe, then four planks at the water-line were knocked out.
Subsequently
one of the mates went into the cabins, after which smoke was seen
coming
from them. The master and the two mates then rowed to the trawler, and
later the whole crew were landed at one of the Orkney Islands. The
allegation
was that Capt.Gabrielsen had refused to let the Sigrid be
salvaged
because he would rather receive the insurance on her. Capt.Gabrielsen
was
extradited to Norway for trial.
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