Calder

Official Number 17780

The Calder was a brig built by Lumley Kennedy & Co. at Whitehaven and launched on the 21st November 1837. In 1840 she was registered at Whitehaven and was owned by Joseph Younghusband and others. Her master was Capt.William Turner.

The Calder foundered off Cape St.Vincent on the 16th July 1870, on passage from Huelva for Newcastle with copper ore. Her master, Capt.William Taylor, was found to have been negligent in stowing the cargo, and his certificate was suspended by a Court of Inquiry.

From the Times newspaper, Friday, 23rd September, 1870, page 4 :

FAULTY STOWAGE - the brig Calder was abandoned at sea, about 50 miles to the S.W. of Cape St.Vincent, on the morning of the 16th July last, under the following circumstances : - The Calder was a sailing vessel, built of wood, at Whitehaven, in the year 1837, and registered at the port of Liverpool of the burden of 200 tons

She sailed from Huelva, in the Bay of Cadiz, on the 12th of July last, bound for Newcastle-on-Tyne, and was navigated by Mr.William Taylor, who holds a certificate of competency as master, with a crew of seven hands, all told. There were no passengers. Her cargo consisted of 370 tons of copper ore in bulk. The weather was moderate and fine.

Nothing particular occurred, and the ship proceeded on her voyage until July 15, when at noon on that day it came on to blow fresh from the N.N.E, she being then in latitude, by observation, 36N, and by dead reckoning, about 8W longitude. Sail was then reduced, and the ship began to make water. The pumps were set to work, but the leak steadily increased. At 9pm she had 13 inches in the well. The pumping was continued, but the water still gained upon them, and at 4 am of the 16th it had risen to 3 ft. 8 inches. Before this, however, the master, at 2am, had consulted with the mate, and it was thought prudent to put the ship before the wind. She was accordingly steered to the SE, with the intention of going to Gibraltar. At half-past 5 or 6 am, a sail hove in sight to windward. A signal of distress was hoisted by the Calder, and she was brought by the wind, heading towards the stranger, who bore down to her. By this time there was from about 4 1/2 to 5 ft. of water in her. The leak was steadily increasing and the ship labouring and straining, the wind blowing hard from the NE. At 7.30 the long-boat was with difficulty got out, and the crew proceeded to the stranger in her. They were received on board the Austrian brig Celestina, bound for Falmouth, at which port they were landed in safety on the 6th of August.

A court of inquiry into the alleged unseaworthiness of the vessel has reported to the Board of Trade that it is of the opinion that the captain and crew were justified in deserting the ship. They did all they could to save her, and their lives were in imminent peril. The Court is also of the opinion that the cause of the loss of this vessel was executive cargo badly stowed. The nature and amount of the cargo and the mode of stowing it rendered the ship unable to stand the strain of a moderately heavy sea. The Court was advised by the assessors that such a cargo required special care in stowing. It should be conveyed in vessels having a platform in the hold at about one-fourth of their depth from the bottom. Such a precaution makes the ship lively in the sea-way, and less liable to strain. This is the usual, and ought to be the universal, mode adopted. In the Calder there was no platform, and no means whatever were employed for the proper stowage of such cargo, or in any way to relieve the dead weight. In these circumstances, we could not hesitate to say that the law looks, primarily at least, to the captain, and it is he who must suffer. He was guilty of a failure in duty, the consequences of which might have been much more serious and painful than the loss of the ship and its cargo. The sentence of the Court, therefore, was that the captain's certificate be suspended for the period of three months from the date of the report (Aug.31).

Sources :

1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
2. "A List of the Cumberland Shipping corrected to February 1840" by William Sawyers, Comptroller of Her Majesty's Customs at the Port of Whitehaven, republished by Michael Moon (Whitehaven, 1975, ISBN 0-904131-09-2).
3. 1857 Mercantile Navy List gives port of registry as Liverpool, official number and signal letters MJCH, tonnage 200.