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Alice A Leigh | Official Number
96349 |
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Alice A Leigh | Official Number
96349 |
The Alice A Leigh was a steel four-masted
barque built by the
Whitehaven
Shipbuilding Company. She was built alongside the Engelhorn,
and these two vessels were the last sailing ships built at Whitehaven.
The problems encountered at their launches, on top of other management
problems, contributed to the closure of the shipbuilding company.
The Alice A Leigh was launched in September 1889. She had been built at a cost of £25,943, but the shipyard had to pay a further £1,400 for tugs to set the vessel afloat after she grounded at her launch. The barque had a main mast that was 176 feet tall, and a main yard of 95ft, and in all she carried 31 sails. She was well-appointed inside, with a panelled saloon and the master's quarters provided with a bathroom fitted with a porcelain bath. The barque was owned by J.Joyce of Liverpool and was commanded by Capt.J.Belaya. Despite her lofty rig, the Alice A Leigh was renowned as a slow sailer.
The Alice A Leigh made her first voyage from Liverpool to Calcutta, returning to Dundee with a cargo of jute. She continued in the typical trades of the large four-masters, taking bulk cargoes from India and Australia to London, and to the Pacific coast of North America. In February 1895 she visited Australia for the first time, arriving at Melbourne under the command of Captain G.A.Rookes, and bringing a cargo of kerosene from New York.
Captain Allan Davison commanded the vessel from 1900 until 1917. His wife went to sea with him and six children were born either at sea or at various ports around the World. The barque survived being dismasted in a typhoon, and in October 1916 was saved from being sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean. The barque had been stopped by U-35 and, preparatory to sinking the vessel by bombs or gunfire, was disembarking the crew and passengers into boats. Newspapers described the passengers as including three women and two children, and perhaps these included some of Capt.Davison's family. As the boats were pulling away from the barque a French destroyer, the Gabion, appeared on the horizon, causing the submarine to submerge and escape.
After the war the Alice A Leigh largely operated in the trade from Australia, and made her last visit to that country as Alice A Leigh in 1920, when she took a cargo of coal from Newcastle, NSW, to Callao.
The Alice A Leigh had been bought in 1917 by the New York & Pacific Sailing Ship Company. In 1921 the barque was bought by G.Scales, of Wellington, acting for some New Zealand businessmen. She was renamed Rewa, and took coals from Newcastle, NSW, to Wellington. She then loaded a wool cargo at Wellington and Lyttleton and made her last major voyage to London via the Cape of Good Hope in 103 days. She returned to Newcastle in ballast, in 93 days, and loaded coal and sleepers there for Auckland. She arrived at Auckland on the 15th August 1922, and that was her final voyage with cargo.
The Rewa remained laid up at Auckland for eight years. On the 28th June 1930
she was towed from Auckland to Moturekareka
Island, Harauki Gulf, NZ, where the barque was sunk to act as a breakwater. Some of the steel was
salvaged in 1957, but what remains today is still recognisable as the
hull of a sailing ship.
The Rewa was reputedly the last barque on the British shipping register (the last ship being the Garthpool).
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