Engelhorn

Official Number
96388

The Engelhorn was a four-masted steel barque built by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Company. She was the last sailing ship built at Whitehaven, and was launched in October 1889, a month after the Alice A.Leigh. The Engelhorn was only successfully launched at the third attempt, with the aid of a tug, and the failure of this launch, and that of the Alice A.Leigh, contributed to the demise of the shipbuilding company, which was finally closed and sold in September 1891.

The Engelhorn was owned by J.R.de Wolf & Son, of Liverpool, one of a number of vessels named after Swiss mountains. She operated in a variety of trades from the Far East (Cebu and Saigon) and from South America to Europe.

The Englehorn left Valparaiso, Chile, on the 28th August 1914, bound for Falmouth with a cargo of nitrate in sacks. She was reported "Missing" at Lloyd's in May 1915. The Times reported that it was feared that she had become a victim of the German commerce raiders Karlsruhe and Kronprinz Wilhelm. This turned out not to be true, and the Engelhorn is presumed to have been lost off Cape Horn in a storm.

Name
Year Built
Net Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Engelhorn
1889
2374
300.1
42.8 
24.0 
4
 
 
100 years A1, Special Survey

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. There are several photographs and newspaper reports of the Engelhorn at the National Library of Australia website.
  3. "The Ships of West Cumberland" by Desmond G.Sythes (ISBN 0-9544872-2-2).
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1889-90 (Supplement): Engelhorn, steel barque, 2461 gross tons, owned by J.R.de Wolf & Son, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.W.J.Minns.
  5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1896-7: Engelhorn, steel 4-masted barque, 2461 gross tons, built Whitehaven, November 1889, official no.96388, signal letters LMHG, owned by C.E.de Wolf & Son, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.R.Shimmin.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1898-9: Engelhorn, information as 1897, except master Capt.E.H.Lovitt.
  7. Online photo of the Engelhorn available at the San Francisco Public Library.
  8. The Times, Tuesday, 26th January 1915, page 8, reported the Engelhorn overdue, and that the German cruiser Karlsruhe had claimed eleven merchant ship victims.
  9. Liquidation of the "Sailing Ship Engelhorn Co." in the London Gazette, Issue 29169, pub.21st May 1915 - the appointed liquidator was John Starr de Wolf, of Tower Building, Liverpool.