Silverhow

Official Number
69719

The Silverhow was an iron full-rigged ship built by the Whitehaven Shipbuilding Company at Whitehaven in October 1875. She made her maiden voyage under the command of Capt.Dougal from Ardrossan (sailed 18th December 1875) to San Francisco. She loaded wheat for the return trip and sailed for Liverpool on the 9th August 1876.

The Silverhow was reduced to barque rig in the 1890's, and was sold after the turn of the century to Norwegian owners. She was renamed Signi and was wrecked on the 14th November 1904 at Pointe-des-Monts in the St.Lawrence River, as she departed on a voyage to Buenos Aires with a cargo of lumber. Capt.Oscar Olsson and his sixteen crew all survived the wreck.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Silverhow
1875
1221 
226.0 
36.1 
22.1 
 
 
100 A1 , Special Survey

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. There is a photo of the Silverhow in the collection of the State Library of Victoria - see Picture Australia website.
  3. Record of American and Foreign Shipping, 1877: Silverhow, ship, official number 69719, 1279 gross tons, owned by Geo.Nelson & Sons, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.Jas.Dougall.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1883-4: Silverhow, ship, official number 69719, 1221 gross tons, owned by G.Nelson & Sons, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.J.Dougall.
  5. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1887-8: Silverhow, same master and owner as 1883.
  6. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1897-8 Silverhow, iron barque, official number 69719, signal letters QLTK, 1247 gross tons, owned by G.Nelson & Sons, registered at Whitehaven, master Capt.W.H.Marshall.
  7. Details of wreck at the National Centre for Shipwrecks of the St.Lawrence.