Caradoc

Official Number
99060

The Caradoc was a four-masted barque built in April 1892 by Richard Williamson & Son at Workington. She was one of six Workington four-masted barques known as the "Six Sisters" (the others were Andelana, Vortigern, Pendragon Castle, Conishead and Eusemere). The Caradoc was built largely of steel, and cost between £22,000 and £23,000.

The Times, Thursday, 23rd February 1899, page 6;

" OVERDUE AND MISSING VESSELS:... the Caradoc, of London, official No. 99,060, Jones, master, which sailed from Kobe (Japan) for Port Angeles (Washington Territory), in ballast, on the 8th October, 1898 .....and have not since been heard of, were posted yesterday at Lloyd's as missing. "

The Caradoc had sailed on the 25th December 1897 from Hull for Philadelphia with 1,200 tons of chalk and 150 tons of pig iron. She discharged the chalk at Philadelphia and loaded a cargo of case oil for Hiogo, Japan. The barque arrived at Hiogo on the 27th July 1898, where she discharged the oil and iron. Orders were received for Port Angeles, USA, and the Caradoc loaded 1,200 tons of sand as ballast. She left Hiogo (Kobe) port under the command of a pilot on the 4th October 1898. After the pilot had left the vessel off Cape Hino on the 5th October, no more was heard of her.

A Court of Inquiry was held in London in March 1900. This ascribed the loss of the vessel to a deficiency of ballast, which meant that the vessel was poorly equipped to deal with bad weather. It had been the hurricane season off the coast of Japan and a typhoon was known to have been in the area that the Caradoc would have sailed through 10 days into her voyage. Ballast quantities for these large iron and steel sailing ships was a controversial subject, and was investigated by a British parliamentary inquiry in later years (which also reviewed the loss of the Midas, lost in similar circumstances).

The master of the Caradoc since May 1894 had been Capt.John Jones, of Anglesey. He and 31 others were lost with the vessel, largely British officers and apprentices, and Scandinavian and American seamen. The vessel had been insured for £18,000, and the freight for £6,000.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Caradoc
1892
 2531
 305.8
42.3
24.6
4
 
 
100 years A1, Special Survey

Sources :

  1. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1893-4: Caradoc, steel 4-masted barque, 2531grt, 2409 nrt, official no.99060, built by R.Williamson & Son at Workington in April 1892, registered at London, master Capt.J.Jones.
  2. There are newspaper reports concerning the Caradoc at the website of the National Library of Australia website. In particular, there are several describing a dramatic voyage through a cyclone on passage from Newcastle to Manilla in 1895.
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  3. Mystic Seaport Library Ship Register Search has shipping register details for 1898 and 1899.
  4. The report of the Board of Trade Inquiry into the loss of the Caradoc is included (as Appendix B, page 170) in  the 'Sessional Papers of the House of Lords, 1903, Vol.8 - Report from the Select Committees of the House of Lords, Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Light Load Line, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, minutes of Evidence and Appendix' - this document gives much detail on the construction of the vessel, plus a full list of the 32 crew lost with her.