Lupata

Official Number
70704

The Lupata was an iron ship built at the Williamson shipyard, Harrington, and launched in February, 1875. She made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne under the command of Captain Miller Irven, departing 8th May and arriving on the 1st August 1875. The vessel was registered at London and was owned by John Clark for her whole career. Captain Irven (Irvine ?) died at sea shortly after leaving Antwerp in 1880.

The Lupata was lost on the 3rd January 1881, bound from Hiogo, Japan for Portland, Oregon, in ballast. She was wrecked in a SE gale/fog on the Tillamook Reef, on the West coast of the USA. At the time of the wreck the Tillamook Lighthouse was under construction and the builders witnessed the wreck as the vessel tried to alter course away from the reef. All hands were lost with the vessel. Wreckage was subsequently washed up on Clatsop Beach, and seventeen bodies were recovered in the two weeks following the wreck.

Lloyd's List, Tuesday, 11th January 1881, column 36;

" LUPATA - A telegram, received through Reuters agency, from New York, dated Jan.9, says :- "The report of the loss of the British ship Lupata, off the coast of Oregon, is confirmed. It is feared all hands have perished. "

Lloyd's List, Weds., 12th January 1881, column 25;

" LIVERPOOL, Jan.11, 2.37 pm - LUPATA, Japan for Oregon - Cablegram from San Francisco states :- Lupata wrecked Tulamook Rocks; crew undoubtedly lost, 12 bodies ashore."

Lloyd's List, 25th January 1881, column 39;

" NEW YORK, Jan.10 - LUPATA - Information was received at San Francisco, Jan.8, that the Lupata, Raven, from Hiogo for Portland (Or.), struck on the Tillamook Rock on the night of Jan.3, during thick fog, and next morning her topmasts were visible six to ten feet above the water; crew supposed lost."

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Lupata
1875
1069
 215.0
34.1 
21.1 
3 
 
 
100 years A1, Special Survey 

Sources :

  1. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1874-5 (Supplement): Lupata, iron ship, 1069 grt, 1039 nrt, built by Williamson at Harrington in February 1875, owned by J.H.Clark, registered at London, no master named.
  2. Reports from Australian newspapers at the National Library of Australia website.
  3. Mercantile Navy List 1876: Lupata, ship, 1039 tons, built at Harrington in 1875, official number 70704, signal letters NTCS, owned by John H.Clark, of Erdington, Birmingham, vessel registered at London.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1880-1: Lupata, iron ship, 1069 grt, 1039 nrt, built by Williamson at Harrington in February 1875, official number 70704, signal letters NTCS, owned by J.H.Clark, registered at London, master Captain M.Irven.
  5. Magellan website - names owner as J.H.Clark and gives description of the wreck.
  6. Reports of the wreck from San Francisco and Sacramento newspapers are available at the California Digital Newspaper Collection website.
  7. Tacoma Public Library Shipping Database, citing from Don Marshall, "Ship disasters, Cape Falcon to Cape Disappointment. Oregon Shipwrecks ",1984, pages 130-133.
  8. Wreck reported in the Liverpool Mercury, 26th January 1881 (says that 30 lives were lost) and Reynolds's Newspaper, 30th January 1881.