Mallsgate

Official Number
63889

The Mallsgate was an iron barque built by R.Williamson & Son at Harrington in 1877, reputedly a sister ship to Inglewood and Geltwood, built at the same shipyard and also owned by Fisher & Sprott. The barque made her first voyage from Liverpool to Adelaide, departing on the 14th August 1877 and arriving on the 22nd November, under the command of Capt.J.E.Summers.

In 1880 the Mallsgate travelled from Liverpool to Adelaide, returning to London with a cargo of iron. In 1882 her voyage was from Cardiff to San Francisco, returning to Liverpool.The Mallsgate had a reputation for speed, and in 1884 made a passage from Hull to Sydney in 74 days, during which she covered 2,700 nm in only nine days.

On the 21st July 1889, a few days out from Newcastle, NSW, Australia, bound for San Francisco with a coal cargo (1513 tons), the Mallsgate stranded on the Middleton Reef and subsequently broke up. All the crew survived.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Mallsgate
1877
 1073
215.0
34.0
 21.0
 3
 
 
100 years A1, Special Survey 

Sources :

  1. Photographs and newspaper reports of the Mallsgate available at the National Library of Australia website.
  2. Report of arrival from first voyage in the the South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide newpaper), Friday 23rd November 1877. The report includes a description of the vessel accommodation, and of incidents on the voyage when an apprentice and a seaman died in accidents.
  3. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1878-9: Mallsgate, iron barque, 1073 grt, 1043 nrt, built by Williamson at Harrington in May 1877, official number 63889, signal letters QVJS, registered at Workington, owned by J.Sprott.
  4. The "Last of the Windjammers, Vol.2" by Basil Lubbock.
  5. Mercantile Navy List 1878: Mallsgate, barque, 1043 tons, built at Harrington in 1877, official number 63889, signal letters QVJS, registered at Workington, owned by John Sprott, of Harrington.
  6. Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve
  7. Wreck Inquiry reported in the the Brisbane Courier, Wednesday, 14th August 1889.
  8. Board of Trade Wreck Report for 'Mallsgate', 1889 (from the Port Cities website)
  9. State Library of Queensland - showing a photo of an aboriginal breastplate, presented to Porlorunki of the Taloom tribe, who assisted the shipwrecked crew of the Mallsgate, who landed some 18 miles south of Double Island Point on the 31st July 1889.