Steam-navigation -- History; Steamboat lines -- History; Steamboats -- History
the 15th June of that year, she sailed from Dublin to Cork with a
general cargo, and forty passengers. All went well until 4 a.m. on
the 16th, when she encountered a dense fog, and went on the rocks in
Ballycotton Bay. Twelve passengers and two seamen were unfortunately
drowned by the capsizing of a boat which had been launched, but the
rest of the passengers and crew were saved by means of a rope which
was passed from the ship to the shore. The vessel itself went to
pieces on the 22nd June.
[Illustration: SIRIUS P. S. Cork Steamship Co.]
Nearly all the steamers retained by the new management were sold to
various owners within a few years from the reconstruction of the
Company, and new and more powerful vessels substituted for them. The
first of these, the NIMROD, was the first iron steamship owned in
Cork. She was built by Thomas Vernon & Son, Liverpool, to Mr. Pike’s
order in 1843, and was 177 feet long, 25 feet beam, and 16 feet deep.
Her tonnage was 583 tons, and she had two masts, a clipper bow, and a
huntsman (Nimrod) figurehead.
The AJAX, a vessel of about 600 tons, was added in 1845, and the
PREUSSISCHER ADLER, of 563 tons, also built in 1845, was purchased
by the Company. The latter steamer was designed as an armed yacht
for the late King of Prussia. She was built at Liverpool, and
cost £32,000. She was a broad-beamed paddle-boat, having a beam
of 28 feet, her length being 185 feet, and her depth 17 feet. She
was rigged as a two masted schooner, with a cutwater, an eagle
figurehead. The Company, after purchase, added to her length, and for
this purpose placed her in the Rushbrook Dry Dock, Cork, belonging
to the Channel Dry Docks and Engineering Co.; the PREUSSISCHER ADLER
being the first steamer to enter this dock. As originally designed
her paddle-boxes were so constructed as to be capable of being turned
down over her sides, in order that two large swivel guns which she
carried on deck, might have a free range all round.
She remained in the service of the Company until 1884, when she was
broken up in London.
In 1846 Messrs. R. and J. Lecky, of Cork, built a small screw
steamer to the order of the Cork Steamship Co. She was named the
BLARNEY, and was only 118 feet long, 19 feet broad, and 11 feet deep.
Notwithstanding her diminutive size, she ran for a number of years
between Liverpool and Havre, and was eventually sold to a Liverpool
firm in 1854. It is noteworthy that the BLARNEY was the first
cross-channel steamer built in Cork by R. & J. Lecky, and was the
first screw steamer built for the Cork Steamship Co.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account