Manchester (barque)
Encyclopedia
Manchester was a four-masted, steel-hulled British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
which was wrecked in late 1900 on the reefs of Bikar Atoll
Bikar Atoll
Bikar Atoll is an uninhabited atoll in the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is one of the smallest atolls in the Marshalls and located at...
, Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
.
History
The Manchester was built at the shipyards of William Doxford & SonsWilliam Doxford & Sons
William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding company.-History:The Company was established by William Doxford in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wear in Northeast England. The Company was managed by William Doxford's...
in Sunderland, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1892. She was constructed with a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
hull and four masts for Galgate Shipping Company of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
Despite waning interest in sailing cargo ships, particularly after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the shipbuilders of Doxford & Sons felt there might be continuing interest in full rigged steel barque.They felt time factor was of less importance than creating economy through increased deadweight capacity. However, buyers largely preferred steam ships such as Doxford's own new Turret deck ship
Turret Deck Ship
A turret deck ship is a type of merchant ship with an unusual hull, designed and built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.The hulls of turret deck vessels were rounded and stepped inward above their waterlines. This gave some advantages in strength and allowed them to pay lower canal tolls...
designs, and the Manchester was their last sailing ship. Unlike fine lined clipper ships at the height of the age of sail, the Manchester was a broad beamed vessel with deep draught, built for capacity rather than speed.
Typical of her voyages was a contract to deliver case oil (kerosene) from New York to Yokohama for Standard Oil, departing 3 September 1899, arriving 7 December 1899.
Captains
John Joyce & Co.- 1894, J.C. Dodd
- 1895, J. Belyea
- 1896, D. Evans
- 1897 - 1900, S. Forrest
- 1900 - 1901, N.F. Clemens
Final voyage
On 21 August 1900, the Manchester left New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, loaded with 4515 tons of kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
. There were 30 crew members aboard, plus Captain N. Frank Clemens and his wife and two daughters who were passengers. Based on the length of her and other barques' previous voyages, the Manchester might have been expected to reach Yokohama in January or February 1901, but she never arrived. Her disappearance was reported to Lloyds, and she was assumed to be lost in a typhoon. In July 1901, a Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
trading schooner discovered wreckage of the Manchester on Bikar Atoll
Bikar Atoll
Bikar Atoll is an uninhabited atoll in the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is one of the smallest atolls in the Marshalls and located at...
. Footprints and marks of two boat keels on the sand, together with other signs, suggested that the crew, Clemens, and his family had been on the island and, unable to find sufficient water had pushed off again. It was supposed that they died of thirst before reaching inhabited islands.
An estimation of the remaining sailing time to reach Yokohama might have dated the shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
to late December 1900 or early January 1901. Given that ship's boats keel marks and foot prints were still visible in the sand in July, the crew may have been marooned for six months, departing a few days before the arrival of the trading schooner.
A maritime board of inquiry assembled in Liverpool on 16 and 17 October, 1901, to investigate the circumstances of the loss of the Manchester. The evidence suggested that the ship was in good seaworthy condition, had adequate crew, and was properly loaded and ballasted. The board was unable to conclude what caused the loss of the vessel. It was evidently unaware of the discovery of the wreckage, reported in the New York Times two days earlier.