The Roanoke was one of the largest wooden ships ever constructed.

The Roanoke was four-masted and was built in 1892 by Messrs. A. Sewall and Co., at Bath, Maine

Bath, Maine

Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...

,USA. It left New York on its final voyage in June 1904, and was involved in a serious collision with the British steamship Llangibby

Llangibby (ship)

The Llangibby was a British steamship named after the town of Llangybi, Monmouthshire.In August 1904, the Llangibby was involved in a serious collision on the high seas with the American ship Roanoke, off the coast of South America. The Llangibby was under Captain Holt and was bound from Rosario...

, off the coast of South America in August 1904, requiring repairs for three months in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 . After delivering cargo to Australia, Roanoke was loading chrome ore near Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

 when it caught fire and burned on the night of 10 August 1905. Her length was 311 feet, her beam 49 feet and her depth 29 feet.

There were other ships named Roanoke, including a steamship which was wrecked near San Diego on about September 10, 1910 .