The Bremen bark COLUMBIA was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen & Co, and was launched on 17 October 1846. 213 Commerzlasten; 33,8 x 9,0 x 5,2 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). 1 December 1846, maiden voyage, Bremerhaven - Baltimore, under Capt. Sievert Geerken. Until 1853, the COLUMBIA served as a "packet sailor", sailing twice a year with emigrants to New York and returning to Europe with a cargo of tobacco or cotton. After 1853, her cargo was chiefly tobacco. In 1854, Hinrich Semcken became her master.

In August 1879, bound from London to Quebec in ballast, in approximately Lat 49 N, Lon 36 W, the COLUMBIA sank after colliding with a whale; the crew was rescued by the steamer P. COLAND.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 211, no. 189.

The U.S. ship COLUMBUS was built at New York in 1834 (first certificate of registry, 12 June 1834) for the Black Ball line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool. 663 tons; 138 ft 10 in x 32 ft 6 in x 16 ft 3 in (length x beam x depth of hold). She sailed in the Black Ball Line from 1834 until 1845, when, having become too small and her accommodations outmoded, she was replaced by the FIDELIA; during this time her westward passages averaged 36 days, her shortest passage being 28 days, her longest 50 days.

In 1847, after two years as a regular trader, sailing between New York and Liverpool, the COLUMBUS was purchased by the Bremen firm of C. L. Brauer & Sohn, Capt. Frerichs taking possession of her on 13 February 1847, at Catwater, on the River Plym, in Devonshire. Brauer & Sohn renamed the vessel ERNESTINE, and retained her until 1864, when she was sold Norwegian. Her later history is unknown.

Sources: Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 140; Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The new York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 276-277; Rolf Reinemuth, Segel aus Downeast; Die unerschrockenen Männer von der Weser und ihre prächtigen Schiffe aus Neu-England (Herford: Koehler, c1971), pp. 37 and 123.

The Bremen ship COLUMBUS was built at Vegesack/Grohn by the shipwright Johann Lange for the Bremen firm of J. F. W. Iken & Co, and was launched on 7 December 1841. 200 Commerzlasten; 32,4 x 8,8 x 5,5 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). Masters of the vessel were, in turn, Hinrich Hilken and Dettmer Meyer, both from Vegesack, and Hermann Sanders, from Bremen. The ship was employed in the trade between Bremen and the east coast of the U.S., and from 1848, Cuba.

At the end of November 1851, the COLUMBUS, Capt. Sanders, bound from Havana for Bremen with a cargo of sugar and rum, collided with the Dutch bark AMBOINA, bound from Rotterdam for London. The heavily damaged COLUMBUS managed to make Dover on 23 November, but grounded in the harbor and came to rest on her side. On 4 December, after her masts and rigging were removed she was righted and brought to dock, but the surveyors judged her irreparable, and she was sold as a wreck shortly afterwards.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), pp. 203-204, no. 170.

The steamship COLUMBUS was built by Reeves & Brothers, Allowaystown, New Jersey, in 1848. 460 25/95 tons; 148.8 x 25.6 x 12.8 feet (length x breadth x depth of hold); 2 decks, 3 masts, scroll figurehead; wooden construction, screw propulsion, side-lever engine by Rainey, Neafie & Co, Philadelphia, diameter of cylinder 4 feet 1 inches, length of stroke 5 feet, 87 hp.

February 1848, entered service between Philadelphia and Charleston, South Carolina. Sent to the Pacific by George Law, Marshall Roberts, and others, for service between San Francisco and Panama. 12 February 1850, sailed from New York, via Rio de Janeiro (11 March 1850); arrived San Francisco 6 June 1850. Early 1851, sold for $120,000 to the Pacific Mail Steamship Co, who employed her in the San Francisco-Panama service until 1854. 1854, chartered for a short time by the U.S. Navy. Sold to the Panama Railroad Co, and operated in its local service on the west coast of Central America. 9 December 1861, lost at Punta Remedios.

Source: John Haskell Kemble, The Panama Route, 1848-1869, University of California Publications in History, 29 (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1943), p. 221.

The Bremen bark COLUMBUS was built at Vegesack/Fähr by Hermann Friedrich Ulrichs, and was launched in 1861. 265 Commerzlasten / 591 tons; 40,5 x 9,5 x 5,1 meters (length x breadth x depth of hold). International Signal Code: QBPV. The principal owners of the COLUMBUS were G. Ihlder jun. (11/16), and Joh. D. Ihlder (4/16), both of Bremerhaven; the remaining 1/16 (by 1864 increased to 1/4) share was held by the Bremen firm of Wm. Stisser & Co, who managed the vessel. Captains of the COLUMBUS under the Bremen flag were, in order, Joh. Gerdes, Wohlert Gerdes, Joh. Diedr. Hilmer, Gerh. Diedr. Ihlder, M. Dewers, Joh. Ihlder jun., and D. Kuck. The COLUMBUS was employed chiefly in the transportation of petroleum from the United States to Europe, but also carried passengers. In June 1884, the vessel was sold to Consul Peter Bornholdt, Advocat Christian Kalning, Advocat Friedrich Grosswald, and Kaufmann Christoph Berg, of Riga, who entrusted her management to the Schiffahrts-Gesellschaft "Austra". Until the mid-1890's her master was Capt. Bauer, who was succeeded in turn by Capt. Jurenberg (until 1900), and Capt. F. Dreimann (1900-1901). In 1901/02, the COLUMBUS was sold to J. Putning, of Riga; Captain R. Behrsing. The vessel was lost in April 1903.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 283, no. 54.

The side-wheel steamship COMMONWEALTH was built at Shousetown, Pennsylvania, in 1864. 261 x 43 x 8.6 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); wooden construction, engines, inside diameter of cylinder 22 inches, length of stroke 9 feet, 3 boilers.

The COMMONWEALTH was a Mississippi River steam packet. In 1866, James Lloyd, master, and James K. Boyles, clerk, she ran New Orleans-St. Louis. Owned in 1868 by Benjamin F. Hutchinson, St. Louis (3/4), and M. W. Beltzhoover, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (1/4); Capt. William Conley. May 1873, sold to Capt. J. P. Sedam and others, who extensively rebuilt her, but could not pay the bills. She was seized by a U.S. marshal at St. Louis in November 1873, and sold to Capt. Thomas W. Shields and others, who ran her New Orleans-St. Louis, and occasionally New Orleans-Cincinnati. She is said to have made a trip up the Wabash River to New Harmony, Indiana, and brought out a large cargo of corn. She was incorporated into the Anchor Line. Late in her career she was sold to a gentleman of Dover, Kentucky, who ran her several times Cincinnati-New Orleans, and then pinch-hit in the excursion trade between Cincinnati and Coney Island; during one such trip she ran over the steamer LAME DUCK and sank her. She burned at the foot of Whittaker Street, Cincinnati, at 11 PM, 25August 1889. She had a mockingbird whistle, and had to lower her stacks to clear the Cincinnati suspension bridge.

Source: Frederick Way, Jr., Way's Packet Directory, 1848-1994; Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (revised edition; Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1994),pp. 107-108, packet #1275.

The U.S. ship CONSTELLATION was built at New York by Jacob A. Westervelt & William Mackey for Robert Kermit's Red Star Line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool, and was launched in March 1849 (certificate of registry, New York, 11 April 1849). 1560/1534 tons (old/new measurement); 201 feet 10 inches x 41 feet x 28 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); 3 decks; draft 23 feet. At the time of her launch, she was the largest sailing vessel in the New York-Liverpool packet service. The New York Herald for 12 March 1849 printed a detailed account of her upon the occasion of her launch, including the following description of her passenger cabin:

The spar deck contains a magnificent cabin of 45 feet in length with rosewood and mahogany finishings. The entrance to this is effected through a semicircular passage and folding doors at the "break" of the poop. The interior, in addition to large and capacious mess and sleeping apartments for the officers, bath room, closets, pantries, etc., is fitted up with six elegantly lighted staterooms for passengers. Throughout, the greatest taste is displayed; and though lacking the flimsy and gingerbread air of saloons in general, there is a richness and beauty in the fittings which does great credit to Messrs. Cutter & Youngs, to whom this part of the equipment has been confided.

At the entrance to the cabin, and forming the passage to which we have referred, is situated a circular apartment, containing the dispensary and the main deck cabin staircase, by means of which latter, communication can be had with the passengers below, without exposure to the spar deck. Further forward, and between the fore and main hatchways, a large and capacious house is fitted up for the accommodation of second class passengers, range, galley, etc.; while the crew are comfortably provided with quarters under the forecastle deck.

On the main deck (which contains six cargo ports four feet square) the lower cabin is situated. This, though not yet complete, is upwards of fifty feet in length, and is designed to contain ten or twelve double staterooms, together with pantries, storerooms, closets, etc. As with the other cabin, it is extremely well lighted, and so high between decks that nothing can preclude that great desideratum to passengers, a free circulation of air throughout.

The lower deck is thus left clear for freight or cargo, although the smoothness and finish of the knees and beams would rather lead one to conclude the contrary.

Within two years the CONSTELLATION was carrying between 800 and 900 steerage passengers per passage (the 912 steerage passengers she discharged on 29 May 1851 was a record at the time) on this lower deck. With so many passengers crammed in steerage, conditions, squalid in the best of times, deteriorated, with a concomitant rise in passenger mortality. The nadir was reached in December 1853, when the CONSTELLATION arrived at New York from Liverpool having buried 100 of its 922 steerage passengers during the passage.

The CONSTELLATION served in the Red Star Line from 1849 until the end of the Line in 1867 (the longest term of service of any vessel in the Line); during this time the average length of her westbound passages was 35 days, her shortest passage being 22 days, her longest 59 days. I have at present no information on her later history or ultimate fate.

Sources: Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 148; Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 278-279, 299; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), pp. 319, 321-322.

The Bremen brig CONSTITUTION was built at Vegesack/Grohn by the shipwright Johann Lange, for the Bremen-New York packet service of Bremen firm of H. H. Meier & Co, and was launched on 21 October 1820. Masters, in turn, were Gerd Klockgeter, Jürgen Meyer, Johann Wächter, and J. F. Volckmann. The CONSTITUTION was wrecked sometime in 1833; she was replaced by a 3-masted, square-rigged bark of the same name, launched by the same shipwright for the same owners in November 1833.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), pp. 164-165, no. 64.

The Bremen bark CONSTITUTION was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of H. H. Meier & Co, and was launched on 7 November 1833, as the successor to the brig of the same name, built in 1820, that had been lost earlier in the year. 127 Commerzlasten; 27,6 x 7,7 x 4,7 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). She sailed for almost 25 years in the packet service between Bremerhaven and New York. Captains (in turn): J. F. Volckmann, G. C. Ahlhorn, J. F. G. E. G. Thormann, Hermann Rothfos, F. G. Schelling, J. D. Luth, W. Lauer, and Jürgen Hake. She was sold in Bangkok in 1859; her later history and ultimate fate are not known.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 181, no. 121.

The Bremen ship COPERNICUS was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of Gloystein & Gevekoht (later N. Gloystein Söhne), and launched on 17 March 1835. 177 Commerzlasten; 31,5 x 8,8 x 5,1 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). Her first master was Hinrich Haesloop. The COPERNICUS was engaged in the freight and passenger trade between Bremerhaven and North America. In 1844, she was sold to F. J. Wichelhausen, of Bremen. Haesloop was succeeded as master, in turn, by J. Andreas Harmsen and A. H. Ahrensfeld. In May 1844, bound from Bremen to Baltimore, the COPERNICUS rescued the captain and crew of the British brig PEACE, bound from Bayonne for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which had sunk in an ice field in lat 46 50, lon 46 42. In March 1845, bound from New Orleans to Bremerhaven, the COPERNICUS grounded at the mouth of the Weser River; she was repaired at Bremerhaven. On 5 August 1846, she sailed from Bremerhaven for Baltimore, reaching her destination on 3 October 1846. She was found to have suffered severe damage from stormy weather during the passage, and was condemned.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), pp. 186-187, no. 128.

The Hamburg bark COPERNICUS was built at Pillau, East Prussia (now Baltjsk, in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad), by Heinrich Otto Becker, for the merchant Eduard Ganswindt; Bielbrief [certificate of registry] Königsberg 3 October 1850; sold the same day to the Hamburg merchant and shipowner Robert Miles Sloman. 163 Commerzlasten; other measurements not given.

Masters:
     1851-1853 - C. J. O. Roluffs
     1853-1856 - H. Meyer
     1856-1857 - H. C. Johannes
     1857-1859 - T. A. Dahl

Voyages:
     1850      - from Pillau/London
     1851-1852 - New York
     1852/53   - New Orleans
     1853-1856 - New York
     1856/1857 - New Orleans
     1857      - Quebec
     1857/1858 - New Orleans
     1858      - Quebec/Glasgow

1859, sold Norwegian and renamed SANDEFJORD (Gronwold, master).

Sources: Ernst Hieke, Rob. M. Sloman Jr., errichtet 1793, Veröffentlichungen der Wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Forschungsstelle e.V., Band 30 (Hamburg: Verlag Hanseatischer Merkur, 1968), p. 372; Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5. (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 2, p. 209.

The Bremen bark COPERNICUS was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of N. Gloystein Söhne, and was launched on 16 April 1851. 223 Commerzlasten / 481 tons; 37,8 x 8,8 x 4,9 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). Her masters were, in turn, Heinrich Wieting, Bremerhaven (1851-1857), C. J. H. Rahe, Bremen, Hermann Mahnken, Vegesack (1860), and J. Haesloop, Vegesack (1864).

In 1864, Gloystein Söhne sold the COPERNICUS to T. M. Wiel, of Fredrikshald, Norway, who renamed the vessel NORA. In 1894, the NORA was acquired by T. S. Aschehoug, also of Fredrikshald, from whom she passed in time to Thv. Lund. Masters of the NORA were, in turn, O. E. Eriksen, C. Hansen, and B. Eriksen.

On 7 July 1903, bound from Fredrikshald for Bristol with a cargo of Lumber, the NORA was abandoned at sea off Helder.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 220, no. 211.

The Bremen bark CORIOLAN was built at Kennebunk, Maine, in 1850. She must have been purchased by Bremen interests either on the stocks or shortly after launching, as she first arrived at New York from Bremen in late September 1850. The CORIOLAN was owned from at least 1865 by the Bremen firm of F. Reck & Co. She was still in service in 1885, the oldest "Downeaster" in the Bremen merchant fleet. The CORIOLAN first appears in Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1876/77 (the first year that non-British ocean-going vessels not surveyed and classed by Lloyd's Register of Shipping are included): 966 tons; 162 x 33 x 22 ft (length x beam x depth of hold); International Signal Code: QCDG.

The U.S. ship CORTES was built at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1820, and registered at New York on 6 September 1825. 381 tons; 106 ft 6 in x 28 ft 6 in x 14 ft 3 in (length x beam x depth of hold). She was owned by the New York firm of Fish & Grinnell, and was one of the original two ships in the firm's Blue Swallowtail Line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool, which was founded in 1822. The CORTES sailed for the Blue Swallowtail Line from 1822 to 1826, during which time her westbound passages averaged 35 days, her shortest passage being 24 days, her longest 45 days. In 1826, the CORTES was transferred to the firm's Red Swallowtail Line of packets between New York and London, where she ran for one year, during which the average length of her westbound passages was 40 days, her shortest being 32 days, her longest 54 days. In 1828, she became a whaler out of New Bedford:

Depart        Return         Master (owner/agent), fishing ground

03 Apr 1828   06 Nov 1830    Capt. Ebenezer Coleman (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
25 Dec 1830   11 Apr 1834    Capt. Daniel Holway (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
20 Jul 1834   05 Nov 1837    Capt. Alexander Bunker (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
24 Apr 1838   22 Apr 1842    Capt. Edward Gardner (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
30 Jun 1842   21 Jul 1846    Capt. Hammond (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
15 Nov 1846   14 Jan 1849    Capt. Swift (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean (third mate George Bailey,
                             killed by a whale 1847)
29 Jul 1849   15 Mar 1851    Capt. Cromwell (George Howland), Pacific Ocean
26 Jun 1851   12 Apr 1853    Capt. P. Cromwell (George Howland), to Pacific Ocean
13 Sep 1853   22 Feb 1857    Capt. Charles F. Stetson (G. & M. Howland, owner/agent), to North Pacific
03 Jul 1857                  Capt. E. F. Lakeman (Geo. & Matt. Howland, owner/agent), to Indian Ocean

The CORTES, with 300 barrels of oil, was burned by her crew at Cape Crusade, in the Indian Ocean, in March 1858.

Sources: Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 154; Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 104, 278, 282; Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery, pp. 266, 274, 306, 344, 386, 434, 460, 478, 502, 546.

The log for the first whaling voyage of the CORTES, from 8 April 1828 to 6 November 1830, is held by the

Nantucket Historical Society
Broad Street
P.O. Box 1016
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts 02554

Old Dartmouth Historical Society - New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740

Dukes County Historical Society
P.O. Box 827
Edgartown, MA 02539

The wooden side-wheel steamship CORTES was built by Jacob A. Westervelt & William Mackey, New York, for Davis, Brooks & Co, and was launched on 28 March 1852. 1,117 38/95 tons; 220 feet 6 inches x 22 feet 6 inches x 16 feet 10 inches [length x beam x depth of hold]; 3 decks, 2 masts, round stern, billethead; double walking-beam engines (Morgan Iron Works), bore 3 feet 6 inches x stroke 10 feet; accommodation for 100 passengers in the cabin and 600 passengers in steerage; cost $198,000.

The CORTES was originally christened SARATOGA, and was intended to run with the ROANOKE from New York to Richmond, Virginia. 2 July 1852, registered at New York as the CORTES. 10 July 1852, maiden voyage, New York-San Francisco. End 1852, New York & San Francisco Steamship Line San Francisco-Panama service. Summer 1853, purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt, and operated in his San Francisco-San Juan del Sur service until March 1855. 1858-1859, New York & California Steamship Co San Francisco-Panama service. 1860, Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Co San Francisco-Panama service. December 1860, Pacific Mail Steamship Co Panama service; later Oregon service. February 1861, sold to Flint & Holladay; chartered by new owners for service in China. 14 April 1862, sailed from San Francisco for Shanghai. 1865, burned at Shanghai in 1865.

Sources: John Haskell Kemble, The Panama Route, 1848-1869, University of California Publications in History, 29 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1943), p. 222; Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 154.

The Hamburg brig COSMOPOLIT was built at Flensburg by the shipwright Weedermann, in 1853; Bielbrief [certificate of registry], 5 March 1853, for Abraham Ewout van Dycke, of Hamburg. 63 Commerzlasten; 91,6 x 21,7 x 12,6 Hamburg Fuß (1 Hamburg Fuß = .28657 meter), length x beam x depth of hold. She was sold to Kornbeck, Flensburg, in 1855.

Masters:
     1853      - J. J. Lewens
     1853-1854 - C. N. C. Nancke
     1854-1855 - E. Becker

Voyages:
     1853/54 - Rio Grande do Sul/Rio de Janeiro/Altona
     1854    - Rio de Janeiro/Santos
     1854/55 - Rio de Janeiro

Source: Walter Kresse, ed., _Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, p. 117.

According to the annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1834/35-1843/44, the British bark COSMOPOLITE, 373 tons, was built in New Brunswick in 1833.

Master:
     1834/35-1839/40 - P[eter] Smith
     1839/40-1841/42 - Trevethen
     1841/42-1843/44 - J. Webber

Owner:  Pope Bros.

Port of Registry:  Plymouth

Port of Survey:
     1834/35-1839/40 - Plymouth
     1839/40-1840/41 - Bristol
     1840/41-1843/44 - Plymouth

Destined Voyage:
     1834/35-1836/37 - New York
     1836/37-1839/40 - North America
     1839/40-1840/41 - Quebec
     1840/41-1843/44 - North America

The COSMOPOLITE last appears in Lloyd's Register for 1843/44; I have no further information on her later history or ultimate fate.

The British ship COSPATRICK was built at Moulmein, Burma, in 1856, apparently for the shipowner Duncan Dunbar. Measurements (Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1874/75): 1,200 tons; 190 x 34 x 23.5 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); owned by Shaw, Savill & Co., and registered at London. From Charles A. Hocking, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam, Including sailing ships and ships of war lost in action, 1824-1962 (London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping, c1969), vol. 1, pp. 164-165:

COSPATRICK - Shaw, Savill & Co.; 1856; Duncan Dunbar; 1,220 tons; 190 x 34 x 24.

The emigrant ship COSPATRICK, Capt. Elmslie, a fine teak clipper, left London on September 11th. 1874, for Auckland, New Zealand. She was crowded with people, for those were the days of the regular emigrant service between English ports and those of New Zealand and Australia. There were on board 475 persons, of whom 42 were crew.

The voyage was uneventful for the first two months. The COSPATRICK was equipped with a fixed fire engine in her forecastle, and several lengths of new canvas hose; fire being always in the minds of those who owned wooden emigrant ships. So far as can be ascertained every precaution was taken to ensure the safety of the ship against this danger. Locked lanterns were used below deck and smoking was strictly forbidden. A fire patrol was formed from among the male passengers, and before leaving Gravesend she passed the somewhat ineffectual tests then required by the authorities.

On the night of November 17th there was a concert on board after which the passengers and crew turned in without thought of trouble. At about 1 a.m. the watch on deck raised the cry of 'Fire'. Dense clouds of smoke were rising from a shaft running from the forepeak to the forecastle-head, where a quantity of inflammable material was stored. In a short time the flames drove crew and passengers aft and gained a fatal hold on the ship. The fire engine failed to function as there was a heavy swell, and the roll of the ship constantly took the suction-pipe out of the water. The alternative of fighting the fire with buckets passed from hand to hand was futile from the outset as the bulwarks were very high and the task of filling the buckets slow and difficult. Another handicap was the impossibility of keeping the ship before the wind in order to blow the flames away from the after part.

Capt. Elmslie in his anxiety to keep every available man at work fighting the flames neglected, until it was too late, to order away the boats. Ultimately the passengers were seized with terrible panic, boats caught fire and those available proved unseaworthy and devoid of hoisting tackle. Amid scenes of the utmost terror and confusion the COSPATRICK was burned out, being at the time in lat. 37 15 S., Iong. 12 25 E, about 300 miles S.W. of the Cape of Good Hope.

Two small boats, packed with about 60 people between them, eventually got away. They had neither food, drink nor equipment, and were a stark revelation of the badly-found condition of the ship. The boats kept together for two days and were then separated by bad weather. One was never seen again and the other, after drifting for ten days, during which time all but five had died, was picked up by the sailing ship BRITISH SCEPTRE, Capt. Jahnke, Liverpool. Of the five rescued only three survived to tell a dreadful story of how they had subsisted for days on the bodies of those who had died. The saved were Mr. Henry Macdonald, the second officer, and two seamen.

Those lost numbered 472, of whom 177 were men, 125 women, 58 boys, 53 girls and 16 infants under twelve months, these being emigrants. There were also four private passengers and 39 of the crew.

The pages from Sir Henry Brett, White Wings, vol. 1: Fifty years of sail in the New Zealand trade, 1850-1900 (Auckland: Brett, 1924), are presumably Macdonald's account; there is also a modern account of the disaster in Walter Wood, Survivors Tales of Famous Shipwrecks (1932).

Contemporary accounts of the burning of the COSPATRICK include extensive reports in the London Times, in particular (fromPalmer's Index):

29 December 1874, p. 7f; 30 December 1874, p. 9f; 31 December 1874, pp. 5e, 9f; 1 January 1875, pp. 9f, 10b and d; 2 January 1875, p. 5d; 4 January 1875, pp. 9f and 10b; 5 January 1875, p. 9f, 10d; 6 January 1875, p. 7a and c; 7 January 1875, p. 5d; 8 January 1875, p. 11e; 11 January 1875, p. 6d; 12 January 1875, p. 6d; 13 January 1875, p. 12b; 15 January 1875, p. 7b; 22 January 1875, p. 6e; 23 January 1875, p. 6f; 1 February 1875, p. 7d; 4 February 1875, p. 10f; 5 February 1875, p. 7e; 6 February 1875, p. 12a; 9 February 1875, p. 5c; 22 February 1875, p. 10d; 10 March 1875, p. 9f; 6 April 1875, p. 10d; 10 April 1875, p. 10f.

The official report of the inquiry at Greenwich into the burning of the COSPATRICK was published in Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1875 lxx.33-37.

For additional information on the COSPATRICK, see David Savill, Sail to New Zealand; the story of Shaw, Savill and Co, 1858-1882 (London: Robert Hale, 1986). There may be a picture of the COSPATRICK in Richard P. de Kerbrech, The Shaw Savill line; images in mast, steam and motor (Coltishall: Ship Pictorial, 1992). The Manuscript Section, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, holds the surviving corporate records of Shaw, Savill & Albion (most of which, however, were destroyed during World War II)