hms

GULF OF MARTABAN, GREENOCK - educated guess with Trove's help. Wrecked in 1897 - www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/17411. [Edited 18/12/2012]

beachcomber australia Great, thanks beachcomber! The notes in the database say that one of the vessels in the background is a torpedo boat. I found no evidence of the vessel being used as a flagship during an Anniversary Day regatta, BUT, I did find this article! On 17 Feb 1897, a select few of the best of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles boarded the steamer bound for the Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London. And guess where they boarded with their horses? :-D See this great account as well. Another great find!!

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons Terrific! That must be the occasion, even though all the GULF OF ... (Greenock Line) ships seemed to have used Cowper Wharf, Woolloomooloo. Full details of the departure from the SMH 18/2/1897 p.3 col.5 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14089265 - including this -

" ... Gay-coloured bunting floated in the breeze from the rigging of the Gulf of Martaban as she loomed up largely beside the wharf, ... ... ... ... ... and at a quarter past 5 o'clock the big steamer swung out into the stream and was towed [see note] down the harbour by the steam tug Commodore. .... ..... Government steam launch Nea ... ... steamer Leveret. ... ... Excellent photographs of the whole team appear in this week's Sydney Mail ... "

The Sydney Mail article 20/2/1897 p.399 - photos of all the men - news.google.com/newspapers?id=5gdQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gJUDA...

Don't know where that wrecked in 1887 link went ... How about this - www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/G-Ships/gulfofmartaban1889.html Name: GULF OF MARTABAN Type: Cargo Ship Launched: 04/12/1888 Completed: 1889 Builder: R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd Yard: Hebburn Yard Number: 286 Dimensions: 2793grt, 1591nrt, 320.0 x 40.3 x 22.6ft Engines: T3cyl (26, 42 & 69 x 48ins), 292nhp Engines by: Blair & Co Ltd, Stockton-on-Tees Propulsion: 1 x Screw Construction: Steel Reg Number: 93211 History: 1889 Greenock Steam Ship Co Ltd, Greenock 1900 Gulf Line Ltd (D MacDougall), Greenock 1901 AC de Freitas & Co, Hamburg; renamed LUSITANIA 1909 Broken up Comments: 02/04/1909: Stranded at Porer on a voyage from Trieste to Fiume, refloated 1909: Broken up at Monfalcone

beachcomber australia Wow thank you, that Sydney Mail article with the photographs is quite good. So the vessel was towed by COMMODORE. So great to solve the mystery behind these photographs. We can even now guess what time this photograph was taken! Around 5:15 pm :-)

I spy HMS UNDINE !!

... and a Regatta going on. Which one?

" HMS Undine was an schooner gunboat of the Royal Navy. Built as the private yacht Morna by Camper and Nicholsons, Gosport and launched in 1869. The schooner was purchased by the Royal Navy on 15 March 1881 and was renamed Undine. Commenced service on the Australia Station from September 1883 and carried out patrol work and worked as a tender to the flagship HMS Nelson. She was sold in Sydney in April 1888 and was renamed Ruby by her new owners. Ruby was wrecked at Escape Pass in the King George Sound, Western Australia on 25 March 1890. " From - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Undine_(1881)

Beautiful Picture

beachcomber australia Knew I'd seen that vessel somewhere - what lovely timing :) Thanks for the info!

Paddle steamer built by Fairfield, Govan, Scotland, that entered service as Jupiter in 1937 between Greenock and the Kyles Of Bute. During WW2 she served as minesweeper HMS Scawfell, as well as an escort ship in the North Sea and attending the Normandy landings. Returned to commercial service in 1946. Withdrawn in 1957. Sold by the Caledonian Steam Packet in 1960 but never taken up, She was broken up at Dublin in 1961.

Flickr is sometimes amazing! Via Robert Waverley And a model and more information from the Scottish Maritime Museum 8 April 1961 was a Saturday ...

Looking at the warehouses on the quay, I think this is the Grand Canal Basin. The Lock gates are just in front of her.

A little more info on another photo of the model - www.flickr.com/photos/scottishmaritimemuseum/4878427013/ - "... "Scawfell" returned safely to the Clyde after the War, and after reconditioning her original name was restored. "Jupiter" resumed normal sailings on the Firth in 1946, and after being converted to oil burning in 1956-57, continued to sail on the Clyde until she was sold to a Belfast buyer in1960. ..."

No doubt Hammond Lane in Ringsend were the ones wielding the gas axe....