Gananoque (ship)
Gananoque was a wood-hulled clipper ship of 785 tons, built in Quebec in 1857, that made a number of emigrant voyages to New Zealand. She had two serious collisions with icebergs in the North Atlantic, the second of which caused her loss.
History | |
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Namesake: | Gananoque, Canada |
Owner: |
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Port of registry: |
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Route: | New Zealand Packet (1860s) |
Builder: | George T Davie & Sons, Lauzon, Quebec[2] |
Launched: | 1857 |
Completed: | 1857[1] |
In service: | 12 February 1858 (London) |
Identification: | British ON 33377[1] |
Fate: | Sunk |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen: | 785[1] |
Length: | 158.1 ft (48.2 m)[3] |
Beam: | 32.6 ft (9.9 m) |
Draught: | 19 ft (5.8 m)[3] |
Depth of hold: | 21.1 ft (6.4 m) |
Sail plan: | Full-rigged clipper ship,[4][5] later Barque |
Notes: | wood-hulled |
History
Gananoque was built at Lauzon, Quebec in 1857 by George T Davie & Sons[2] and sold the following year to Thomas Bailey of Newcastle upon Tyne.[1] In May 1858 he sold a one-eighth share in the ship to Archibald Morris who became her commander.[6]
New Zealand trade
She made four voyages to New Zealand in the 1860s under contract to the provincial governments.[7] The ship was first chartered by Willis, Gann & Company for a voyage from London to New Zealand in 1860 and then for three more by Shaw, Savill and Company. The first three carried government immigrants; the fourth voyage was solely with cargo:
- 9 February 1860 departing London, arriving Lyttelton on 9 May 1860.[8]
- 7 July 1861 departing London, arriving Auckland on 18 October 1861.[9]
- 7 December 1862 departing London, arriving Port Chalmers, Otago on 12 March 1863.[10]
- 16 May 1864 departing London, arriving Port of Bluff on 5 September 1864.[11]
Later history
In 1867 Gananoque was sold to William Johnson of Newcastle upon Tyne. On 11 July 1874, on a voyage from Quebec to Newcastle, she struck an iceberg off Cape Race. Crew abandoned ship and all but one were rescued.[12][13] However, the ship did not sink, was found abandoned and taken derelict to St John's, Newfoundland,[13][14]
She was subsequently repaired, re-sheathed and re-rigged as a barque, and was offered for sale in 1876.[15]
Gananoque again collided with an iceberg on 10 May 1881 four miles off Bird Rocks, Magdalen Islands on a voyage from Belfast to Miramichi and sank quickly.[13][16] The crew landed on Bird Rocks, and were picked up from there on 12 May.[13]
Case law
The first voyage to New Zealand resulted in a High Court of Admiralty case "The Gananoque", a dispute between the ship's captain Archibald Morris and the other owners over contract payment terms. The judgement was "The law will presume that the terms of a master's engagement for one voyage extent to a succeeding voyage performed without a new agreement express or clearly implied." [6]
References
- "Mercantile Navy List 1858–1880". Crew List Index Project. Archived from the original on 2013-01-06. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
- "Ship Information Database". Canadian Heritage. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
- "American Lloyd's Register 1869–1881". Mystic Seaport Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
- "Advertising". The Argus. Melbourne. 20 December 1858. p. 1. Retrieved 2012-12-29 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Advertisements". Lyttelton Times. Christchurch, New Zealand: National Library of New Zealand. 30 May 1860. p. 1. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
- Lushington, Vernon (1864). Reports of cases decided in the High Court of Admiralty of England, and on appeal to the Privy Council : 1859–1862. Great Britain. High Court of Admiralty. 1. London: Butterworths. p. 448. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
- Brett, Henry (1924). White Wings Fifty Years of Sail in the New Zealand Trade, 1850 to 1900. 1. Auckland, New Zealand: The Brett Printing Company Limited. p. 154. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- "Shipping News". Lyttelton Times. 13 (783). 12 May 1860. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- "Port of Raglan". Daily Southern Cross. 17 (1446). 22 October 1861. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- "Shipping Intelligence". Otago Daily Times (383). 13 March 1863. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- "Shipping Summary". The Southland Times. 1 (47). 17 September 1864. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
- "Title unknown". Glasgow Herald. 6 August 1874. p. 6. Retrieved 2012-12-27. (subscription required)
- "Ship Collisions". Institute for Ocean Technology, Canada. Archived from the original on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
- "Title unknown". York Herald. 23 July 1874. p. 7. Retrieved 2012-12-27. (subscription required)
- "Advertisements & Notices". Liverpool Mercury. 23 November 1876. p. 8. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
[auction] ...The Barque GANANOQUE, 785 tons register. Built at Quebec under special survey in 1857, and classed seven years A1 at Lloyd's sheathed with yellow metal in 1874; is well found in stores, carries a good cargo, and requires very little ballast. Dimensions: Length, 158.2 feet; breadth, 32.8 feet; depth, ... [transcription]
(subscription required) - "Title unknown". Glasgow Herald. 19 May 1881. p. 7. Retrieved 2012-12-27. (subscription required)
Further reading
- Lansley, Belinda (2013). The Voyages of the Gananoque – New Zealand Immigration Ship 1860–1864. Dornie Publishing.