Ariel 1865

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john sefton
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Ariel 1865

Post by john sefton » Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:47 pm

The Ariel was No 162 at Robert Steele & Co's yard, Greenock, and was launched on 29 June 1865, having been ordered by Shaw, Lowther & Maxton of London. Her register dimensions were 197.4ft x 33.9ft x 21.0ft with a tonnage of 852.87.
The Ariel had her lower masts made up of three iron plates 1/2in thick without internal angle stiffeners; the fore and main were 30in diameter and the mizen was 28in diameter. The bowsprit was 30in diameter made up with three plates but stiffened inside with 4in X 3in X 7/16 in angles. Presumably a boy or man crawled inside as a 'holder‑upper' as the plates were being riveted together.
Later in her life, Titania had two deckhouses erected on her main deck to increase cargo capacity by taking the accommodation out of the 'tween decks; this is authenticated by an oil painting and by photographs. Perhaps the same thing was done to Ariel before she was lost in 1872. There is a large painting in the National Maritime Museum supposedly of her with two big deckhouses, but also with a long poop, a topgallant forecastle, double channels, topgallant rail, and headsails cut in the fashion of twenty years later. The figures painted about the decks are also too small for a tea clipper and suggest a vessel of 1500 tons with an American or Canadian pedigree. The Ariel's original sail area of 25,451 sq ft, excluding skysail and stunsails, was reduced later in her life to 23,471 sq ft.
Her only outward passage under 100 days was in 1866‑67 on her second voyage, but this was the fastest ever made out against the monsoon:
Left Gravesend 14 October
Left Start Point 15 October
Dropped pilot (noon) 17 October
Crossed the Line in 25°30'W 3 November
Passed meridian of the Cape in 44°S 14 November
Passed Island of Savoby 13 December
Passed through Gillolo Passage 23 December
Passed Pelew Islands and Bashees 3 January
Picked up pilot (9.0 am) 5 January
Anchored at Hong Kong (11.0 pm) 5 January
The time was 83 days, or 79 days 21 hours, pilot to pilot. Commenting on the public reaction to this passage, Captain John Keay wrote in his journal: 'Our 80 days (79 days 21 hours) from pilot to pilot & 83 from Gravesend to Hong Kong made quite a sensation in Hong Kong & at home when telegram reached, 'twas scarce believed. So Ariel up to present date has exceeded every other sailing ship, specially is extraordinary in NE monsoon.'
Cairngorm's fast run of 77 days at sea out to Hong Kong has already been mentioned, but Ariel's was the fastest allowing for an unfavourable monsoon and for making the passage at one attempt. Two other fast times were made by American ships in the 1850s. Eagle Wing took 83 days 12 hours in 1855, pilot to pilot, between leaving the Downs on 17 April and arriving at Hong Kong on 10 July. The previous year the Comet had taken 83 days 21 hours between her pilots from Liverpool to Hong Kong, 17 June to 7 September or 86 days 16 hours anchor to anchor. Both were made with the help of the monsoon.
Ariel early gained fame by being the first ship in 1866 to reach the Downs. She had loaded 1,230,900lbs of tea at Foochow at £5 per ton on 340 tons of iron kentledge and shingle ballast. Her bills of lading, like those of the other early starters, were endorsed for 'l0s per ton extra if first sailing vessel in dock with new teas from Foochow'. But she was unlucky with her tugs. She finished loading first and left at 5.0 pm on 28 May behind the paddler Island Queen. The tug was too weak to take her across the bar next day and she had to wait 24 hours during which Fiery Cross passed her, so that she eventually got across closely followed by Serica and Taeping, all three making sail at about 10.30 am. Taitsing left next day.
Fiery Cross made the best time to Anjer by one day and all five ships made big runs across the Indian Ocean, Ariel on one occasion logging 330 miles and Fiery Cross 328. The positions of the ships altered slightly, with Taitsing gradually catching up. She passed Flores on 1 September, the other four having passed it on 29 August. Ariel and Taeping ran up Channel logging 14 knots for most of 5 September. Ariel signalled her number off Deal at 8.0 am on 6 September, 98 days 22 hours from dropping her pilot. Taeping was off Deal 10 minutes later, and Serica not until noon. Fiery Cross arrived about 36 hours later. With her better tug Tae ping docked the same day at 9.47 am, Ariel at 10.15 pm, and Serica at 11.30 pm, just before the dock gates closed. The consignees must have been very loth to award the premium to either ship because with so much tea arriving at the same time on the market, prices would be sure to fall and a loss would be sustained. The premium was in future abandoned, after being divided on this occasion between Ariel and Taeping.
The following year Ariel obtained 10s per ton more freight than any other ship, and though not sailing with the first flight passed every ship ahead of her except Taeping and Fiery Cross. Her third passage was her fastest since she was only 95 days to 'off Falmouth'.
A résumé of her first four outward passages is as follows:
1865, Liverpool to Hong Kong, 4 September to 15 December, 102 days.
1866‑67, Gravesend to Hong Kong, 14 October to 5 January, 83 days (79 days 21 hours pilot to pilot).
1867‑68, London to Shanghai, 19 October to 5 February, 109 days.
1868‑69, London to Shanghai, 22 September to 8 January, 106 days.
The first three were made under Keay, the fourth under Courtenay.
Basil Lubbock copied Captain Keay's private journal and these hand‑written copies are now in the National Maritime Museum. They provide some informative background data on the ship's fittings and are summarized here:
There was so much brasswork that it took three to four men twelve hours to clean and oil it all round outside and inside rails, gun mountings, bucket straps, &c; there were eight side winches ; eight capstan bars of teak were fitted in rack on after side of deckhouse; pig house was stowed under longboat; hen coops kept under monkey poop but could be moved out for cleaning; there was a sheep pen, but position not stated; steering gear stated to have screw and guide rods which implies the standard wheel box of the period; bower anchors kept abaft windlass on main deck and brought on to forecastle when approaching land and painted red [this may have been done to distribute weights further aft]; sidelight screens placed in mizen rigging on three foremost shrouds; prior to entering port, all fancy gratings, buckets and racks, brass ventilator, standard of compass, headboards, boom boards, guns &c got on deck, and were put away when ship got to sea; spare spars stowed along waterways, three each side, and one each side of quarter hatch; 'lower ends of carved ornaments on house too fragile, shortened them a little' [perhaps this refers to acanthus leaves on pilasters]; manger situated at fore part of main hatch [presumably for animals]; temporary breakwater built across deck from side to side to protect wheel, binnacle, skylight and companionway when running the Easting down, as there was a lot of water on deck.
The only reference to colours of paint is that on the second passage the fore‑ and mainmasts were painted a stone colour as “owners had put on board different paint from first voyage”; also that waterways were painted cream.
As regards the setting of flying kites, all those pictured by the Illustrated London News were regularly set at different times and in addition there were: a main skysail, main sky staysail, jib topsail, save‑all to spanker, main middle staysail, watersail below ringtail, and a mizen staysail laced to the outside of a lower stunsail; the Jamie Green was cut from No 4 canvas similar to a main topgallant stunsail but with 3ft more hoist; the dews of the upper topsails were sometimes 'hove out and laced to head of lower topsails'; two spare topmast stunsail booms were lashed across fore hatch making a total length of 65ft as a passaree boom to haul out the sheet of the lower stunsails.
Captain Keay left the ship in the autumn of 1868 to take command of the company's new clipper Oberon and his first mate, Courtenay, took command. In 1870 Ariel was dismasted south of Yokohama on an intermediate passage. After refitting, Captain Courtenay left Yokohama for New York on 1 September, and going across the Pacific and by way of Cape Horn, he passed Diego Ramirez on 22 November and reached New York on 15 January 1871, 136 days out. In 1872 she left London for Sydney on 31 January and was never heard of again. It is usually assumed that she was fatally pooped when running her Easting down.

The Tea Clippers by David R MacGregor

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Anatol
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Re: Ariel 1865

Post by Anatol » Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:49 am

Аriel (Clipper)1865
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aukepalmhof
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Re: Ariel 1865

Post by aukepalmhof » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:53 pm

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Anatol
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Re: Ariel 1865

Post by Anatol » Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:33 pm

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