The ROSS-SHIRE was one of the finest of the "four-posters" built during the sailing-ship boom which came at the end of the 1880's and lasted for about five years. This was the last effort of the sailing ship owners to compete with the hated steam vessels. She was the only ship built for Thomas Laws Glasgow Shire Line by Soon of Greenock She was launched in 1891 with the following statistics: Tonnage @ 2,257 tons; Length, 289 feet I inch; Breadth, 41 feet 2 inches; Depth, 24 feet 4 inches. She was very strong in her rigging and spars, trying to avoid the taking in of sail until the very last minute in the most extreme conditions.
She had a spike bowsprit of unusual length, being 63 feet. Her fore, main and mizzen lower and topmasts were on steel tube, the fore being 108 feet, the main 112 and the mizzen 111 feet 6 inches. The topgallant masts and the yards were all interchangeable between the three masts, their measurements being as follows: Topgallant masts, 60 feet, lower yards, 87 feet; lower topsail yards, .79 feet 6 inches, upper topsail yards, 74 feet; lower topgallant yards, 64 feet; upper topgallant yards, 60 feet, Royal Yards, 50 feet. Her fourth mast the jigger mast was also one piece of steel and measured 133 feet from deck to truck.
Along with the six square sails she carried on each of her three masts, the jigger mast carried a big spanker and an equally big gaff topsail, which helped with her steering. Her lines were similar to like vessels of her day with a full midsbip section, almost as square as a modem steamer. She did have good sheer and was fairly sharp forward Aft, her lines were rounded-in rather abruptly, making somewhat lumpish in the stem. She was a very "Wet" ship and was difficult to work on her main-deck when she was running before a big following sea, but her builders characteristics gave her the power and ability to withstand such conditions.
She-was typical for her type and was a heavy ship to handle for a crew of thirty all told, as she possessed no aids of any sort in the shape of donkey-engines, brace winches and other modern inventions for easing the heavy burden on the human muscle. Her compliment only allowed ten men to a watcb. This resulted in a constant struggle with the sail, ship, sea and weather It was difficult to furl a course in blowing weather or put a reef in a topsail or even to square the yards when it was blowing hard This required all hands and became a desperate fight between man and the elements.
Many of the vessels of the ROSS-SHIREs type would have gone missing if it were not for the skill of the ships captain and crew. The ROSS-SHIRE was particularly lucky in her captain, the ship owed more to Captain Andrew Baxter for her fine sailing record and safe passages than to her ailing powers. She could be driven to her limit, however, and that Captain Baxter did. Such men as Captain Baxter are now nearly extinct since without extensive sailing training no such men can learn their craft. The captain of a sailing ship such as the ROSS-SHIRE had to not only pit their wits against the many vagaries of wind and sea, but also to juggle with the intricacies of the complicated square rig, not to speak of the many humors of the ship of sails. Every passage in sail was an adventure requiring not only the sea sense which one cannot put into words, but unlimited nerve and endurance Captain Andrew Baxter possessed that sea sense and also the necessary nerve and endurance, with the result that the ROSS-SHIRE never made a bad passage while under his command.
For the next 8 years the ROSS-SHIRE sailed all over the world carrying general cargo and making a living and profit for her owners. After leaving Greenock in July of 1891 she sailed to such places as San Francisco, Cardiff, Cape Town, Calcutta, London, Wilmington, Astoria, Falmouth, San Diego, Portland, Hamburg, Sydney, Pbiladelpbia, Hiogo, Kobe and Moji, finally arriving at Birkenhead in December, 1899, at which point Captain Baxter left the ROSS-SHIRE.
During these years of passage the ROSS-SHIRE weathered out some very hard blows, including two cyclones, with the loss of only a few sails. The worst two cyclones were in the Indian Ocean and Captain Baxter considered himself very lucky to have escaped these two storms as he did.
Another time there was a real howling snorter off the Cape Horn. It was night and the ship was hove to on the port tack. She was so far over that the hatches were hidden and at each lee roll the water boiled up on the lee side of the poop until it actually washed against the side of the chart-house. During the early part of the night the crew had passed a strenuous time snugging her down to a fore lower topsail and a main lower topsail, and when the ship was finally brought to the wind, her safety depended upon these two pieces of canvas holding.
Aft on the poop, after the watch below had been dismissed, the mate and apprentices of the watch on deck could not keep their eyes away from the gray shape of the straining mizzen topsail. The mate dreaded the effect on the ship if that sail carried away, and the apprentices dreaded the ordeal before them should they have to go aloft in a desperate endeavor to save it. Just before midnight their worst fears were realized. With a roar which could be heard above the shrieking of the gale, and a flash of sparks winch showed like fireflies aloft, the chain weather sheet parted and the weather side of the sail began to flog with reports like the sharp, snappy bark of an 18-pound cannon.
Here was an occasion where the flooded maindeck, which, to those clinging to the to the break of the poop, looked like a maelstrom of foam with a curtain of steam rising from it, had to be adventured. Down the poop ladder dashed the senior apprentice, and then by those watching from the poop he was seen no more. The minutes passed, while each of the after-guard reckoned up his chances. Then, when it seemed certain that he had gone to Davy Jones's locker, a sudden weird moaning cry announced that the watch were manning the spilling lines. Somehow or other the weather side of the sail was hauled up, and the order went forth to goose-wing the topsail. Somehow the thrashing sail was gathered up on to its port yard-arm and the gaskets passed. If asked, not a man on that yard could have told you how it was done or how long the battle had lasted, but at any rate the victory was with the ROSS-SHIRE and her crew. Had it been otherwise, had the fierce attack of the Cape Horn snorter prevailed, there would have been another missing ship to post at Lloyds and another handful of sturdy sailormen to mourn. The ROSS-SHIRE was not a ship that had any mercy with her crew, but then those who went to sea in a latter-day sailing ship did not expect mercy. They expected to have to endure hard work, hard knocks and hard living.
When Captain Baxter retired in 1899, Captain William Couper, another veteran sailing skipper, took over. She sailed from Liverpool in 1900, going to Sydney in 84 days. From there, to Valparaiso in only 41 days, then to Caldera. She then sailed to Pisagua, leaving there on December 14th and heading for home with a load of nitrate. On the night of December 23rd, when the ROSS-HIRE had 750 tons of saltpeter aboard and 500 tons of coal still to be discharged, a great explosion of gases in the hold set fire to the ship, and before the dawn of Christmas Day this beautiful four-masted barque was beneath the waves. Captain and crew were saved.
The design stamp is made after painting of Jack Spurling.
Burundi 2020;(6x500)f.
Source:http://www.shipmodelersassociation.org/ ... am0007.htm. http://www.spurlingandrouxwatercolours.com/mpgt2.html.
“ROSS-SHIRE”(1891 - 1900) - general trade
“ROSS-SHIRE”(1891 - 1900) - general trade
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