“OLD KENSINGTON” сonstructed of iron by Potter of Liverpool for the London firm of Smith, Bilbrough & Co. Launched in October 1874, she was registered at 1,817 tons gross (1,777 net), measured 262 feet in length with a 42 foot beam, and designed for the Australian wool trade. Upon completion however, it was felt that she was almost too large for the wool run and thus spent her career alternating between several other bulk cargoes including jute, grain and salt, as well as the Australian fleeces for which she had been intended.
In his text to 'Sail, The Romance of the Clipper Ships', Basil Lubbock begins the entry for this vessel as follows:
"There were few clippers in the Australian trade which gave one such an impression of majestic dignity and power as the Old Kensington. With her black topsides and light bottom she was indeed a grand-looking vessel."
A "grand-looking vessel" she certainly was and this elegant portrait of her by 'Jack' Spurling was the one selected to illustrate Lubbock's masterly text.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, she had no passenger accommodation but concentrated on freight even though she soon acquired an excellent reputation for speed which followed her wherever she sailed. Thanks to her huge expanse of sail and her 'long flat floor', her best passages were always on the outward run to Australia, where the 'Roaring Forties' gave her every chance to show her mettle. Often recording speeds in excess of 16 knots, she regularly made Melbourne in under 80 days which, for any square-rigger, was a notable achievement.
She established a reputaion for short passages. Her maiden voyage in 1875, Liverpool to Melbourne, was in77 days, In 1876, her voyage London to Melbourne was in 73 days, in 1878 in 76 days, and in 1880 78days. Up to 1880, she loaded wool for the return journey and her average passage time was 90 days.
Having enjoyed a remarkably accident-free first fifteen years, “Old Kensington's” only serious mishap occurred in 1889 when she was on passage from Newcastle, New South Wales, bound for San Pedro, California. Towards the end of the voyage, her cargo of coal was found to be smouldering and, by the time she eventually made port, she was "literally ablaze" according to eye witnesses. Her master, Captain Jones, immediately beached her and smothered the fire with water, whereupon she was refloated and towed into San Pedro docks none the worse for her ordeal. Sold to E.C. Schramm & Co. of Bremen in 1900 and renamed “Christel”, she disappears from record after 1909.
The design stamp is made after painting of Jack Spurling.
Burundi 2020;(6x500)f.
Sources: http://www.spurlingandrouxwatercolours.com/mpat.html. https://www-bonhams-com.translate.goog/auctions/18783.
“OLD KENSINGTON” (1874 - 1909)- AUSTRALIAN TRADER
“OLD KENSINGTON” (1874 - 1909)- AUSTRALIAN TRADER
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