SPANGEREID sailing vessel 1896
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:31 pm
Built as a steel ship under yard No. 386 by Russel & Co in Port Glasgow for D.Corsar (The Flying Horse Line) in Liverpool.
March 1896 launched under the name FAIRPORT.
Tonnage 1.996 gross, dim. 265.9 x 40 x 23.5ft.
Ship rigged.
Not much is know of the vessel under the flag of the United Kingdom, the Flying Horse Line used her ships mostly in world wide tramping, and most probably the FAIRPORT was used for tramping.
1910 Sold to R. Salvesen & Co. in Tvedestrand, Norway.
The FAIRPORT loaded with nitrates in Tocopilla and bound for Falmouth for orders, unwittingly witnessed the battle between the German squadron under command of Von Spee and the British squadron under command of Cradock off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914.
First in the evening they saw a light ahead, which grew into an enormous flare. When they arrived in Falmouth on 28 February 1915 they realized that the flare they had seen was either HMS FALMOUTH of HMS GOOD HOPE exploding.
The FAIRPORT also witnessed the battle of two squadrons off the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. Around 14.00hrs. that day the crew thought they heard thunder, and then they saw warships maneuvering at high speed firing their guns. First the crew believed that they had run into a major exercise, but when they realized they had unwittingly sailed into a major naval battle, they could do little about it. Heavy shells fell nearby, around 15.30 it looked as though the German warships were closing in on them. The only thing they could do was to hoist a large Norwegian flag but the Germans had other thing on their minds than the sailing vessel, and the battle gradually drew astern.
She was sold in 1915 to S.O. Stray & Co at Kristiansand, Norway and renamed SPANGEREID.
In October 1920 with a cargo of South African coal on board, bound for Gotenborg, Sweden she caught fire off St Helena, the crew abandoned ship and the SPANGEREID sank.
St Helena 1988 60p sg530, scott?
Source: Navicula. Cape Horn by R. Knox-Johnston.
March 1896 launched under the name FAIRPORT.
Tonnage 1.996 gross, dim. 265.9 x 40 x 23.5ft.
Ship rigged.
Not much is know of the vessel under the flag of the United Kingdom, the Flying Horse Line used her ships mostly in world wide tramping, and most probably the FAIRPORT was used for tramping.
1910 Sold to R. Salvesen & Co. in Tvedestrand, Norway.
The FAIRPORT loaded with nitrates in Tocopilla and bound for Falmouth for orders, unwittingly witnessed the battle between the German squadron under command of Von Spee and the British squadron under command of Cradock off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914.
First in the evening they saw a light ahead, which grew into an enormous flare. When they arrived in Falmouth on 28 February 1915 they realized that the flare they had seen was either HMS FALMOUTH of HMS GOOD HOPE exploding.
The FAIRPORT also witnessed the battle of two squadrons off the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. Around 14.00hrs. that day the crew thought they heard thunder, and then they saw warships maneuvering at high speed firing their guns. First the crew believed that they had run into a major exercise, but when they realized they had unwittingly sailed into a major naval battle, they could do little about it. Heavy shells fell nearby, around 15.30 it looked as though the German warships were closing in on them. The only thing they could do was to hoist a large Norwegian flag but the Germans had other thing on their minds than the sailing vessel, and the battle gradually drew astern.
She was sold in 1915 to S.O. Stray & Co at Kristiansand, Norway and renamed SPANGEREID.
In October 1920 with a cargo of South African coal on board, bound for Gotenborg, Sweden she caught fire off St Helena, the crew abandoned ship and the SPANGEREID sank.
St Helena 1988 60p sg530, scott?
Source: Navicula. Cape Horn by R. Knox-Johnston.