Duncan Dunbar
{{For|the British shipowner|Duncan Dunbar (junior)}}
{{Distinguish|Dunbar (ship){{!}}Dunbar (ship)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2012}}
| {{Infobox ship begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image=The clipper Duncan - King Ferdinand II of Portugal (cropped).png | Ship caption="The clipper Duncan", by Ferdinand II of Portugal }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country= | Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} | Ship name= Duncan Dunbar | Ship namesake= | Ship owner=Gellatly, Hankey & Sewell | Ship operator= | Ship registry= | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder=James Laing, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched=18 May 1857 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship renamed= | Ship homeport=London | Ship identification= | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship fate=Wrecked, 7 October 1865 | Ship notes= | Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship class= | Ship type=Clipper | Ship tonnage= 1,447 tons | Ship displacement= | Ship tons burthen= 2,500 tons bm | Ship length=*{{Convert|260|ft|abbr=on}} o/a
| Ship beam= {{Convert|36|ft|3|in|abbr=on}} | Ship height= | Ship draught= | Ship depth= | Ship hold depth= {{Convert|23|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship propulsion= | Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship | Ship speed | Ship range= | Ship boats= | Ship capacity= | Ship crew= | Ship armament= | Ship armour= | Ship notes= }} |
The Duncan Dunbar was a clipper constructed for Duncan Dunbar & Company in 1857. It was shipwrecked at the Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil on 7 October 1865 on the way to Sydney, Australia.
Ship history
The ship was launched on 18 May 1857 from the yard of James Laing, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. She was the twelfth ship built by Laing for Dunbar, and at the time the largest vessel ever launched on the Wear. She was constructed entirely of wood, with English oak frames and East India teak planking and masts. She was held together with copper bolts, with iron trusses and knees. Overall the ship was {{Convert|260|ft}} long, and {{Convert|229|ft|2|in|abbr=on}} at the keel. She had a beam of {{Convert|36|ft|3|in|abbr=on}} and a depth of hold of {{Convert|23|ft|abbr=on}}. Her tonnage was given as 1,447 tons, with a burthen of 2,500 tons. A large crowd gathered to witness the launch, and the ship was christened by Mrs. W.R. Robinson of Silksworth.{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28632959?searchTerm=Duncan%20launch&searchLimits=#pstart1494752 |title=Launch of the "Duncan Dunbar". The largest ship yet built on the Wear. |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 September 1857 |access-date=19 July 2012}} The ship was named either after Duncan Dunbar, the then owner of Duncan Dunbar & Co., or his father of the same name.{{cite web |url= http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland061.html |title=Laing's Shipbuilders |first=Peter |last=Searle |work=The Sunderland Site |year=2012 |access-date=19 July 2012}}
Under Dunbar's ownership the ship was engaged in the passenger and cargo trade between England and Australia. After Duncan Dunbar's death in 1862, the ship was sold to Gellatly, Hankey, Sewell & Co.
=Sinking=
A contemporary report states:
: The ship left London, under Captain Swanson, on 28 August 1865 and Plymouth on 2 September 1865, with passengers and cargo for Sydney. On 7 October 1865 she was wrecked on the reef Las Roccas {{Coord|03|52|S|33|45|W|display=inline, title}}, on the coast of Brazil. She struck about 20:30. The Captain went in one of the boats to take soundings around her but she had gone aground at high tide. There were not enough boats to accommodate all the passengers and crew so he determined to wait until daylight to see if there was any dry land to which survivors could be taken by boat and raft. The passengers were in fear because the vessel was rolling heavily and striking violently with each roll. At daybreak on 8 October, the Captain succeeded in getting through the breakers to a landing place on one of the two sand islets which rose about {{Convert|7|ft}} above ordinary high-water mark. Preparations were at once made to transfer the passengers and crew to the spot, the passengers being lowered in a chair over the stern because it was impossible to keep a boat alongside due to the heavy rolling. By 07:00, all were landed. The islet was covered with pig-weed but there was no water so this was ferried from the wreck. Four of the five water-puncheons were lost, being stove-in by debris or having drifted away. There were 117 persons on the reef. For the first two days they had a pint of water each in temperatures of {{Convert|112|F|C}} degrees. A tent was constructed for shelter. The islet was infested with land-crabs and various vermin. They stayed on the islet for 10 days and during that period had recovered from the wreck sufficient water and stores to serve a hundred people for a hundred days. Captain Swanson had left, in the lifeboat, on 11 October 1865, to sail towards Pernambuco. After making 120 miles he was picked up by the American ship Hayara and dropped 15 miles from his destination. There, he procured the assistance of the Oneida, Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which came to the island and took all hands safely to Southampton. The Captain remained in Pernambuco.{{cite web |url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/TheShipsList/2000-08/0966732490 |title=Duncan Dunbar |work=RootsWeb: TheShipsList-L |year=2001 |access-date=19 July 2012}}
A different ship named the Dunbar was wrecked near Sydney in 1857. There is a description of the shipwreck of the Dunbar in Following the Equator, by Mark Twain.
{{cite book
|last=Mark Twain
|first=(Samuel Clemens)
|author-link=Mark Twain
|editor-last=Widger
|editor-first=David
|title=Following the Equator
|url=https://gutenberg.org/files/2895/2895-h/2895-h.htm
|access-date=7 January 2022
|edition=EBook #2895
|date=18 August 2006
|orig-year=First published 1897
|publisher=Project Gutenberg
|chapter=Chapter 9: It is your human environment that makes climate.
|quote=The Loss of the Duncan Dunbar
}} Twain incorrectly refers to the ship as the Duncan Dunbar.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web |url=http://www.merchantnetworks.com.au/periods/1800after/1800dunbar.htm |title=Duncan Dunbar & His Ships |first=David |last=Dunbar-Nasmith |access-date=19 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712041250/http://www.merchantnetworks.com.au/periods/1800after/1800dunbar.htm |archive-date=12 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}
{{Clipper ships}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan Dunbar}}
Category:Ships built on the River Wear