Loch Earn (ship)
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image =File:Clipper Loch Earn (Monde illustré, 1873-12-13).jpeg |Ship caption = Drawing of Loch Earn in 1873. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} |Ship name=Loch Earn |Ship namesake= |Ship owner=Loch Line |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Lawrie J. G. & Co. |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=40 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=23 August 1869 |Ship completed=1869 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired=1869 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=15 December 1869 |Ship out of service=28 November 1873 |Ship identification=Official number: 60470 |Ship fate=Sank after a collision on 28 November 1873. |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=Full-rigged ship |Ship tonnage={{GRT|1200}} |Ship length={{cvt|68.9|m|ftin}} |Ship beam={{cvt|10.9|m|ftin}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth={{cvt|6.6|m|ftin}} |Ship Armament= |Ship decks=1 |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes=3 masts }} |
Loch Earn was a British three-masted full-rigged ship that was on a voyage from London, England to New York City, United States when she collided with {{SS|Ville du Havre}} in the Atlantic Ocean ({{coord|47|21|N|35|31|W}}) on 22 November 1873. Ville du Havre sank with the loss of 226 of her 313 passengers and crew, while heavily damaged Loch Earn remained afloat before finally sinking after being abandoned by her crew on 28 November 1873 with no loss of life.{{cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70473541 |title=The Sinking of the Ville du Havre, with Loss of 226 Lives |publisher=trove.nla.gov.au |date=28 March 1874 |accessdate=4 May 2023}}
Construction
Loch Earn was built at the Lawrie J. G. & Co. shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. She was launched on 23 August 1869 and completed that same year.{{cite web |url=https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=10744 |title=Loch Earn |publisher=clydeships.co.uk |date=2023 |access-date=4 May 2023}} The ship was {{convert|68.9|m|ftin}} long, had a beam of {{convert|10.9|m|ftin}} and had a depth of {{convert|6.6|m|ftin}}. She was assessed at {{GRT|1,200|disp=long}} and had three masts.{{cite web |url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10482 |title=SV Loch Earn (+1873) |publisher=wrecksite.eu |date=7 May 2012 |accessdate=4 May 2023}}
Collision and sinking
Loch Earn departed London, England for New York City, United States under the command of Captain William Robertson, with 85 passengers and crew on board. By 22 November 1873, the ship was already halfway across the Atlantic when Captain Robertson spotted the lights of another ship around 2 am. Due to the clear night with little wind but heavy seas, the other ship's lookouts ({{SS|Ville du Havre||2}} bound from New York to Havre de Grâce, Seine-Inférieure under the command of Captain Marino Surmonte){{cite book |title=The British Almanac |date=1875 |publisher=Stationers' Company |location=London |page=271 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvcNAAAAQAAJ |language=en}} had likewise spotted the Loch Earn, but second officer Endurand, who was in charge of the Ville du Havre that night, believed the Loch Earn to be at a safe enough distance to clear the approaching vessel. Under the law of the sea at the time, it was customary for steam to give way to sail. However, the Ville du Havre steamed and sailed onwards at a speed of about {{convert|12|kn}} and swung across the bow of the Loch Earn.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Terrible collision as Sea |date=2 December 1873 |issue=27862 |page=8 |column=A-C }}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113412626/glasgow-herald/ |via=newspapers.com |title=Commission on Wrecks |work=Glasgow Herald |date=13 January 1874 |page=6}}
Captain Robertson observed the Ville du Havre approaching dangerously close, and rang the ship's bell before turning the helm hard to starboard in an effort to avoid a collision.{{cite book |author-link=Basil Lubbock |last=Lubbock |first=Basil |date=1921 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9GV5or-W9OUC |title=The Colonial Clippers |page=223 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |oclc=1750412 |isbn=1-4179-6416-2}} Loch Earn struck the Ville du Havre amidships at ({{coord|47|21|N|35|31|W}}), 15 minutes after the ships had already spotted each other. Ville du Havre shook violently during the collision as the bow of the Loch Earn tore open the ship's side for a distance of {{cvt|9|m}} and penetrated her {{cvt|3.6|m|ft}} deep, almost opposite the engines. Ville du Havre was nearly split in half by the impact before the Loch Earn dislodged herself from the ship and floated away from the stricken vessel. After {{convert|1|mi|spell=in}} the ship came to a stop, and her captain ordered her four lifeboats to be swung out and lowered to pick up any survivors from the water.{{citation |last=Chaffart |first=Rob |date=2008 |url=http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon10/disaster_of_the_ville_du_havre.htm |title=The Disaster of the Ville du Havre |access-date=4 May 2023}}
File:The sinking of the Steamship Ville du Havre.jpg
Meanwhile, chaos descended onto the decks of the Ville du Havre as the ship started rapidly sinking. The sleeping passengers had been awakened by the noise of the collision and were now on deck trying to reach one of the ship's lifeboats. However, about five minutes into the sinking, the ship's masts collapsed and crushed two lifeboats, killing and wounding several people.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 December 1873 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1873/12/02/archives/loss-of-the-ville-du-havre-the-pursers-story.html |title=Loss of the Ville du Havre: The Purser's Story |access-date=4 May 2023}} Another lifeboat managed to get away unscathed, and rowed towards the Loch Earn, dropping of a load of survivors before returning to find more people struggling in the water. Some swimmers managed to reach the Loch Earn and were hauled aboard by a rope. Captain Sarmont was also rescued from the water. Within 12 minutes of the collision, Ville du Havre sank, but not before splitting in half as she went down.{{cite web |url=https://passageport.org/the-wreck-of-the-ss-ville-du-havre-and-the-death-of-thomas-hammond/ |title=The Wreck of the SS Ville du Havre and the Death of Thomas Hammond |publisher=passageport.org |date= 30 June 2020|accessdate=4 May 2023}}
File:Naufrage du paquebot transatlantique la Ville-du-Havre (Monde illustré, 1873-12-13).jpeg
Despite the cold water, survivors were found as much as two hours after the collision. The lifeboats kept searching for survivors until 10 am. In total 87 survivors (26 passengers and 61 crew) were saved from the Ville du Havre and were brought safely on board the Loch Earn. However, the ship herself was badly damaged with her bow smashed in, and of risk of sinking herself. The American cargo ship Tremountain, en route from Bristol, United Kingdom to New York,{{cite web |website=Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks |date=2008 |url=http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/austrun-main.html |title=Shipwrecks on the UK – Australia Run: Loch Earn |access-date=4 May 2023}} spotted the stricken Loch Earn at 7 am and the survivors alongside her own 85 passengers and crew were transferred to the Tremountain. Before setting sail to the UK with the survivors, the ship searched the wreck site one last time for any survivors until nightfall. Tremountain reached Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom on the morning of 1 December 1873 where she unloaded the 87 survivors of the Ville du Havre. In total 226 people died in the collision, all were passengers and crew of the Ville du Havre.{{cite web |url=https://aadl.org/node/294531 |title=Collision At Sea—226 Lives Lost |publisher=aadl.org |date=5 December 1873 |accessdate=4 May 2023}}
Despite her fragile state, Loch Earn tried to reach Queenstown, Ireland by 29 November 1873. However, her bulkheads gave way and she started to sink. The ship was successfully evacuated before she sank on 28 November 1873. The Board of Trade commenced an inquiry into the disaster which ended on 28 December 1873, in which the court unanimously decided that the officers of the Loch Earn were not responsible for the unfortunate events.{{cite news |work=The New York Times |date=1873 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C03E7D61339EF34BC4153DFB4678388669FDE |title=The Ville Du Havre Disaster |access-date=4 May 2023}}