Barque Lady
Elizabeth
Still intact after 120 years but for how long???
One of the last survivors of the windjammer era, the Lady Elizabeth is slowly
rusting away in a quiet cove near Port Stanley in the
This web page is dedicated to the Lady
Elizabeth in the hope that some person or organization might seek to
preserve and restore the barque before it is too late.
Contents
History
The sailing
career of the Lady Elizabeth spanned
some 34 years from 1879 to 1913. She then served as a coal hulk for a further
23 years or so from 1913 to about 1936.
The barque Lady Elizabeth was
built in 1879 by Robert Thompson &Sons of
1879 was a very quiet year for shipbuilding with only 27 or so iron, steel
or composite square riggers being built world-wide. The Lady Elizabeth was just below the average size for the year, that
average being 1218 tons net. The year’s launchings were 3 four-masted ships, 8
ships and 16 barques. As a barque of average size, the Lady Elizabeth is very representative of the sailing ships of her
era.
The first owner was John Wilson, believed to be a Western Australian
shipping merchant. He purchased Lady
Elizabeth to replace an earlier Lady
Elizabeth that was wrecked in 1878 at
John Wilson owned a number of vessels between about 1865 and the early
1880’s. His fleet included the barques Cubana
(499nt), Elizabeth A.Oliver (619nt), Fitzroy (573nt), Helena Mena (673nt), Lady
Elizabeth (1) (658nt), Lady Elizabeth
(2) (1155nt), Lady Louisa (542nt), Sancta Bega (475nt) and the ship Wennington (882nt). The second Lady Elizabeth was the largest and last
of the fleet. Within a few years of being acquired, the Lady Elizabeth was sold in the early 1880’s along with the
remaining sailing ships under
By 1885 the Lady Elizabeth was
under the ownership of G.C.Karran of Castletown, Isle of Man. As well as the Lady Elizabeth, G.C.Karran at one time
owned the ships Imberhorne (1997nt), Manx King (1703nt) and Macdiarmid (1560nt). Other members of
the Karran family owned the barques Hope
(250nt) and Manx Queen (303nt). Lady Elizabeth was G.C.Karran’s first
ship and he kept the barque until 1906. G.C.Karran sold his last sailing ship
just before the First World War.
The Lady Elizabeth’s next owner was Skibsakties Lady Elizabeth
(L.Lydersen) of
Other vessels owned by what appears to be a relative, N.A.Lydersen, of the
same port including the ship Arno
(1685nt), Illawarra (1887nt) and Wasdale (1821nt) and the barque Canterbury (1245nt). N.A.Lydersen later
took over ownership of the Heldos, Sokoto and Vandura from L.Lydersen. None of these remained under the family’s
ownership by 1919.
In 1913, while on a passage from the West Coast of North America for
Lourenco Marques, Lady Elizabeth was
damaged off
The ship’s active service finished in 1936 when she blew ashore at
Whalebone Cove and ownership eventually transferred to the Crown Receiver of
Wrecks, Falkland Is.
The Lady Elizabeth some time between 1878 and 1913. Photo: Mitchell Library of NSW: Small Photos Collection—Ships
|
|||
|
Name |
|
Lady Elizabeth |
|
|
Official Number |
|
81576 |
|
|
Builder |
|
R. Thompson,
jnr., |
|
|
Yard Number |
|
98 |
|
|
Launched |
|
June 1879 |
|
|
Construction |
|
Riveted iron |
|
|
Rig |
|
3 masted
Barque Spike
bowsprit |
|
|
Tonnages |
|
1208 gross |
|
|
Registered dimensions |
|
223’ length x 35’ breadth x 21.4’
depth |
|
|
Deck erections |
|
Poop 36' long of whaleback form having a rounded gunwale |
|
|
Moulded depth |
|
22' 9" |
|
|
Freeboards |
|
4’ 3” by 1885 |
|
|
References |
|
Lloyds Register of Shipping 1880, 1885, 1890, 1898, 1902, 1909. Brouwer, Norman. International Register of Historic Ships Gaby, Capt. John. Mate in Sail Kenderdine, Sarah. Shipwrecks 1656-1942 Sea Breezes March 1962. Various sources on the internet. |
|
|
|
|||
Following
a visit to the Falklands in 1991, Hugh Cross wrote and article on his experiences
in The Dog Watch,
No.56, 1999:-
“Because of my interest and somewhat heavy commitment to the
restoration of the James Craig, I was extremely interested in all iron
wrecks. I therefore contacted the Wrecks
Committee from whom permission must be obtained on behalf the “Crown Receiver
of Wrecks”, prior to going aboard any of the wrecks. In part, this is to ensure the integrity of
the vessels, but also to protect visitors from the dangers of these now
structurally unsound artefacts….
As the eastern extremity of the harbour in Whale Bone Cove,
lies the much larger, iron ship, Lady Elizabeth, of 223’ registered length and
1208 gross tons, still sporting her three lower iron masts and her main lower
yard, cock-billed as if to load cargo….she lies beached at an angle that gives
credit to her powerful but graceful lines, as if she still sails in memory of
those many times rounding Cape Horn, or making a fine bowline through the
flying fish waters of the trades.
Built in 1879, she was being towed into Port Stanley for
repairs in 1913 when she hit Ukranie rock near The Narrows and was forced to
remain permanently, being deemed unseaworthy despite remaining afloat. She, like her older wooden brethren, was used
as store ship for 30 years before parting a cable in a gale in 1936 and
grounding where she now lies.”
After visiting
the hulk of the
“…it would not be long before the Lady
Elizabeth would be deteriorating to a similar state, although her larger scantlings
would make the time somewhat greater than 14 years. I could only be thankful for having visited
both ships whilst it was possible and that the community based
The Lady
Elizabeth, a derelict at
Amazingly intact after over 100 years, the lower masts and main yard are still standing. Photo: Hugh Cross.
The deck is still there though walking on it is dangerous. How much longer can the Lady Elizabeth survive without help? Photo: Hugh Cross.
So what should be done with
this piece of maritime history?
After having some time to
reflect on the possibility of restoring the Lady
Elizabeth, Hugh Cross wrote:
“I
have mixed feelings about her potential restoration, or even preservation.
Having been part of the Craig story, I know as well as you do how these things
necessarily alter the original ethos.
Perhaps we have imposed enough restorations on these few ships, for
imposition it feels. The context of the
hulk in Port Stanley is so fitting, that the very most that I would like seen
done is to try and slow the deterioration as much as possible, whilst recording
as much as possible for a replica and virtual reality reconstruction (that
technology is going to blow our minds in the near future). I would be a very happy participant in the
latter approach. The cost and time in
going to the
Approaches
to the preservation and restoration of the Lady Elizabeth
may differ. Should the ship be recorded and stabilized in situ? Should it be
preserved as an artifact or should it be restored to its former glory? There
are advantages and disadvantages to each option.
However,
regardless of which option, the time available in which to act is finite.
The
preservation and / or restoration of the Lady Elizabeth
would be a challenging task. However it can be done. For similar projects just
go to the following links: