The Samuel Plimsoll.

A ship that was lucky in an unlucky incident was the Samuel Plimsoll, a famous craft in her day, in the Australian trade. She met her end in 1902 at the comparatively early age of 29 years for one of those stout-built iron ships, but unlike many good ships that went to the bottom, and were never heard of again, the Samuel Plimsoll's fate was much less tragic than it might have been.

Built in 1873, the Samuel Plimsoll was put into the Australian trade, running to Sydney and Melbourne. Her first passage to Sydney was done in 68 days. Other good runs from Plymouth to Sydney were: 1874, 74 days; 1876, 78 days; 1877, 79 days; 1880, 72 days. She made several other passages to Sydney or Melbourne in from 73 days to 78 days. In 1883, on the passage to Sydney, she averaged 328 miles on thirteen consecutive days, and during one 24 hours covered 348 miles.

One day in 1899, when the Samuel Plimsoll was lying at anchor in the Thames River, a fire broke out, and she had to be scuttled. When raised she was sold and passed into the ownership of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Co., who ran her to New Zealand. She left Glasgow for Dunedin and Auckland on June 18, 1902, in command of Captain Jaffray, and all went well until after she passed Nugget Point Light on September 17. She then encountered a heavy south-west gale, which lasted several days, and when she was off Cape Saunders a heavy squall struck her. The lower main topsail carried away, then the maincap broke, and mizzen and main masts went over the side with a terrible crash. Singularly enough no one was hurt, neither then nor in the exciting time the crew experienced before they cut the wreckage clear.

The gale was blowing great guns, there was a tremendous sea running, and every moment the crew expected the ship to founder. She had been rolling so violently that something had to give, and no one was very much surprised when the main and mizzen went with a crash, within a few seconds of one another. In their fall they smashed the ship's four boats lashed on the boat-booms amidships, and carried away a lot of the bulwarks. Overside the great heavy iron masts and yards werepage 212banging the old ship's plates with ponderous "thumps," and you would have thought that the next minute one of them would go plump through her sides, but after a terrible time, during which the men ran great danger, they managed to get the wreckage cut away, and the rolling, plunging ship was somewhat eased, but she was quite unmanageable, and all efforts to make her heave-to were hopeless. She simply lay in the trough of the seas and wallowed.

Driven as far north as Gable End Foreland by the gale, she was there lucky enough to be picked up by the Union Company's Omapere and towed into Gisborne Roads for shelter. Thence she was taken in hand by the Union Company's Hawea, and after a trying and stormy tow the battered ship reached Port Chalmers. After unloading she was towed over to Sydney, and eventually was sold to a West Australia firm for use as a hulk.