White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900
The Merope
The Merope.
Captain Rose's Old Command.
The beautiful clipper Merope was built in 1870 for the Shaw, Savill Co., and after completing eighteen voyages to New Zealand was destroyed by fire when Homeward bound from Lyttelton in 1890. She was a full-rigged ship of 1050 tons until early in the eighties, when she was rigged as a barque.
the Merope sailed mostly from London Docks, but on several occasions departed from Glasgow.
the Merope Anchored At Gravesend.
In 1890 the Merope, after discharging a portion of her outward cargo at Dunedin, proceeded to Wellington, where she loaded for London, taking on board a cargo consisting of 654 bales wool, 197 casks tallow, 2000 bales of flax, etc.
She was then under the command of Captain Thomas. She left Wellington on April 11, and had a good run until within two miles of the Western Islands, when the cargo fired spontaneously. Every effort was made to subdue the fire but it gained a rapid hold upon the ship, and being caught by the wind, soon spread beyond the possibility of subduing it. Captain Thomas and the crew stood by the ship until it was dangerous to remain any longer, when they abandoned the vessel and launched two of their boats, the others being destroyed by fire. When they left the ship nothing could be done to save her from complete destruction. The flames by this time had taken complete possession and had burned away the fore and main-mast, a portion of the mizzen-mast being the only spar standing.
The crew was rescued in the first instance by the American ship Servia on June 27th, and later seven of the crew were transferred to the American ship W. F. Babcock, bound from San Francisco to Liverpool, and landed at Queenstown on July 12th. Captain Thomas and the remainder of the crew landed at Deal on the 15th July. They were in a destitute state and were temporarily received by the Chaplain to the Downs and were sent on to London the same evening.
page 90Captain Rose's Career.
Great Changes.
In the following year the directors of the company appointed Captain Rose manager of the newly-opened branch office at Wellington. He took over on August 1, 1874, and held the appointment until 1898 when he retired. During the 24 years Captain Rose was in charge of the Wellington office he saw great strides made in the company's affairs, including the change over from sail to steam. Still more remarkable were the changes that took place afloat between the year 1874, when he made his first voyage on the old barque Orestes, and the year 1898 when he retired from active service, after half a century among ships and shipping, 27 years of which were spent at sea.
Captain Rose died in London in his 79th year. One of his daughters married Mr. C. V. Houghton, who recently retired from the management of the Auckland branch of the N.Z. Shipping Co.
Following is the record of the Merope's passages to New Zealand:—
To Auckland. | |||
Sailed. | Arrived. | Captain. | Days. |
---|---|---|---|
*May 4 | Sep. 1, '86 | Thomas | 87 |
To Wellington. | |||
April 19 | July 16, '80 | Sutherland | 88 |
Dec. 12, '81 | Mar. 21, '82 | Sutherland | 99 |
Dec. 31, '83 | Apr. 9, '84 | Sutherland | 100 |
To Lyttelton. | |||
July 29 | Oct. 27, '70 | Rose | 90 |
June 9 | Aug. 25, '71 | Rose | 76 |
Land to land | 69 | ||
May 10 | Aug. 3, '72 | Rose | 85 |
Aug. 3 | Oct. 31, '73 | Williams | 89 |
June 21 | Sep. 27, '74 | Williams | 98 |
†July 1 | Sep. 25, '75 | Sutherland | 92 |
Land to land | 84 | ||
June 27 | Sep. 28, '76 | Sutherland | 93 |
May 15 | Aug. 9, '77 | Sutherland | 86 |
Apr. 16 | July 30, '78 | Sutherland | 105 |
May 2 | July 26, '79 | Sutherland | 85 |
Feb. 7 | May 19, '83 | Sutherland | 101 |
May 2 | Aug. 13, '85 | Sutherland | 103 |
To Port Chalmers. | |||
May 4 | July 31, '86 | Thomas | 87 |
Nov. 13, '89 | Feb. 20, '90 | Thomas | 99 |
To Timaru. | |||
July 1 | Sep. 23, '75 | Sutherland | 84 |
* Via Dunedin.
† Via Timaru, September 25.