FROM THE LAGAN’S WATERS TO THE AIR WAVES
Lagan Legacy appears for a 2nd. time on "Afternoon Delight",Feile FM.
Féile FM first broadcast in July 1996 and became an instant hit with the local west Belfast community. Senior Lagan Boat Company boatman Alan Gilfillan, also a board member of Lagan Legacy, and Charlie Warmington, appear today as guests on the "Afternoon Delight" programme.
To mark the occasion they outlined some of the Belfast-built vessels that were launched or handed over today, and some other snippets of the Lagan's maritime history.
1878 Slieve Roe. Handed over.Sailing Ship. 1,749 tons. W.P.Sinclair and Co., a Liverpool shipping Line. She had a sister Slieve More.Built for speed and quick passage times, carrying jute from India and wool from Australia. On one speed record passage out with general cargo to Calcutta, the Slieve Roe covered 1500 miles in 5 days, under sail in the S.E. trades winds and logging nearly 17 knots at several points. Her hull was made of iron and designed for good carrying power and great sea worthiness as well as speed.
1886.Iran. Handed over.Another sailing ship. 3,530 tons. Edward Bates and Son, A Liverpool Shipping Company. Iran was intricately involved in the Australia/New Zealand gold rush. Her owner Edward Bates (d.1896) spent a number of years in India where he established himself as a merchant in Bombay. In 1848 he left this business in charge of an agent, returned to England and opened an office in Liverpool as an importer of Indian produce. He also began a regular service to Bombay with chartered vessels, and in 1850 he started building up a fleet of sailing ships. His trading empire was soon extended to include first Calcutta and then the Far East and, when the gold rush began, passenger ships sailed direct to Australia and returned via India or South America. Iran regularly sailed these routes.
1893 Goth. Launched. A steel hulled Passenger ship. 4,738 tons. Union Steamship Co. She was later renamed Cobequid, and ended her short life when she struck rocks on Trinity Ledge on Jan 13, 1914. No loss of life. She was used as a Boer War troopship until 1902, when she returned to her normal service. In December 1913 Goth was bought by the Royal Mail Line, renamed in Cobequid after a Canadian river. She became quite a famous ship, and appeared on a postage stamp.
On the 23 November 1914 she made her maiden voyage for her new owner, under command of Captain John.Howson.
On the 13 January 1915 she was lost on her first homeward bound voyage from Dermerare to St Johns, New Brunswick, loaded with sugar. She struck Trinity Ledge off Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in the Bay of Fundy.
Later it was discovered that the buoy covering Trinity Ledge was not lit, and that it was approximately a mile out of its original position, the reason why Cobequid struck the ledge and tore a hole in her hull.
She grounded at low tide and during the next high tide she got flooded. Her boilers had to be put out to prevent an explosion. An S.O.S. and a position were given. Sadly, the wrong position. When the water raised in the hull the crew and passengers were forced to seek shelter on the upper decks. During high tide the waves broke over the decks, and the lifeboats on the weather side were smashed to pieces. The other lifeboats were made ready for launching by the in case help didn’t arrive in time.
Without heating it became bitterly cold on board, they used a makeshift stove, using furniture from the smoking room for fuel.Because of the circumstances and the waiting period before help came, the passengers and crew were reduced to eating dried biscuits, washing them down with water which had to be melted from ice. They used an iron pot as a make-shift stove, kindled with the furniture from the smoking room. For nearly 48 hours, in the midst of a howling blizzard enshrouded in sleet and snow squalls, 102 men and women huddled in a stranded ship 6 miles from land, with waves breaking over them, with the frosts of mid-winter encasing the ship's decks and rails with an unbreakable sheeting of ice. .Out of the port holes from the steamer they could see the lights of comfortable happy homes on the coast. For two days and one night, rescuers worked in a blind search for the ship. Despite the great odds against them, the boats sent to the aid of the stranded ship pressed on in their search. Just before noon Wednesday the storm abated, the squalls ceased and through the rain and snow on the Yarmouth coast could be seen the hull of a ship, piled up on Trinity Ledges, about 6 miles off the shore in the vicinity of Port Maitland. The ship was described as being in a very serious condition with the waves breaking over her and that she was very much encased in ice.
1928Punta Benitez. Handed over. Shallow draft tanker. 2,394 tons. Lago Shipping Co. One of nearly a dozen sisters.
1960. Canberra.
Canberra on her Belfast Slipway.
Canberra was H&W Ship No. 1621, an iconic passenger ship of 45,270 tons, owned by P and OFinally, after two and a half years of construction, the new ship was ready to enter her proper element. March 16th 1960 was a cold and wet day in Belfast. Nevertheless, this great event had not failed to attract its share of spectators. 300 invited guests were present, in addition to the 11,000 people crowding the banks of the Musgrave Channel. Dame Pattie Menzies, wife of the Australian Prime Minister had been given the honour of christening the new ship. Instead of the traditional champagne, she had brought with her a large bottle of Australian wine for the ceremony. Smashing it across the bows, she baptised the ship, which then slipped majestically into the waters. The great Canberra was born. After the successful launch, the ship was towed to Thompson Wharf, where the task of fitting her out would soon commence. 1972Cruise liner Iberia built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast for P&O she was the sister to Arcadia, with a gross tonnage of 29,600. She was launched on 21st January 1954, sailing for Sydney on 28th September 1954.Her last voyage was from Sydney on 16th March 1972. She was broken up in 1972 in Taiwan.
1943
HMS Orchis. Built in Belfast.
Courtesy: Mark Walters: Flower Class Corvette Association.
A new Commander boarded HMS Orchis today in 1943; T/Lt. Eric David Arthur Dyer and later, on 15 Aug, 1944 the German submarine U-741 was sunk by Orchis is in the English Channel. There were 48 Dead and only 1 survivor from the U Boat.
Two submariners got free of the wreck through an escape hatch, and were seen in the water, but only one survived to be picked up –Leo Leuwar from Essen. After the war he wrote to one of Orchis’s crew, Robert Logan from Bradford. These are extracts from his letter to Mr Logan:
Dear Robert,In the U Boat there was cruel darkness, and on top, beautiful sunshine. When I saw your corvette and the life-boat coming towards me, and the life belt being thrown at me, my only thought was, now you’re safe. I have tried to tell this scaring episode with a happy ending very often in my life, because I don’t know anyone else who managed to escape from a submarine at a depth of 180 ft.To be able to express my deepest gratitude to my rescuers who gave me a second life was one of my happiest moments…So, my friend, I would like to ask you to give my deepest gratitude to all the survivors of the HMS Orchis and give them all my best regards. I am very pleased that you are also one of the lucky ones. Let us hope and pray that such tragedies never occur again and that mankind has finally learned something from the mistakes of the past.In deepest friendship,Leo.(Thanks to the FCCA, Flower Class Corvette Association, for making this letter available to Lagan Legacy)