''Earl of Eldon'' was launched at Whitby in 1830 but registered in London. Her master was Captain E. Theaker and her owner was J. Barry. She first appeared in ''

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'' in 1830; in 1831 her trade was London-India.

Spontaneous combustion Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high tem ...

that occurred in the cargo resulted in her destruction in 1834 in the Indian Ocean about from

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Island at .

Loss

''Earl of Eldon'' departed

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on 24 August 1834, bound for London with many passengers and a cargo of cotton. Her cargo had been loaded into the ship's hold in a damp condition. What one passenger some time later believed was steam billowing from the hold turned out to be smoke. Within the hour, the deck was ablaze and by mid-afternoon, the entire vessel was in flames. Forty-five men, women and children and the crew took to three ship's boats to make their escape. After they had rowed for an hour, ''Earl of Eldon''s powder-magazine exploded, causing the ship to disintegrate spectacularly. On 10 October, after 13 days and a voyage of 450 miles at sea in open boats, all 45, including four women and an infant, arrived safely at Rodrigues. ''

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and is ...

'' reported on 20 January 1835 that ''Earl of Eldon'' had burnt at sea.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Earl of Eldon (1830 ship) 1830 ships Ships built in Whitby Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in September 1834