''Sea Park'' was a sailing ship of 835
Net register tons, built by
James Laing & Co at Deptford Yard near
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, in 1845. The ship took its name from an estate in
Morayshire
Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...
which the owner's brother, John Dunbar, had purchased in 1838. In 1853, the vessel undertook a contract for the British Government, transporting 305 male convicts from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
.
In 1854, the ship's owner was
Duncan Dunbar
The ''Duncan Dunbar'' was a clipper constructed for Duncan Dunbar & Company in 1857. It was shipwrecked at the Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil on 7 October 1865 on the way to Sydney, Australia.
Ship history
The ship was launched on 18 May ...
, of London. It also operated as an emigrant ship, as its journey to South Australia in 1855 shows. Notably, on this voyage, the ship carried 165 single female passengers, out of the total of 278 passengers embarked. Later journeys are designated as normal without any specific purpose.
Loss
''Sea Park'' was purchased by Hargrove, Fergusson & Co., of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
in 1863 and, following repairs in a graving dock, set off on what was to be its final voyage, transporting coal from
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. The ship started taking in water soon after leaving Cardiff and had to put into
Falmouth, where it was beached for repairs to the hull. ''Sea Park'' then continued its journey without major incident until it reached the
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, where the master became concerned about the rate at which water was seeping into the hull and decided to divert to Brazil.
However, before it could reach land, the ship's pumps could not keep it afloat and so, on 13 July 1864, the ship was abandoned(). Her crew took to three boats. The
pinnace
Pinnace may refer to:
* Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things
* Full-rigged pinnace
The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth ...
, commanded by the ship's mate, landed at
Paranaguá
Paranaguá (''Great Round Sea'', in Tupi) is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, to the west and the cap ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
on 17 July. The twelve crew in the
longboat
A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boat ...
and
lifeboat
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
were rescued by the Brazilian
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...
''Fraternidade''. News of the loss of the ship, and of the escape of the men in the pinnace, reached Liverpool before the fate of the other men, including the ship's master, were known.
The loss of the ''Sea Park'' was the subject of a court case in Liverpool in April 1865. One of the insurers had refused to pay their share of the insured loss on the grounds that the ship had not been seaworthy for a voyage to Chile with a cargo of coal. After considering evidence from numerous expert witnesses over two days, the jury rejected this argument and decided that the ''Sea Park'' had been seaworthy when it left England.
References
{{reflist
Ships built in England
1844 ships
Convict ships to Western Australia
Maritime incidents in July 1864