SS Newfoundland

SS ''Newfoundland'' was a wooden-hulled brigantine and steamship that was built in 1872 and wrecked in 1916. She was a cargo ship, and for part of her career she was a sealing ship. In 1916 she was renamed ''Samuel Blandford''.

''Newfoundland'' was involved in two disasters. The first was the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster, when 132 sealers were stranded on an ice floe, resulting in 78 deaths. The second was in 1916, shortly after she had been renamed, when she struck rocks and was wrecked.

Specifications

Peter Baldwin built ''Newfoundland'' in Quebec, completing her in 1872. Her registered length was , her beam was , her depth was and her tonnages were and . She had two masts and was rigged as a brigantine.

''Newfoundland'' had a two-cylinder compound steam engine, built by the Ouseburn Engine Works of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, which powered her single screw. It was originally rated at "130 HP", but by 1903 it was rated at 162 NHP.

Owners, managers and registration

James and Alexander Allan were ''Newfoundland''s first owners. They registered her in Glasgow, Scotland. Her UK official number was 66054 and her code letters were MCPB.

In 1890 Allan Line re-registered ''Newfoundland'' in Montreal. In 1893 John H Anderson of Musquodoboit bought ''Newfoundland'' and re-registered her in Windsor, Nova Scotia. In 1900 JA Farquhar became her owner. In 1904 John Harvey bought her and re-registered her in St John's, Newfoundland. From 1907 her owner was the Steamship "Newfoundland" Sealing Co, Ltd, and AJ Harvey was her manager.

By 1913 ''Newfoundland'' was equipped for wireless telegraphy. Her call sign was VOW.

In 1916 William Davis of St John's, Newfoundland acquired ''Newfoundland'', and she was renamed ''Samuel Blandford''.

1914 disaster

On March 30, 1914, ''Newfoundland'' was trapped in ice off the northern coast of Newfoundland. Her captain, Wes Kean, could see signals from , commanded by his father Abram Kean, indicating that there were seals several miles away. The next morning, Wes Kean sent his crew in that direction across the ice to begin killing seals, commanded by his first officer, expecting that if the weather worsened they would stay overnight aboard ''Stephano''. When the men reached ''Stephano'', Abram Kean gave the men lunch and then ordered them back onto the ice to kill seals and find ''Newfoundland'', despite signs of worsening weather.

As a storm began that afternoon, the captains of both ''Newfoundland'' and the nearby ''Stephano'' each thought the men were safely aboard the other man's vessel. ''Newfoundland''s owners had removed the ship's wireless telegraph equipment because it was an expense that did not contribute to profits. ''Newfoundland''s captain, believing the men were aboard ''Stephano'', did not blow the ship's whistle to signal his location, which would have allowed his men to find the ship in the darkness and rain. The sealers endured two nights without shelter, in first a freezing rain storm and then a snowstorm.

The dead and survivors alike were rescued about 54 hours later by another ship in the fleet, '' Bellaventure'', under Captain Isaac Randell. Of the 132 men aboard ''Newfoundland'', 78 died, and many more were seriously injured. This disaster occurred in the same storm in which sank with all hands. The total loss from all three sealing ships totaled more than 250 lives, and the combined tragedy became known as the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster.

1916 loss

In 1916 ''Samuel Blandford'' left New York with a cargo of coal bound for St John's. On August 3 she struck the Keys, near St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador and was wrecked.

Heritage

Cassie Brown and Harold Horwood wrote their 1972 book ''Death on the Ice'' about the 1914 disaster. The National Film Board of Canada has made three documentaries about the disaster: ''The Icehunters'' in 1976, ''"I Just Didn't Want to Die": The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster'' in 1991, and the multimedia short ''54 Hours'' in 2014.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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1872 ships
Ships built in Quebec City
Brigantines
Disasters in Newfoundland and Labrador
Maritime incidents in 1914
Maritime incidents in 1916
Maritime incidents in Canada
Sealing ships
Steamships of Canada
Steamships of the United Kingdom
Water transport in Newfoundland and Labrador