SS ''Vesta'' was a propeller-driven fishing vessel 250 gross tons, built in 1853 at Nantes, France, by Hernoux et Cie of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

for the Société Terreneuvienne of Granville in

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. The company had extensive fishing interests in the

Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

area off Newfoundland, which it operated from a base in

Saint Pierre Island In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

. On 27 September 1854 ''Vesta'' was eastbound with a crew of 50, returning 147 fisherman and salters home. In a heavy fog, ''Vesta'' collided with the

Collins Line The Collins Line was the common name for the American shipping company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins, formally called the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company. Under Edward C ...

passenger paddle steamer SS ''Arctic''. A section of ''Vesta''s bow was sheared off, but the watertight bulkhead behind the bow remained intact and kept out the sea, keeping the vessel afloat.Paine, p. 545 The much larger ''Arctic'', which initially had appeared to have sustained only superficial damage, had been fatally holed below the waterline. Lacking watertight compartments, the hull filled with water and the ship sank, four hours later, with great loss of life. By contrast, the only casualties from ''Vesta''s crew and passengers were about a dozen who precipitately left the ship in a lifeboat, which was then accidentally run down by the ''Arctic''. After the collision, ''Vesta''s captain, Alphonse Duchesne, brought the ship slowly to St John's, Newfoundland, which she reached on 29 September, and was repaired.Flayhart, p. 34 On 20 March 1855 ''Vesta'' sailed for home, and was forced into Liverpool after fighting ice and storms for 17 days. Later that year she was sold to the Compagnie Générale Maritime of

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, and after further changes of ownership, passed in 1863 to J Amann of

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and was renamed ''Amberes''. She was used as a freighter, generally working between northern Spanish ports and Antwerp. In 1875, the shipping registers reported her as sunk in

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

harbour.Brown, pp. 158–59

Notes and references

;Citations ;Sources *A.C. Brown: ''Women and Children Last''. Frederick Muller, London 1962 *William H Flayhart: ''Perils of the Atlantic: Steamship Disasters, 1850 to the Present''. W.W. Norton, New York 2003 *Lincoln P Paine: ''Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia''. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1997 *David W Shaw: ''The Sea Shall Embrace Them''. The Free Press, New York 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vesta Maritime incidents in September 1854 Ships built in France 1853 ships Merchant ships of France Steamships of France Maritime incidents in 1875 Merchant ships of Spain Steamships of Spain

See also

Notes and references