''The Murray'' was a three-masted clipper ship that was built in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1861 and lost off the coast of Sweden in 1884. For nearly 20 years the

Orient Line The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholde ...

sailed her between

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and

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. In 1880

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owners bought her and renamed her ''Freia''.

Details

''The Murray'' was the first ship built for the

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service of James Thompson & Co. of London, better known as the Orient Line. She was the last of their ships to be built entirely of wood. Alexander Hall & Co built her in

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. Her registered length was , her breadth was and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically r ...

s were 1,019 tons BM and . She was launched on 25 May 1861. Thompson registered ''The Murray'' at

. Her

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official number was 29788 and her code letters were QHCT.

Career as ''The Murray''

Her first

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was the highly regarded Captain John Legoe, whose wife named her ''The Murray''. She sailed from Gravesend on her first voyage to Australia in July 1861. She carried both passengers and cargo, making very fast times. In 1863 she left Plymouth on 15 July and arrived at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on 26 September, making the entire journey in 73 days, equal to the 1860 record of , considered the fastest on the route until the advent of . Captain Legoe, previously of ''Celestial'', was succeeded by James Norval Smart in 1867,

William Begg William Begg (31 May 1821 – 26 July 1889) was a ship's captain in the merchant navy and as a privateer who made many voyages between England, Africa, the Far East and Adelaide, South Australia, where he later settled and had success as a busines ...

1869–1872, previously of ''Sebastian'' and ''Coonatto'', and Thomas L Wadham 1874–1876. On the night of 26 May 1870 in mid-Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa, a lookout aboard ''The Murray'' saw a ship on fire, and Begg made towards it. It was the Italian barque ''Mannin Barabino'', out of

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bound for the River Plate (

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) with a cargo of

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. The fire had started in the galley and swiftly engulfed the ship; the

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was lowered but was soon overloaded and capsized, and the few survivors managed by clinging to the upturned boat or floating

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s, and more than 120 were lost by fire or drowning. Captain Begg was awarded a silver medal by the Italian government for his part in the rescue.

Career as ''Freia''

In 1880 OL Roed of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

bought ''The Murray'', renamed her ''Freia'' and registered her in

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. In December 1884 ''Freia'' sailed from

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with a cargo of coal for Vrengen in Norway. She was wrecked on the

Koster Islands The Koster Islands (Swedish: ''Kosteröarna'') situated 10 km west of Strömstad, Sweden, comprises an archipelago surrounding the two largest islands, South Koster and North Koster. South Koster has an area of 8 km2 and North Koster an a ...

off the west coast of Sweden and lost with all hands.

''The Murray'' in art

The

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

in Greenwich, London holds a lithograph ''Clipper Ship 'The Murray' '' (1861) by Thomas Goldsworthy Dutton.

Some other clippers on the route between England and South Australia

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

*{{cite news , url= http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128931392 , title=Early days of voyaging , newspaper= The News , place=Adelaide , date=10 August 1941 , page=7 , via=Trove – description of travel aboard ''The Murray'' in 1871 1861 ships Full-rigged ships Maritime incidents in December 1884 Sailing ships of Norway Sailing ships of the United Kingdom Ships built by Alexander Hall and Sons Ships lost with all hands Shipwrecks of Sweden