Ocean Chief(clipper)
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Ocean Chief(1853) |
Owner | James Baines & Co. |
Operator | Black Ball Line |
Route | United Kingdom−Australia |
Builder | Joshua C. Morton,[1]Thomaston,Maine,USA |
Completed | 1853 |
Acquired | 1854 |
Fate | Burnt, 1862Bluff HarbourNew Zealand |
General characteristics | |
Type | Clipper |
Tonnage | 1,026gross register tons(GRT) |
Length | 182 ft (55 m) |
Beam | 34 ft (10 m) |
History | |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Wild Ranger |
Builder | J. O. Curtis,Medford, Massachusetts,United States |
Completed | 1853 |
Renamed | Ocean Chief,1862 |
Owner | James Baines & Co.(1862-1866) |
Operator | Black Ball Line(1862-1866) |
Route | United Kingdom−Australia |
Acquired | 1862 |
Fate | Sank offCalcuttain 1872 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Clipper |
Tonnage | 930gross register tons(GRT) |
Ocean Chiefwas aclippership used in a regularpacket serviceand as apassenger shipfor bounty emigrants toAustraliabetween June 1854 and December 1861 at the time of theAustralian gold rushes.
Original[edit]
The originalOcean Chiefwas built in theUnited StatesatThomaston,Maine,by Joshua C. Morton (born 1789) and his son Charles, one of two clippers that they built.[2]Completed in 1853, she was a fast and consistent sailer and made an average passage of 74 days.
TheBlack Ball Line(founded 1852 – ceased 1871) ownersJames Baines& Thomas MacKay, Liverpool[3]purchased the vessel for a regular mail service betweenLiverpoolandMelbourne.She also visited other ports includingHobart,Tasmania,andNew Zealand.
In 1862,Ocean Chiefarrived atBluff Harbour,New Zealand, under Captain T. Brown, with a cargo of 4,000sheep.On the morning of 23 January 1862, the crew burned ship, believing that they could get rich in the nearbyOtago Gold Rush.[4][5]
Voyages[edit]
Departed | Date | Arrived | Date | Captain | Passengers | Days | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
England (Liverpool) | 23 May 1854 | Melbourne, Australia | 7 August 1854 | Thomas James Tobin | 77 | ||
Australia | - | England | - | Thomas James Tobin | 86 | ||
England | 11 January 1855 | Hobart, Australia | 26 March 1855 | Thomas James Tobin | 370 | 75 | |
Australia | - | England | - | Thomas James Tobin | 69 | ||
England | 8 October 1855 | Australia | January 1856 | - | 362 | ||
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | – | Australia | May 1858 | - | |||
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | – | Australia | February 1859 | - | |||
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | 5 September 1859 | Australia | 30 November 1859 | William Brown | 109 | 86 | |
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | 5 July 1860 | Melbourne, Australia | 2 October 1860 | - | |||
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | – | Melbourne, Australia | 21 July 1861 | - | |||
Australia | - | England | - | ||||
England | – | Melbourne, Australia | December 1861 | - | |||
Burnt New Zealand | 23 January 1862 | T. Brown |
Replacement[edit]
Another ship, namedWild Ranger– built in the United States in 1853 by J. O. Curtis atMedford,Massachusetts– was purchased in 1862 as a replacement ship and renamedOcean Chief.This ship was slightly smaller, being of 930 tons. In 1866, she was sold to E. Angel, Liverpool. She sank in a large storm in theBay of BengaloffCalcutta,India,in 1872.
References[edit]
- ^"The Ships List".theshipslist.Retrieved22 August2015.
- ^The American Clipper Ships 1845–1920.McFarland and Company P71. 23 January 2014.ISBN9781476602844.Retrieved22 August2015.
- ^"Baines & MacKay / Black Ball Line, Liverpool".theshipslist.Retrieved22 August2015.
- ^"Fate – Fire Afloat".ancestry.Retrieved22 August2015.
- ^"Destruction of the" Ocean Chief "by Fire at the Bluff Harbour".Otago Daily Times.No. 63. 28 January 1862. p. 2.Retrieved15 March2016.
- Clippers
- Ships built in Thomaston, Maine
- Tall ships of the United Kingdom
- Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom
- Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom
- Maritime incidents in January 1862
- 1853 ships
- Bluff, New Zealand
- Ship fires
- Arson in New Zealand
- Arson attacks on vehicles
- Shipwrecks of New Zealand
- Shipwrecks in the Bay of Bengal
- 1862 in New Zealand
- Maritime history of Tasmania