County of Peebles (ship)

The County of Peebles, a four-masted full-rigged ship from Swansea (Wales ) was the first iron sailing ship in the world with four masts.

Construction and launch

The ship was laid on the Clyde at Barclay, Curle & Co. in Kiel in 1875 and ran from the stack. It was measured with 1614 GRT, was 85 meters long, 11 m wide and 7.5 m Draft pointed to.

The ship is named after the county of County of Peebles or Peeblesshire in Scotland, which in turn was named after its capital Peebles ( dissolved in the 1970s ).

The fourth mast

Revolutionary in that vessel was the introduction of a fourth mast, the jigger was called and was like foremast, mainmast, and mizzen mast square sails for rigging provided. As compensation, in order to preserve the stability of the ship, the yards were shortened and the masts less highly than comparable sailors. - The County of Peebles was the prototype of the four-masted full- ship, of which about 50 were built before the four-masted barque proved to be more efficient.

The sailors transported for 23 years from coal ports in Wales ( Cardiff, Penarth, Swansea ) to South America and copper ore from Chile to the United Kingdom (especially after Swansea as the center of the copper processing). 1898, the County of Peebles was sold to Chile. Renamed to Munoz Gamero, she later served in Talcanhuano as the Hulk or as a tender for the Chilean Navy.

Whereabouts

The ship was set in the 1960s in Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan, along with two other ships ( Hipparchus and Falstaff ) as a breakwater due and went into the possession of the State of Chile. The Chilean Navy operates in the superstructure an officer Casino, the lower masts of the sailing ship still exist. With a recovery, however, is probably not to be expected - the body of the soon 140 year old ship is described as to leak and rusted through, as that the enormous costs might still be worth it.