SS Cambria (1869)

P1

Company registration number: 60421

The Cambria was a 1869 put into service passenger ship in the British shipping company Anchor Line. It was carrying passengers and cargo on the North Atlantic from Glasgow to New York. On October 19, 1870, the Cambria bounced off the coast of the Irish county of Donegal at high speed and stormy sea on the rugged rocks shore of the island Inishtrahull. The encroaching sea water put out the fire in the boilers, and let the vessel sink quickly. 179 people died. Only one passenger survived the accident.

The ship

The steamer Cambria was 1868/69 by the Scottish shipyard Robert Duncan and Company, built on the Clyde for the Anchor Line, a Founded in 1856, British steamship company based in Glasgow. The nearly 99 -meter-long ship hull was built of iron and had two decks. The three towers were equipped with the rigging of a Bark.

The steamer was powered by a twin-cylinder low-pressure steam engine Finniston Steamship Works, Glasgow and a single propeller, which reached up to 400 horsepower and enabled a cruising speed of 13 knots. In the directory of ship classification society Lloyd 's Register of Shipping for the year 1870, the Cambria was number 53 -C. Media reports described them as very safe and seaworthy ship.

On March 1, 1869, the Cambria was launched, two months later, she was finished. On May 8, 1869 ran in Glasgow on her maiden voyage. The ship carried passengers and freight from Glasgow via Moville to New York.

Downfall

On October 8, 1870 put the Cambria in New York under the command of Captain George Carnaghan to another crossing from. It was only their twelfth Atlantic crossing. She was with 74 crew members and 106 passengers on the way back to Glasgow. Among the passengers, many U.S. Americans, but also many residents of the Northern Ireland city of Derry were. As the steamer approached the Irish coast, the weather worsened.

On Wednesday evening, October 19, 1870, the Cambria happened at high speed and under full sail dangerously close to the cliffs on the coast of the small island Inishtrahull, about ten miles off the coast of the Irish county of Donegal. A fierce storm raged in the area, so that one because of the high waves and the foaming spray the lights of the lighthouse on the island could not see on board the Cambria.

Around 23.00 clock the steamer crashed on the jagged rocks of Inishtrahull, about seven miles southeast of the entrance to the bay Lough Foyle. Through the torn fuselage broke quickly transfer large quantities seawater into the hull of the ship and put out the fire in the boilers. Passengers and crew rushed on deck. Four of the six existing lifeboats were lowered into the water before the ship sank. One of the boats capsized in the raging sea. Of the 16 occupants only managed the steerage passenger John McGartland from the Northern Irish town of Omagh, to climb back into the boat after it had been re-erected. The three other boats disappeared in the darkness.

The noise of the accident and the help and cries of fear of the castaways were heard by the lighthouse keeper of Inishtrahull and his wife. However, because of the dark and stormy weather, the two were not able to assess from where the noise came from and what was their cause. McGartlands boat was taken around 02.30 clock at night before Inishowen from the steamer Enterprise, who was on his way from Liverpool Garston port to Derry. Captain Gillespie aboard the Enterprise left his ship still looking for some time for other survivors, but no one was found. McGartland was the only survivor of the accident. He was brought ashore in Derry.

The missing lifeboats were later found in front of the Giant's Causeway on the coast of County Antrim impulsive. From passengers and crew was no trace. The severed tail of Cambria was washed up on the coast of the Scottish Hebridean island of Islay.