Archaeology Notes
Event ID 854980
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/854980
NJ90NE 8085 c. 963 060
N57 8.7 W2 3.7
NLO: Aberdeen [name: NJ 95 05].
Location formerly entered as NJ c. 96 05 [N57 8 W2 4].
1 April 1853, DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, of Aberdeen, steamship, 514 ton, 52 crew and passengers, London to Aberdeen, wind SE force 9, thick with rain, value £24,000, insured £12,000 with Lloyds, cargo £8,000, 16 dead, total wreck. Aberdeen, off the pierhead. Caused by a cross sea and fresh of the river, which rendered the vessel unmanageable and threw her upon the rocks. 36 saved by rocket and a boat. Coastguard Officers. Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. Lloyds List.
Source: PP Admiralty Register of Wrecks and other [Record received incomplete].
NMRS, MS/829/67 (no. 440).
The iron steamship Duke of Sutherland was wrecked at the entrance to Aberdeen harbour on the evening of 1 April 1853, arriving from London and having been pushed onto the end of the North pier by the freshwater (downriver) current as she crossed the bar at half-tide. She struck 'on the rocks by the breakwater of the pier', and was abandoned ten minutes later, when the water was 3ft (0.9m) deep in the engine room. The waves 'made a clean breach over her' as she lay broadside-on to the waves, with her bow to the S. Some passengers were saved in one of the ship's lifeboats; the other was stove-in. Only a few more passengers could be recovered in the shore lifeboat, which was damaged in collision with the ship.
The ship then 'rolled dreadfully', the forepart breaking off after about half an hour. The passengers gathered around the port paddle-box while the ship 'sunk down solidly' on the rocks. After some delay (due to the lack of 'powder' and the box-cradle for the apparatus, trained men and the key to the building) a rocket-propelled line was fired over the wreck and served to rescue more passengers, Captain Howking being drowned in the process. A further two passengers were rescued in a salmon coble, but five men drowned during this operation.
The stern part of the steamship broke off by the engine-room [after an unstated interval] and was 'scattered in a thousand pieces'; the fore- and mizzen-masts had fallen some time before. Around this time, other passengers were washed overboard and drowned. One of the stewards was the last to be rescued (at 7.30pm); the funnel 'fell at dusk', the paddle-wheel being all that remained by 8pm. The shore was bestrewn with 'goods' [presumably cargo], 'pieces of wreck' and passenger's luggage; a military guard was provided. The vessel was insured for half her value, while her cargo was valued at £20,000. A total of sixteen lives was reported lost, eleven from the steamship and five from the coble.
The vessel was built by R[obert] Napier at Glasgow in 1847, and was 'one of the most beautiful models that entered the Thames'; her staterooms and chief cabins were 'fitted in the most elegant manner'. She had berths for 60 first-class and 28 second-class cabin passengers. At the time of loss, there were 52 people on board:
Crew (officers): 3
Crew (petty officers): 2
Crew (seamen): 8
Crew (engineers and firemen): 11
Crew (stewards and stewardesses): 4
Passengers (cabin): 4
Passengers (steerage): 20
The ship was of 804 tons register and 350 horsepower. The following dimensions are cited:
Length (overall): 198 ft (60.4m)
Beam: 26ft (7.9m)
Depth of hold: 17ft 6ins (5.3m).
(Illustrated with dramatic lithographs).
Sources: Illustrated London News, no. 616 (9 April 1853), 266 and no. 617 (16 April 1853), 285.
NMRS, MS/2410.
(Classified as paddle steamship, with general cargo: date of loss cited as 1 April 1853). Duke of Sutherland: this vessel was wrecked at the North pier, Aberdeen. Capt. Howling. Possibly all gone.
Registration: Aberdeen. Built 1847. 514 tons burthern. Length: 42m. Beam: 8m.
(Location of loss cited as N57 8.63 W2 3.67).
I G Whittaker 1998.
An arbitrary location at NJ c. 963 060 may be cited for the loss of this vessel, which evidently sank within the entrance to Aberdeen harbour. Aberdeen Harbour (NJ90NE 7.00) is centred at NJ 95 05, and the North Pier (NJ90NE 7.02) extends from NJ 9590 0570 to NJ 9639 0609. The remains of the vessel must have formed a significant obstruction to the harbour entrance, and were presumably removed without delay.
The comprehensive accounts in Illustrated London News give an insight into the process of destruction, the lighter ends of the vessel breaking away from the heavier midships portion (which contained the engine) and the mast and funnel falling later.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 24 August 2005.
NMRS, MS/2410.
[No location specified]. Colour sonar imagery shows what is apparently one of the ship's paddlewheels lying on the seabed. It measures about 2.4m in diameter.
[Source not stated: said to have been 'taken by police on a training exercise'].
Aberdeen City Council [2006].
The location assigned to this record is essentially arbitrary. Aberdeen Harbour (NJ90NE 7.00) is centred at NJ 95 05. The present entrance extends from NJ c. 959 056 to NJ 964 059, but this location reflects development towards the East through the construction of successive piers and breakwaters.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 18 March 2009.
