- RMS Amazon
RMS "Amazon" was a
wooden paddle wheel mail steamer of theRoyal Mail Steam Packet Company .History
"Amazon" was laid down on
September 1 1850 at Green'sshipyard ,Blackwall ,London and launched onJune 28 1851 .Loss
"Amazon" departed from
Southampton for theWest Indies on FridayJanuary 2 1852 , commanded by Captain Symons. At about 12:45 a.m. on the morning of SundayJanuary 4 , while about convert|110|mi|km west-south-west ofScilly , afire suddenly broke out and soon became uncontrollable.Attempts were made to launch the ship's boats but they were hampered by the new iron cranes that had been fitted, and only two were successfully launched. At about 5 a.m. the ship's magazine exploded and she sank about a half hour later. Among the dead was popular travel writer and novelist
Elliot Warburton .21 survivors in one of the boats were picked up by the
brig "Marsden", outward bound from London toNorth Carolina , and landed atPlymouth . It was initially feared that these were the only survivors, but this was not the case; news soon arrived that 6 passengers and 19 crew members had been landed atBrest on 5 January by the Dutchgalliot "Gertruida", and on 16 January a further 13 survivors were landed at Plymouth by the Revenue cutter "Royal Charlotte"; they had been rescued on the night of the sinking by the Dutch vessel "Hellechina", which transferred them to the cutter.Likely cause
The exact cause of the fire remains unknown to this day, but contemporary reports stated that due to the newness of her
steam engine machinery, it had been necessary to keep the bearings cooled with water and that it had been necessary to stop the ship for about four hours in order to cool them down, and it is thought that they overheated and caused the fire.Cargo
The value of the "Amazon's" cargo was estimated at about £100,000 (equivalent to £8,413,836 in 2007 [http://www.measuringworth.com/index.html] ) and included £20,300 in
specie and 500 bottles of mercury for mining use worth around £5,150.References
*cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Lost Steamer: A History of the Amazon | publisher = Partridge and Oakey | year = 1852 | location = London | pages = | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GVUCAAAAQAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn =
*cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Sorrow on the Sea: An Account of the Loss of the Steam-ship "Amazon", by Fire | publisher = J. Mason | year = 1852 | location = London | pages = | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H1UCAAAAQAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn =
*cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History and Politics of the Year 1852 | publisher = J.G. & F. Rivington | year = 1853 | location = London | pages = pp. 462-469| url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wRkEAAAAYAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn =External links
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