- SS Escambia
The steam ship "Escambia" was an iron screw steamer built at
Sunderland in 1879, by theSunderland Ship Building Company . She was classed 100A1, and was 2,154 tons gross. On22 June 1882 she capsized with the loss of twenty lives having encountered heavy seas when crossing the bar ofSan Francisco, California . ['Terrible Disaster at Sea', "Liverpool Journal",June 24 1882.]The "Escambia" was voyaging from San Francisco to
Cape Verde deeply laden with a cargo ofwheat when she capsized some five miles offshore at about 7 pm. The pilot reported that the water in the ballast tanks had been pumped out in order to make the ship carry more cargo, and that the coal on deck was stowed as high as the bridge. She also had a list to port. In the rough seas she rolled enough to submerge her scuppers and shipped enough water to stop her engines. Unable to make way, the ship turned beam on to the breakers and was engulfed. ['Terrible Disaster at Sea', "Liverpool Journal",June 24 1882.]The
United States naval court decided that the vessel was lost through the ordinary perils of the sea but theUnited Kingdom Board of Trade was not satisfied with this verdict and ordered its own inquiry. Of the crew of twenty four only four were saved, Captain Purvis,Third Engineer Peter D. Walker, cook John George, and steward George Dash. The casualties includedChief Officer Stephen George ofWales ,Second Officer John Simpson ofLiverpool ,Third Officer J. Meyler ofLondon ,Chief Engineer James Sturrock,Second Engineer P. Walker, all the stokers (most of whom were Chinese), other hands, and a passenger named O. Detchon ofSouth Shields . ['The Wreck of the Escambia', "Liverpool Journal",December 2 1882 .]The
Wreck Commissioner reported that the inquiry determined that the Captain was to blame for taking the vessel to sea under that condition having acted simply through lack of judgement. Because the Captain had made every effort to save life after the vessel capsized, the court did not cancel his certificate and he was permitted to return to work. ['The Wreck of the Escambia', "Liverpool Journal",December 2 1882.]See also
*
List of ship launches in 1879
*List of shipwrecks in 1882 References
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