Lost at Launch: Shipwreck Series, #1

By Thomas G Clark

On a warm day in July 1883, a crowd gathered for the launch of the newest steamship added to the fleet of the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company.  At 11:25 a.m., a champagne bottle shattered across the bow, christening of the 500-ton SS Daphne.
As the Daphne began to leave her slip, she accelerated toward the Clyde while a hundred men aboard waved to the crowd of onlookers. Within seconds of entering the river, 124 men and boys would quickly lose their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Distinctive Press
• Release date: Aug 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201293345

Book preview

LOST AT LAUNCH

The 1883 S.S.DAPHNE Disaster

by

Thomas G. Clark

Published by Distinctive Press LLC

Copyright 2022

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Introduction

Shipwrecks.

What image comes to mind?

Perhaps you envisage a three-masted ship plunging through a boiling sea, its sails double-reefed,  sailors clinging for their lives in the yardarms.

Or instead you see a dark brooding sky with frigid ice-tipped winds threatening a barque off Cape Horn.  (See video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUhKBZb7A7c. )

Alternatively you see a placid sea swallow an unsuspecting vessel with a rogue wave.

All of these nightmarish scenarios involve nature’s wrath, but she is not a ship’s sole enemy.

War, collisions, explosions, complacency, and errors in judgment round out the remainder of maritime disasters, with man at the helm, steering the ship into disaster.

But none of these scenarios fits the demise of a steamship in the latter part of the 19 th century.  Wind and weather were non-factors. No explosion or flash fire would cause the death of so many.

The tragedy were so sudden and unexpected, eyewitnesses were left stunned, shocked into silence and inaction. And the tragedy was not view by just a dozen individuals, but hundreds, many watching the death of their parents, siblings and children.

The tragedy was the demise of the steamship Daphne in July 1883.

From The London Illustrated Times

So what happened in late morning relegating the disaster to one of the most notable in maritime history?

That is what we will discover in the pages that follow.

The Daphne

By mid-19 th century, shipbuilding moved from London to Glasgow and the surrounding areas due to a number of reasons, principally economic:

Since the industry was driven from the Thames by a series of circumstances- disputes with the employees, lower rates of wages in the provinces and the necessity of being nearer to the seat of the metal-working districts in order to meet the demand for iron and steel vessels-the Clyde has distanced every other river, even the Tees, in producing ships of the best build in all sizes and descriptions.[1]

The town of Govan, at the juncture of the Kelvin and Clyde rivers and west of Glasgow, became the new situs for the shipbuilding empire. One shipyard, Alexander Stephen and Sons, was a new arrival in Govan but they were multigenerational builders dating back to 1750.

Alexander Stephen[2]

1832-1899

In 1870,  Alexander Stephen and Sons moved from Dundee and Kelvinhaugh to Linthouse where the company now concentrated on building steamships on commission.

Govan and Linthouse

Sometime during the summer of 1882, several men from the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company gathered in the stuffy, windowless offices of Stephen and Sons. The men perspired through their three piece suits, but business was business and they needed to dress the part despite their personal discomfort.

One of the men thumbed through his vest pocket, his impatience growing by the minute. At almost precise intervals he withdrew a gold pocket watch, opened the clasp and read the time aloud.  It was 1:06 and Stephen & Sons officials were nowhere to be found. The men mumbled their displeasure until one of the seniors remarked that his time was more valuable than anyone in the blasted shipyard. 

Moments later, the Stephen’s men burst into the room with long and sincere apologies, dusting off their clothing before inviting the businessmen to take their seats. The  men reminded them that the Steam Packet Company was largely responsible for keeping the shipyard viable, providing a living to the men and boys in the community.

The men from Glasgow , Dublin and Londonderry laid out their design plans.  What was needed was a single-screw iron hulled vessel for the Irish trade. It was not to exceed 500 gross tons with rough dimensions of 180 feet in length and a beam of 25. 

The size somewhat surprised Stephen’s men, the vessel more modest than past arrangements. The chief engineer did some quick arithmetic and arrived at a length to beam ratio of 7:1, nothing Alexander Stephen and Sons could not deliver for a price.

But then the packet men announced the kicker; the company needed delivery by