The Columbus Captn Wm McKellar. As She Appears opposite the Folley House, Blackwall Reach

Four-masted barque built by Charles Wood of Port Glasgow at Anse-du-Fort, Isle of Orleans, Quebec, and launched on 28 July 1824. Her dimensions were 301 ft x 50 ft 6ins x 22 ft 5 in, 3690 tons. She was flat-bottomed, with straight sides and made of timbers as nearly square as possible, with the intention of carrying a cargo of timber over the Atlantic and then herself being taken apart and sold as part of it.

On 5 September she sailed under Capt William Mckellar with 6300 tons of timber for London. She grounded at Bersimis on the St Lawrence on the 9th, but got off and continued on the 12th. On 29 October she was off the Scillies and on 1November arrived in the Downs in a leaking condition. With the help of pilots and steam tugs she was brought as far as Blackwall Reach for unloading but her owners did not dismantle her as planned. Instead, against Wood's advice, they sent her back to St John's, New Brunswick, for another cargo and she was wrecked outward-bound in the English Channel on 17 May 1825. British reports of her appear in Lloyd's List, 2 November 1824 and 'The Times', 13 October , 9 November 1824 and 31 May 1825.

PAF7708, another print of 1824, calls her the 'great American raft' . PAH0540 includes a plan. PAD6407 shows her before launch with 14ft of draught marks on her sternpost. PAD7904, in Henry Moses 'Sketches of Shipping' series, shows her as background to a view of cutters in Blackwall Reach.

Object Details

ID: PAF7709
Collection: Fine art
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Heather, E
Vessels: Columbus 1824 [British]
Date made: 1824
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Mount: 10 9/16 in x 16 1/2 in
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