Bowfell

Official Number
50496

The Bowfell was a full-rigged ship built by Thos.& Jno.Brocklebank at Bransty, Whitehaven. She was launched on the 20th July 1864 and was owned and operated by the Brocklebank Line for her entire career. Her masters were Capts.Ponsonby, James Balderstone, William Ellery (1870 to 1875), James Connell, Kershaw, Collins, Forshaw and Graham. The vessel traded to Calcutta until 1878, then to Singapore and Manila.

Hollett describes a race between the Bowfell, under Capt. Ellery, and the Rajmahal, under Capt. Balderstone, the previous commander of the Bowfell. They left Prince's Dock, Liverpool, on the 27th September 1870 bound for Calcutta, and after a journey of 110 days and 14,260 miles, the two Brocklebank ships moored in the Hooghly river on the same tide.

The Bowfell left Calcutta in July 1878, carrying 28 crew and a light cargo. On the 26th November she was anchored opposite the Wallasey landing stage in the Mersey, under to command of a Mersey pilot and waiting to enter Prince's Dock. The paddle ferry Gem, attempting to avoid the lightship marking the recently sunk wreck of the Maggie Townson, collided with her in thick fog, resulting in the loss of the lives of 19 passengers on the former vessel.

The Bowfell was lost in the Karimata Straights in the Java Sea in May 1886. She was bound for Liverpool from Manila with a cargo of sugar, under the command of Capt.D.N.Smith. The ship struck the Discovery shoal, ESE of Milliton, at 3.30 am on the 18th May. The ship eventually slipped off the reef, but filled with water and was abandoned on the 19th May at 7 am as she headed for Batavia. Capt.Smith and four others were picked up from a small boat by the Dutch steamer Tambora and landed at Batavia. The rest of the crew, sixteen men, arrived at Batavia the following day, 31st May, in the other two boats. A Court of Inquiry found no fault with the master or mate, concluding that a variable current, at the turn of the monsoon, had pushed the vessel off her course.

Name
Year Built
Gross Tons
Length (feet)
Breadth (feet)
Depth (feet)
Masts
Figurehead
Stern
Lloyd's Classn.
Bowfell
1864
 1002
196.2 
35.2 
22.9 
3 
 
 
 Special Survey

Sources :

  1. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
  2. "From Cumberland to Cape Horn" by D.Hollett.
  3. Port Cities Southampton website - Board of Trade Wreck Report for 'Gem' and 'Bowfell', 1878.
  4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1883-4: Bowfell, ship, 1002 tons, official number 50496, signal letters WJKH, built at Whitehaven in July 1864, FYM in 1882, owned by T.& J.Brocklebank, registered at Liverpool, master Capt.J.Foreshaw.
  5. Wreck and subsequent inquiry reported in the Straits Times, 24th June 1886 (see National Library of Singapore website).