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Official Number
91215 |
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Official Number
91215 |
A previous vessel named Grassendale was built at the same shipyard in 1882, also for R.W.Leyland & Co.
The Grassendale was an iron full-rigged sailing ship built at
Workington by R.Williamson & Son in 1885. She was rigged with royals
over a single topgallant, with double topsails. Her first owners were R.W.Leyland
& Co. of Liverpool, who had owned a previous vessel of the same name,
lost in 1884. In June 1906 the ship was sold through Clarkson & Co.
to Gabriel Granlund Jnr. of Rauma, Finland, for £10,000. She was
renamed Imperator Aleksander II, after the Russian Tsar.
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In 1907 the ship was resold to F.Lehtinen of Rauma, and then resold again to a Helsinki owner, Alfred Kordelin (Oy Tonnage AB), in 1918. Very soon the ship was sold into Swedish ownership, when she was bought for SEK 900,000 by AB Svenska Handelsoch Sjfartskompaniet of Stockholm in September 1918. The ship was renamed Ernst and suffered two more changes of ownership, to AB Harald Schessler, Stockholm (for SEK 500,000 in November 1919) and then to Rederi Svenska Lloyd of Gothenburg, in January 1920.
At the time of her final sale the Ernst was in port at Santos, Chile. She left under the command of a newly-appointed master, Capt. Karl Petter Mattson, on the 15th January, carrying a cargo of cattle fodder. On the 24th April the Ernst arrived off Skagen, and took on board a pilot to negotiate the minefield at Hertha's Flak off the Danish coast. A steam tug was requested, but failed to come due to a seaman's strike. Meanwhile the Ernst had to sail eastwards as the wind began to increase. The following day she struck a mine (at 57.45 N 11.5 E) and sank in 45 metres of water.
The Rauma Maritime Museum in Finland are very interested in this vessel.
If you have any further information on the Grassendale please contact
Capt.H.A.Vartiainen.
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Sources :
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