Lawhill

A four-masted steel barque built in 1892 by W.B. Thompson & Co., Dundee, as yard no. 112. Dimensions: 101,81×13,64×7,44 meters [317'6×45'0×25'0] and tonnage: 2942 GRT and 2749 NRT.
Rigged in "jubilee" or "baldheaded" fashion, i.e. with double topgallant sails over double topsails, and was also rigged with the topgallant masts aft of the topmast. Near sister ship to the Jutepolis built for the same owners in 1891.

1892 August 24
Launched at the shipyard of W.B. Thompson & Co., Dundee, for Charles Barrie, Dundee, and to be used in the jute trade. Assigned the Official British No. 99215 and signal MSPH. Her first master was Captain Peter Singer late of the iron four-masted barque Dundee (1882).
1892
Loaded coal at Cardiff for Colombo.
1893
Sailed from Penarth to Colombo in 90 days.
1895 April 21 - 1899 August
Captain Thomass Coss, Glasgow.
1899
Sailed from Chittagong to the Isle of White in 155 days.
1899 August 31
Sold to Lawhill Sailing Ship Co. Ltd. (F.E. Bliss, manager), London, together with the Jutepolis for £ 39.000. Captain John C.B. Jarvis of Dundee, the inventor of the brace winch, was given command of the ship.
1899 September 5 - October 15
Sailed from South Shields to Philadelphia.
1899 November 3 - April 11
Sailed from Philadelphia to Kobe with case oil.
1900 June 15
Transferred to Anglo-American Oil Co., London.
1901
The Lloyd's Weekly for August 9, 1901, records that the Lawhill was spoken by the Glenogle on August 5 in lat. 31° N long. 126° E, listing 30 degrees to starboard because of shifted ballast. Captain Jarvis refused assistance. The four-masted barque County of Haddington was lost in the same typhoon in which Lawhill's ballast shifted. It is a proof of Capt. Jarvis' superb seamanship that he managed to save his ship at this and other times. Further, if he had accepted the assistance of the Glenogle there might have been a risk that they could have claimed salvage rewards.
1904 July 2
Arrived in Mossel Bay, South Africa, after having lost her maintopgallant and mizzen mast, two boats and also received damaged to the gunwale and deck in severe winter storms in the South Atlantic. She was docked in Cape Town for inspection and repairs, and as the mizzen mast could not be replaced in Cape Town she sailed to New York as a three-masted barque. In spite of the reduced rig she made the voyage in 61 days.
1905 January 27 - May 2
Sailed from New York to Anjer in 95 days and continued to Hong Kong.
1911 February 13
Sold to G. Windram & Co., Liverpool, together with Jutepolis for £ 12.000. Captain J.A. Sanders was given comman of the vessel.
1914 June 14
Sold to August Troberg, Mariehamn, for FIM 215.000 [£ 8250]. Assigned the Official Reg. No. 525 and signal TPJB. Captain August Edward Jansson (1860-1931), Finström, Åland. was the first Finnish master.
1917 January 25 - May 25
Sailed with wheat from Wallaroo to Brest where she was laid.
1917 October 24
Purchased by Gustav Erikson, Mariehamn, for FIM 2.500.000 (£ 77.000), her first master was Captain August Jansson.
1918 June 18
Seized by the French Government and was rigged off.
1919 January 8
Released and returned to the owners. Her former first mate, Captain Ruben de Cloux, was given the command of the ship.
1919 December 28 - April 5
Sailed from Fredrikshald to Melbourne in 99 days with a cargo of 1383 standards of planed deals at 140/-.
1920 June 15 - September 18
Sailed from Geelong to La Palice, La Rochelle, in 96 days with a cargo wheat at 150/- per ton.
1920 November 27 - February 14
Sailed from La Rochelle to Port Lincoln for orders in 96 days.
1921 March 13 - July 3
Sailed from Wallaroo to Bordeaux in 113 days with a cargo of wheat at 120/- per ton.
1921
Captain J.E. Gustafsson.
1921 December 19 —
Sailed from Port Adelaide for Queenstown with a cargo of wheat but had to put into Cape Town for repairs.
1922
Arrived at Queenstown after 123 days from Port Adelaide (Cape Town?).
1922
Sailed to Melbourne and then to Iquique for a cargo of nitrate for Europe.
1924 July 1 — August 22
Sailed from Newcastle, NSW, to Tocopilla with coal.
1924 November 11 — February 12
Sailed from Iquique with a cargo of nitrate via Fayal for orders for Gent, Belgium.
1925 February 16 — March 3
Sailed from Fayal to Gent.
1925 March
Captain Ferdinand Grönlund.
1926 February 2
Arrived at Queenstown 103 days out from Iquique. The cargo was discharged at Brügge.
1926 July 30
Arrived at Cambeltown, NB, in ballast from Flushing.
1926 August 28 — December 10
Sailed from Campbeltown, NB, to Melbourne in 104 days with wood.
1927 February 28
Sailed from Geelong to Queenstown in 121 (Lubbock: 120) days.
1927
Sailed from London to Taltal with cement.
1927
Sailed from Taltal to Defzijl in 108 days with a cargo of nitrate.
1930
Captain J.A. Söderlund.
1932 October 1
Sank the Polish steamer Niemen in a collision in Skagerak. In the subsequent hearings the Lawhill was cleared of all guilt.
1933 September
Captain Artur Söderlund.
1934
Assigned the new Finnish signal OHQA.
1935-1936
Sailed from Copenhagen to Port Lincoln in 83 days.
1937 September 4 — December 13
Sailed from Kotka with a cargo of deals to East London in 82 days, 74 days from Copenhagen which had been passed on the 1st of October.
1938 January 21
Sailed from East London to Port Victoria 30 days.
1938
Sailed from Port Victoria to Europe in 131 days. Discharged the cargo at Birkenhead.
1938 October 18
Sailed from Birkenhead to Spencer Gulf (Port Victoria) in 85 days.
1939 March 15
Sailed from Port Lincoln to Glasgow in 140 days.
1939
Sailed to Montevideo in ballast and continued to the Seychelles.
1940
Sailed from Assumption Island, the Seychelles, to Auckland with a cargo of guano.
1941 May 16 — July 23
Sailed from Port Lincoln to East London with a cargo of wheat.
1941 August 21
Arrested while in East London.
1942 April
Confiscated by the South African government as a prize of war and placed under management of the Railways & Harbour Administration. George Kåhre givs the date for the confiscation as the 22nd of September. Sailed for some time after the war under the command of Captain Söderlund.
1946
Sold to Lawhill (Pty) Ltd. (Sturrdock, Cape Ltd. managers), East London.
1946
Sailed from Durban to Porto Belgrano, Argentina, in 57 day with coal. Returned to Cape Town with wheat.
1947
Sold to Th. Worker and Herman Olthaver, Johannesburg, for £ 9000.
c1947
Sailed from Durban to Buenos Aires with coal and returned to Cape Town with a cargo of wheat.
1947 November
Captain M. Lindholm replaced Captain Söderlund.
1947/48
Sailed from Lourenço Marques to Port Victoria in ballast.
1948 February 27 — May 6
Sailed from Port Victoria to Beira in 57 days with a cargo of wheat.
1948
Sold to Marcio da Silva Jr, Lourenço Marques, and laid up in a river creek at Lourenço Marques.
1959
Sold to Joaquim Fernandes Coelho and broken up at Lourenço Marques (Maputo).
When advertised for sale in 1899, it was stated that she was able to load 4474 tons coal, 22.888 bales of jute, and 118.500 cases of oil.

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Updated 1997-02-22 by Lars Bruzelius.


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