The Highfields

A four-masted steel barque built in 1892 by Richardson, Duck & Co., Stockton, as Yard No. 399. Dimensions: 88,76×12,80×7,43 meters [291'3"×42'0"×24'5"] and tonnage: 2280 GRT and 2220 NRT.

Rigged with royal sails over double top and topgallant sails.

1892 February 13: Launched at the shipyard of Richardson, Duck & Co., Stockton, for Charles Walford Kellock & Co., Liverpool.
1892-1898: In command of Captain Thomas Stevenson.
1892 May 3 - July 25: Sailed from Liverpool to Hooghly, Calcutta, with a cargo of 3500 tons salt in 83 days.
1893 June 21 - November 3: Sailed from Calcutta to Amsterdam in 134 days.
1893 December 31 - March 27: Sailed from Amsterdam to Port Pirie in 87 days.
1894: Sailed from Newcastle; NSW, to San Francisco with a cargo of coal in 85 days.
1894 November 15 - April 10: Sailed from San Francisco to Hull in 146 days.
1895 May 23 - August 27: Sailed from Hull to Calcutta in 96 days.
1895 December 29 - April 14: Sailed from Calcutta to Boulogne in 107 days.
1896 May 12: Sailed from West Hartlepool to Calcutta in c103 days.
1897: Sailed from Cacutta to Boulogne where she arrived on April 21, about 114 days out.
1897 July 1 - October 18: Sailed from Liverpool - Calcutta in 109 days.
1897: Sailed from Calcutta to Dundee with a cargo of jute in 134 days.
1898: Sold to Macvicar, Marshall & Co., Liverpool.
1898-1899: In command of Captain Ebenezer J. Locke late of the same owner's ship Annie Maud.
1898 June 8 - September 23: Sailed from Middlesbrough to Calcutta in 110 days.
1899 January 17 - May 23: Sailed from Calcutta to Dunkerque with a cargo of jute.
1899-1902: In command of Captain Edward R. Dunham (1863-1902) late of the barque Port Sonachen.
1899 June 18 - July 30: Sailed from Dunkerque to New York in 48 days.
1899 September 26 - December 31: Sailed from New York to Williamstown, Vic., with a cargo of case oil in 96 days.
1902 August 12/13: Lost all sails in a severe storm off the Cape of Good Hope on voyage from Cardiff with cargo of coal for Cape Town under command of Captain E.R. Dunham. Managed to reach Robben Island, Table Bay, under small sails where she fished the anchor chain and collided with the German steamer Kaiser which had anchored just outside the breakwater, blockading the entrance. The Highfields sank almost immediately taking with her down, the master, second mate, and 21 men of the crew.

References:

Four- and five masted ships, general references.
Turner, Colin W.R.: Life and Tragic Death of a Liverpool Barque.
Sea Breezes Vol. 66 (1992), pp 556-564.
Middleton, A.W.: In The Highfields.
Sea Breezes Vol. 11 (1951), pp 456.

Updated 1997-05-30 by Lars Bruzelius.

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