West Lothian

A four-masted iron ship built in 1882 by Charles Connell & Co., Glasgow, as Yard No. 131. Her dimensions were 85,15×12,37×7,16 meters [279'5"×40'2"×23'6"] and tonnage 1882 GRT and 1814 NRT. Rigged with royal sails over double top and single topgallant sails.

1882 November: Launched at the shipyard of C. Connell & Co., Glasgow, for James Boyd, Glasgow. Assigned the official British Reg. No. 86721 and signal WPRQ. The first master of the ship was Captain W. Barr.
1884: Sailed from Calcutta to London in 98 days.
1887 November: Sold to James Boyd & Son, Glasgow.
1890: Sailed from London to Sydney in 87 days.
1890 December 17 - April 2: Left Sydney for Lizard three days after the Cutty Sark. Rounded the Cape Horn three days ahead of the Cutty Sark but was passed by the latter on January 30. Lizard Point was reached 106 days out after having stopped at Pernambuco, February 12-25, to put out a fire in the wool cargo. Captain C. Planck replaced Captain Faulkner.
1892: Sailed from Newcastle, NSW, to San Francisco in 54 days.
1893: Sailed from Calcutta to New York in 97 days.
1895: Sailed from Falmouth to Sydney in 79 days.
1897: Reduced to four-masted barque rig.
1904: Sailed from New York to Melbourne in 76 days under Capt. James.
1912 August: Sold to A/S West Lothian (T. Dannevig & Co.), Sandefjord, Norway. Assigned the official Norwegian signal KFGB. Captain C.O. Lorentsen.
1915: Sailed from Port Talbot to Buenos Aires in the record time of 35 days and 6 hours under Captain S.M. Samuelson.
1917 February 6: Left Buenos Aires with a cargo of maize and oilcakes for Christiania (Oslo) under command of Captain Daniel Ulnes Danielsen (1882), Grimstad.
1917 April 18: Torpedoed by the German submarine U 93 west off the Hebrides [50 miles WbN of the Shetlands] on voyage from Buenos Ayres to Copenhagen with a cargo of maize and oil cakes. The entire crew was saved.

References:

Four- and five masted ships, general references.
Tandberg, Arne: (Personal communication).
Bergen, 1997.

Updated 1997-09-06 by Lars Bruzelius.

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