Sailing Ship Helene

Discussion in 'Migration & Shipping' started by MollyMay, Nov 21, 2014.

  1. MollyMay

    MollyMay Knows where to find the answers!

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    Does anyone have any expertise in shipping?

    This is a follow up to my posting of 3 Lost Boys and I am trying to find out more about the sailing vessel Helene.

    I know the boat was used to transport naptha from the US to England in the early 1900's and from a newspaper cutting that the crew were rescued from this ship in the Atlantic in 1902 (presumably the ship was lost?), see the press cutting below. I also know that the ship was registered in Bremen.

    I have found reference to a Bremen registered ship called Helene in 1853 which was bringing immigrants to New York. Is this likely to be the same vessel? This states the vessel is 771 tons – now showing my total ignorance, just how big would that be?

    Any help gratefully recieved.

    Helene 10.JPG
     
  2. Archie's Mum

    Archie's Mum Always digging up clues

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    The Bremen registered barque Helene also made a few immigrant trips from Hamburg to Port Adelaide, from 1853 to 1864. It varied between 214 and 300 tons. So not likely to be the same ship??? That's all I have found.
    There is another Danish steam transport 'Helene' built in 1896 that was torpedoed in 1918. Seems that there has been a few of them by that name.
     
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  3. Archie's Mum

    Archie's Mum Always digging up clues

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    Another was built in Sunderland in 1892 and launched as the 'Andorinha' later changed to "Helene', sank after a collision in 1919. It was a 4 masted steel barque.
    There is another but built in 1916. Too late.
     
  4. Archie's Mum

    Archie's Mum Always digging up clues

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    San Francisco Call Volume 87 Number 79 dated 17/2/1902
    has an article saying that the Helene sank in 10 minutes. 20 crew were taken by the Torr Head to Galverston where they were delivered to the German Consul.
    Another article on Major John George Brew says that the ship was sinking after taking in water after a 3 day squall.
    brew.clients.ch/stquentin
     
  5. MollyMay

    MollyMay Knows where to find the answers!

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    Thanks so much for your input AM. I am totally ignorant when it comes to ships. I have tried looking at Lloyds Register, but to be honest I am not understanding what is on there, not that I can find the Helene anyway. Your post#4 is great, it tells me so much more about the fate of the ship. I wonder how big a ship 20 men could sail.

    I am pretty certain the the Helene I want was German registered and presumably (probably wrong), was built in Germany.
     
  6. Archie's Mum

    Archie's Mum Always digging up clues

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    It is going to be blisteringly hot here today:( so there will be no venturing outdoors. I will have a better look for you to see if something else turns up, after I clean the oven that is :(
     
  7. euryalus

    euryalus Well-Known Member

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    The naphtha vessel Helene, carrying 5,000 barrels of naphtha, blew up in the Thames estuary at Thames Haven on 26 June 1900, causing the deaths of three men. Press reports refer to the German-registered vessel as a fully-rigged ship (not a barque). Surely passengers would not have been carried in such a vessel? The vessel lost in the Atlantic must have been a different ship.
     
  8. MollyMay

    MollyMay Knows where to find the answers!

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    Thank you euryalus - I have no idea on shipping (I had to google barque to find out what one was!). Can I ask where you found the press report of the 1900 incident? (that is the one where one of my lost boys died). I have a couple of reports and one calls the ship a 'steamer', the other does not mention what sort of vessel she is. I think from the report I posted here - http://www.genealogy-specialists.com/threads/3-lost-boys.3730/page-2#post-50679
    that the ship suvived the naptha incident, although the other press report says it does not know what happened to the ship.
    I am finding it all a bit confusing.
     
  9. Archie's Mum

    Archie's Mum Always digging up clues

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    One thing for sure. I am not boarding any vessel named 'Helene'. Even a rowboat. They all seem to end in disaster. :(
     
  10. MollyMay

    MollyMay Knows where to find the answers!

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    AM - euryalus found another newspaper report from New Zealand which states that the Daniel Dunn who died on the Helene was from London - which gives more credence to him being 'my missing boy'. So my quest to find out more about the ship is less important now.

    Perhaps it is just a co-incidence but I called one of my daughters Helen:eek:
     
  11. euryalus

    euryalus Well-Known Member

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    What has happened to my two previous posts - I thought I had loaded two images showing the full extract from the New Zealand Herald. Have they somehow been deleted?
     
  12. MollyMay

    MollyMay Knows where to find the answers!

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    They are on the 'Three Lost Boys' thread.

    (Edited to add the link to that thread. Jan)
     
  13. euryalus

    euryalus Well-Known Member

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    I searched everywhere yesterday, including the Lost Boys thread, and still could not find the two posts - although they are clearly there this morning.
     
  14. euryalus

    euryalus Well-Known Member

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    The naphtha vessel that blew up at Thames Haven was described as a fully-rigged ship, which means that she was square rigged on all masts. The vessel that sank in the Atlantic was a barque - in other words, her rig had been reduced. Barques were fore-and-aft rigged on the 3rd (or 4th) masts.
     
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