SS Drummond Castle

The SS Drummond Castle was a steamship built in 1881 by John Elder & Co. of Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, for D. Currie & Co. and later operated by the Castle Mail Packet Company. The ship sank on 16 June 1896 off Ushant.

Drummond Castle
History
Name: SS Drummond Castle (1883-1895)
Operator:
Builder: John Elder & Co., Govan, Glasgow, Scotland
Yard number: 246
Launched: 17 February 1881
Fate: Ran aground and sank 16 June 1896
General characteristics
Tonnage: 3,706 gross register tons
Length: 365 ft (111 m)
Beam: 43.5 ft (13.3 m)
Draught: 31.3 ft (9.5 m)

Sinking

The Drummond Castle departed Cape Town, South Africa, on 28 May 1896 for London via Delagoa Bay, Natal and Las Palmas, with 143 passengers and 102 crew.[1] On 16 June the Drummond Castle was off Ushant, the sea was calm but foggy.[2]

The safe passage past Ushant is to the north, but for an unknown reason the Drummond Castle sailed between Ushant and Molène.[3] Around 23:00 the Drummond Castle struck rocks at the south entrance to the Fronveur Sound, within four minutes the ship had sunk.[4]

Two crew were rescued by Breton fishermen; one passenger managed to reach Molène.[3] The other 242 crew and passengers were drowned.[1] The main cargo was 1,943 bales of wool, skins, hides and horns, weighing 450 tons the rest was 250 tons of coal.[1]

A Board of Trade wreck inquiry was held in July 1896 in Westminster.[1] The inquiry concluded that the loss was due to "careless or unskillful navigation".[5]

References
  1. "Wreck Inquiry." Times [London, England] 14 July 1896: 13. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
  2. "Wreck Inquiry." Times [London, England] 15 July 1896: 15. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
  3. "Struck on a Sunken Reef". The Times (Philadelphia). 19 June 1896. p. 9. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  4. "Wreck Of A Castle Liner." Times [London, England] 18 June 1896: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
  5. "The inquiry ordered by the Board of Trade into." Times [London, England] 28 July 1896: 11. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.

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