Blackwall Frigate

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Blackwall Frigate was the colloquial name for a type of three-masted fully-rigged merchant ship built between the late 1830s and the mid 1870s. They were originally intended as replacements for the British East Indiaman in the trade between England, the Cape of Good Hope, India and China, but from the 1850s were also employed in the trade between England, Australia and New Zealand.

The first Blackwall Frigates were designed and built by the Wigram and Green shipyard at Blackwall on the River Thames. Under different owners these yards had built East Indiamen since the early 17th century as well as warships for the Royal Navy. Whereas the traditional East Indiaman had double stern galleries the Blackwall Frigate had single galleries and was superficially similar in appearance to a naval frigate. The first two Blackwall Frigates, the 871-ton Seringapatam and 951-ton Madagascar launched in 1837, carried the names of two slightly larger Indian-built frigates in the Royal Navy. With only a single gallery, the hull-lines at the stern could be very fine and combined with relatively fine lines at the bow, Blackwall Frigates were fast sailing ships, although not as fast as the clipper ships that appeared in the late 1840s.

Over 120 Blackwall Frigates were built British and Indian yards before the last, the 1857-ton iron ship Melbourne, was built at Blackwall by the Green family in 1875. They were generally considered to be safe and comfortable ships in premium trades, but were the victims of some of the most celebrated shipwrecks of the 19th century. These included the Madagascar missing between Melbourne and London in 1853 with the loss of about 150 lives; the Dalhousie that sank off Beachy Head on 13 October 1853 with the loss of about 60 passengers and crew; the Dunbar that was wrecked near Sydney Heads on 20 August 1857 with the loss of 121 lives; the Northfleet run down and sunk by a steamer in the English Channel on 22 January 1873 with the loss of 320 lives; and the Cospatrick that was destroyed by fire south of the Cape of Good Hope on 18 November 1874 with the loss of 473 lives.

The Blackwall frigate True Briton of 1046 tons built in 1861, made frequent voyages to Australia and New Zealand carrying passengers, convicts and cargo. Photographs of this vessel are on display in the Victoria Sate library, Australia.

By the 1860s the main difference between Blackwall frigates and clippers was the stern gallery (which "true clippers" never had, though some "semi-clippers" did) and the residual "tumble-home" or hull curvature such that the hull was narrower at deck level than at the waterline). Both types became superseded as passenger carrying vessels by steamships during the 1870s and later sailing ships of the type colloquially called a windjammer were built for cargo carrying only. The vessel illustrated (Clyde, full-rigged ship 1151 tons built in 1860) is not generally listed as a Blackwall frigate but displays all the characteristics of later vessels of the type including the stern galleries and moderate "tumble-home".

[edit] Sources

• Basil Lubbock, The Blackwall Frigates, Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1922.
• Lloyd's Register of Shipping
• David Lyon, The Navy Sailing List - All the Ships of the Royal Navy built, Purchased and Captured - 1688-1860, Conway Maritime Press, London, 1993