SS Tempest explained

-- age of sail --> Ship Registry: Glasgow United Kingdom Ship Owner: Anchor Line Ship Builder: Sandeman & McLaurin Ship Launched: 21 December 1854 Ship Fate: Vanished c. February 1857 Ship Length: 214feet Ship Beam: 28feet Ship Draft: 19feet Ship Propulsion: 150hp Steam engines

SS Tempest was the first ship of the Anchor Line belonging to Scottish brothers Nicol and Robert Handyside and Captain Thomas Henderson.^[1] The 214feet, 866-ton ship was built as a sail-ship by Sandeman & McLaurin of Glasgow and launched on 21 December 1854.^[2] On 3 April 1855 Henderson began a maiden voyage from Glasgow to Bombay.

The Anchor Line decided to begin transatlantic service between Glasgow and New York City with Tempest. She was converted to a screw steamship with the fitting, by Randolf and Elder, of engines in 1856. Her first passage left Glasgow on 11 October 1856; sailing from New York on 19 November, she returned to Glasgow after a 28-day crossing.

Her second journey departed Glasgow 27 December, mastered by Capt James Morris, with cargo and 50 passengers. She arrived in New York on 1 February. She sailed eastward on 13 February 1857 with crew, cargo and one passenger aboard.^[3] She vanished without a trace.^{[4] [5]} Her fate remains an unsolved mystery to this day along with the 150 people that were on board.^{[6] [7]}

Two other ships of the Anchor Line disappeared at sea; United Kingdom in 1869 and Ismailia in 1873.^[8]

External links

Web site: Never Heard Of. Mysteries of the Atlantic Ferry . C. L., Esq. . Davis . 1900 . 5 February 2005 . The Ships List . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080312064541/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Wrecks/never.htm . 12 March 2008 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Story of the Anchor Line Part One: 1855 – 1869 – The Early Struggles . Clyde-built Ship Database. usurped. https://web.archive.org/web/20110822071757/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/articles/web.archive.org/web/20110822071757/https://www.clydesite.co.uk/articles/anchor_line_1.asp. 22 August 2011 .
2. ,C . 25654 . Tempest . 2019-11-08.
3. Web site: S/S Tempest, Anchor Line . Norway Heritage . 2013-07-21. Nb. Some sources claim 150 passengers.
4. Book: Flayhart, William H. . The American Line (1871–1902) . W. W. Norton & Company . 2000 . 9780393047103 . 16, 17.
5. Web site: The Anchor Line . The Ships List . 30 September 2010 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080803125702/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/anchor.html . 3 August 2008 .
6. Book: Lossing. Benson John. Wilson. Woodrow. Harper's encyclopaedia of United States history from 458 A. D. to 1909. 1905. 449. 30 March 2017.
7. Web site: SS Tempest (+1857). Wrecksite.EU. 30 March 2017.
8. Book: Knox, Thomas Wallace . The life of Robert Fulton and a history of steam navigation . G.P. Putnam's Sons . 1886 . 398.