Columbus

A four-masted wooden barque built in 1824 by Charles Wood, Anse-du-Fort, Quebec. Dimensions 91,74×15,39×6,82 meters [301'×50'6"×22'5"] and tonnage 3690 GRT.

Built of mostly square timbers with a perfectly flat bottom and straight sides and with the intention to be taken apart at her destination and sold for her timbers.

Rigged with single top- and topgallant sails.

1824 July 28: Launched at the shipyard of Charles Wood, Anse-du-Fort, Isle of Orleans, Quebec. Captain William McKellar.
1824 September 5: Sailed from Quebec for London with 6300 tons of timber.
1824 September 9: Grounded at Bersimis, St Lawrence.
1824 September 12: Was able to resume the voyage.
1824 October 29: Off the Scilly Light.
1824 November 1: Reported by Lloyd's List to have arrived at the Downs in a leaking condition. Arrived eventually at Blackwall Reach through the help of "branch pilots, steamboats, warps and the capstan" according to The Times.
1825 May 17: Wrecked in the English Channel on voyage from London to St John, NB.

Although initially intended to be taken apart at her destination and sold for her timbers, the owners decided against the advice of Charles Wood to send her back to St John, New Brunswick, for another timber cargo. However, she was wrecked already in the English Channel on May 17, 1825, on her return voyage.

Bibliography:

Four- and five masted ships, general references.
Canadian Magazine and Literary Repository, December 1824, p 62.
Montreal Gazette, December 14, 1824.
Lloyd's List, November 2, 1824.
Quebec Gazette, May 6, 1825.
Quebec Mercury, July 29, 1824.
Quebec Mercury, July 31, 1824.
The Times, October 13, 1824.
The Times, November 9, 1824.
The Times, May 31, 1825.
Marcil, Eileen Reid: Ship-Rigged Rafts and the Export of Quebec Timber.
The American Neptune Vol. 48, Salem, 1988. pp 67-76, ill.
Wallace, Fredrick William: Wooden Ships and Iron Men.
White Lion, London, 1973/1924. 8vo, xviii, 327 pp, 27 plates.
Williams, David M.: Bulk Carriers and Timber Imports: The British North American Trade and the Shipping Boom of 1824-5.
The Mariner's Mirror Vol. 54, London, 1968. pp 373-382, 1 plate.
Wood, Charles: Ballast.
John Clark, Glasgow, 1836.

Updated 1997-12-20 by Lars Bruzelius.

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