Lawhill

A four-masted steel barque built in 1892 by W.B. Thompson & Co., Dundee, as yard no. 112. Dimensions: 101,81×13,64×7,44 meters [317'6×45'0×25'0] and tonnage: 2942 GRT and 2749 NRT.
Rigged in "jubilee" or "baldheaded" fashion, i.e. with double topgallant sails over double topsails, and was also rigged with the topgallant masts aft of the topmast. Near sister ship to the Jutepolis built for the same owners in 1891.

1892 August 24: Launched at the shipyard of W.B. Thompson & Co., Dundee, for Charles Barrie, Dundee, and to be used in the jute trade. Assigned the Official British No. 99215 and signal MSPH. Her first master was Captain Peter Singer late of the iron four-masted barque Dundee (1882).
1892: Loaded coal at Cardiff for Colombo.
1893: Sailed from Penarth to Colombo in 90 days.
1895 April 21 - 1899 August: Captain Thomass Coss, Glasgow.
1899: Sailed from Chittagong to the Isle of White in 155 days.
1899 August 31: Sold to Lawhill Sailing Ship Co. Ltd. (F.E. Bliss, manager), London, together with the Jutepolis for £ 39.000. Captain John C.B. Jarvis of Dundee, the inventor of the brace winch, was given command of the ship.
1899 September 5 - October 15: Sailed from South Shields to Philadelphia.
1899 November 3 - April 11: Sailed from Philadelphia to Kobe with case oil.
1900 June 15: Transferred to Anglo-American Oil Co., London.
1901: The Lloyd's Weekly for August 9, 1901, records that the Lawhill was spoken by the Glenogle on August 5 in lat. 31° N long. 126° E, listing 30 degrees to starboard because of shifted ballast. Captain Jarvis refused assistance. The four-masted barque County of Haddington was lost in the same typhoon in which Lawhill's ballast shifted. It is a proof of Capt. Jarvis' superb seamanship that he managed to save his ship at this and other times. Further, if he had accepted the assistance of the Glenogle there might have been a risk that they could have claimed salvage rewards.
1904 July 2: Arrived in Mossel Bay, South Africa, after having lost her maintopgallant and mizzen mast, two boats and also received damaged to the gunwale and deck in severe winter storms in the South Atlantic. She was docked in Cape Town for inspection and repairs, and as the mizzen mast could not be replaced in Cape Town she sailed to New York as a three-masted barque. In spite of the reduced rig she made the voyage in 61 days.
1905 January 27 - May 2: Sailed from New York to Anjer in 95 days and continued to Hong Kong.
1911 February 13: Sold to G. Windram & Co., Liverpool, together with Jutepolis for £ 12.000. Captain J.A. Sanders was given comman of the vessel.
1914 June 14: Sold to August Troberg, Mariehamn, for FIM 215.000 [£ 8250]. Assigned the Official Reg. No. 525 and signal TPJB. Captain August Edward Jansson (1860-1931), Finström, Åland. was the first Finnish master.
1917 January 25 - May 25: Sailed with wheat from Wallaroo to Brest where she was laid.
1917 October 24: Purchased by Gustav Erikson, Mariehamn, for FIM 2.500.000 (£ 77.000), her first master was Captain August Jansson.
1918 June 18: Seized by the French Government and was rigged off.
1919 January 8: Released and returned to the owners. Her former first mate, Captain Ruben de Cloux, was given the command of the ship.
1919 December 28 - April 5: Sailed from Fredrikshald to Melbourne in 99 days with a cargo of 1383 standards of planed deals at 140/-.
1920 June 15 - September 18: Sailed from Geelong to La Palice, La Rochelle, in 96 days with a cargo wheat at 150/- per ton.
1920 November 27 - February 14: Sailed from La Rochelle to Port Lincoln for orders in 96 days.
1921 March 13 - July 3: Sailed from Wallaroo to Bordeaux in 113 days with a cargo of wheat at 120/- per ton.
1921: Captain J.E. Gustafsson.
1921 December 19 —: Sailed from Port Adelaide for Queenstown with a cargo of wheat but had to put into Cape Town for repairs.
1922: Arrived at Queenstown after 123 days from Port Adelaide (Cape Town?).
1922: Sailed to Melbourne and then to Iquique for a cargo of nitrate for Europe.
1924 July 1 — August 22: Sailed from Newcastle, NSW, to Tocopilla with coal.
1924 November 11 — February 12: Sailed from Iquique with a cargo of nitrate via Fayal for orders for Gent, Belgium.
1925 February 16 — March 3: Sailed from Fayal to Gent.
1925 March: Captain Ferdinand Grönlund.
1926 February 2: Arrived at Queenstown 103 days out from Iquique. The cargo was discharged at Brügge.
1926 July 30: Arrived at Cambeltown, NB, in ballast from Flushing.
1926 August 28 — December 10: Sailed from Campbeltown, NB, to Melbourne in 104 days with wood.
1927 February 28: Sailed from Geelong to Queenstown in 121 (Lubbock: 120) days.
1927: Sailed from London to Taltal with cement.
1927: Sailed from Taltal to Defzijl in 108 days with a cargo of nitrate.
1930: Captain J.A. Söderlund.
1932 October 1: Sank the Polish steamer Niemen in a collision in Skagerak. In the subsequent hearings the Lawhill was cleared of all guilt.
1933 September: Captain Artur Söderlund.
1934: Assigned the new Finnish signal OHQA.
1935-1936: Sailed from Copenhagen to Port Lincoln in 83 days.
1937 September 4 — December 13: Sailed from Kotka with a cargo of deals to East London in 82 days, 74 days from Copenhagen which had been passed on the 1st of October.
1938 January 21: Sailed from East London to Port Victoria 30 days.
1938: Sailed from Port Victoria to Europe in 131 days. Discharged the cargo at Birkenhead.
1938 October 18: Sailed from Birkenhead to Spencer Gulf (Port Victoria) in 85 days.
1939 March 15: Sailed from Port Lincoln to Glasgow in 140 days.
1939: Sailed to Montevideo in ballast and continued to the Seychelles.
1940: Sailed from Assumption Island, the Seychelles, to Auckland with a cargo of guano.
1941 May 16 — July 23: Sailed from Port Lincoln to East London with a cargo of wheat.
1941 August 21: Arrested while in East London.
1942 April: Confiscated by the South African government as a prize of war and placed under management of the Railways & Harbour Administration. George Kåhre givs the date for the confiscation as the 22nd of September. Sailed for some time after the war under the command of Captain Söderlund.
1946: Sold to Lawhill (Pty) Ltd. (Sturrdock, Cape Ltd. managers), East London.
1946: Sailed from Durban to Porto Belgrano, Argentina, in 57 day with coal. Returned to Cape Town with wheat.
1947: Sold to Th. Worker and Herman Olthaver, Johannesburg, for £ 9000.
c1947: Sailed from Durban to Buenos Aires with coal and returned to Cape Town with a cargo of wheat.
1947 November: Captain M. Lindholm replaced Captain Söderlund.
1947/48: Sailed from Lourenço Marques to Port Victoria in ballast.
1948 February 27 — May 6: Sailed from Port Victoria to Beira in 57 days with a cargo of wheat.
1948: Sold to Marcio da Silva Jr, Lourenço Marques, and laid up in a river creek at Lourenço Marques.
1959: Sold to Joaquim Fernandes Coelho and broken up at Lourenço Marques (Maputo).

When advertised for sale in 1899, it was stated that she was able to load 4474 tons coal, 22.888 bales of jute, and 118.500 cases of oil.

Select Bibliography

Four- and five masted ships, general references.
Burell, D.C.E.: Barrie & Nairn. The Den Line.
The World Ship Society, Kendal, 1990. 8vo, 80 pp, ill.
Edwards, I.W.: The Lawhill – again.
Sea Breezes Vol. 68 (1994), p 72.
Edwards, Kenneth & Anderson, Roderick & Cookson, Richard: The Four Masted Barque Lawhill.
Conway Maritime Press, London, 1996.
Ekholm, Björn: The last word of the Lawhill.
Sea Breezes Vol. 68 (1964), p 323.
Grönstrand, Lars: Åländska skeppsporträtt i ord och bild.
Ålands Tidnings-tryckeri, Mariehamn, 1978. 8vo, xxvii, 291 pp, ill.
Holmqvist, Charlie: Under segel.
Söderström & C:o Förlags AB, Tammerfors, 1966 (2nd). 8vo, 227 pp.
Ohlson, Manfred: Från skärgårdshav till världshav. Rospiggen Nr 31, Elmsta, 1970. pp 132-137, ill.
Richardson, John: A Tribute to Old Doop of the Lawhill.
Sea Breezes Vol. 67 (1993), p 795-803, ill.
Rowe, Tom & Bird, J.A. & Kay, Joseph: Memories of the "lucky Lawhill".
Sea Breezes Vol. 68 (1994), pp 70-71.
Stevenson, J.A.D.: Two Interesting Survivors Lawhill and Gustav in London.
Sea Breezes Vol. 10, Liverpool, 1927. pp 139.
Petersson, Bertil Chr.: Mest om originella riggar och riggdetaljer.
Longitude 9, Stockholm, 1974. pp 40-51, ill.
Sandberg, Vilhelm: Albumblad från Lawhill.
Longitude 14, Stockholm, 1978. pp 46-51, ill.
Brandt, C.E.: Anteckningar från en resa med Lawhill.
Longitude 15, Stockholm, 1979.
Monro, D.R.: Resa år 1924 i fyrmastbarken Lawhill.
Longitude 18, Stockholm, 1982. pp 6-19, ill.
Cookson, Richard M.: Kapten John Charles Barron "Brace-winch" Jarvis och hans skepp.
Longitude 19, Stockholm, 1983. pp 4-17, ill.
Svensson, Björn O.: Slutet på historien om Lawhill.
Longitude 20, Stockholm, 1984. pp 54-59, ill.
Villiers, Alan: My First Åland Ship.
Ålands Sjöfart årg. 38, Mariehamn, 1976. pp 54-55, ill.
Villiers, Alan: Mitt första åländska fartyg.
Ålands Sjöfart årg. 39, Mariehamn, 1977. pp 157, ill.

Updated 1997-02-22 by Lars Bruzelius.

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