Wanderer

A four-masted steel barque built in 1891 by W.H. Potter & Sons, Liverpool, as Yard No. 150. Dimensions: 94,18×14,02×7,82 meters [309'0"×46'0"×25'8"] and tonnage: 2903 GRT and 2801 NRT.

Rigged with two skysails and royal sails over double top and single topgallant sails.

1891 August 20: Launched at the shipyard of W.H. Potter & Sons, Liverpool, for their own account. Captain George Currie late of the same owner's fullrigged ship Wayfarer was given command of the new ship.
1891 October 17: Left Liverpool for San Francisco with a cargo of Westminster Brimbo Steam coal. Was partly dis-masted off Tuscar and had to be towed back to Liverpool. Captain Currie was killed by a falling skysail yard.
1891 November 21 - March 14: Sailed from Liverpool to San Francisco with coal. Captain John Brander late of Rankin Gilmour's St. Magnus which had been wrecked at Buchapero, Chile, was given the command of the vessel. The coal cargo caught fire in the South Pacific but it was possible to keep the fire under control until San Francisco. The damage done by the fire required major repairs after which the ship was laid up at Sausalito for a while.
1892 August 18 - December 6: Sailed from San Francisco with a cargo of wheat to Queenstown f.o. in 107 days pilot to pilot.
1893 July 14: Took charge of her tugs while shifting berth in Philadelpha and wrecked havoc at the piers.
1893 July 29 - November 24: Sailed from Philadelphia, PA, to Budge Budge, Calcutta, in 117 days with 118.260 cases of oil.
1894 February 12 - June 8: Sailed from Calcutta to Dundee in 117 days with 22.870 bales of jute.
1894 August 6 - November 28: Sailed from Barrow to Calcutta with rails.
1895 February 24 - June 18: Sailed from Calcutta to Dundee with 22.820 bales of jute.
1895 August 26 - December 20: Sailed from Liverpool to Chittagong with 4133 tons of salt.
1896 May 2 - September 22: Sailed from Calcutta to Philadelphia with jute.
1896 November 19 - March 31: Sailed from Philadelphia, PA, to Hiogo with 118.200 cases of oil. Captain T.S. Tupman late of the same owner's fourmast barque Seafarer.
1897 November 18 - April 10: Sailed from Tacoma to Dunkirk with a cargo of wheat. Took charge of the assisting tug at Dunkirk and drifted onto the sands. More than 700 tons of the cargo had to be discharged into barges before she could be refloated.
1898 July 8 - August 15: Sailed from Dunkirk to Philadelphia, PA, with chalk.
1898 September 30 - January 22: Sailed from Philadelphia, PA, with oil to Bombay to Dunkirk in 114/115 days.
1899 June 26 - October 31: Sailed from Calcutta with 5.000 tons of linseed in bags in 127 days.
1899 December 1 - January 13: Sailed from Dunkirk to New York with chalk.
1900 February 28 - July 17: Sailed from New York to Shanghai with 118.837 cases of oil.
1900 October 13 - March 18: Sailed from Tacoma to Bristol with wheat.
1901 April 13 - May 22: Sailed from Bristol to New York in ballast. Captain T.S Bailey late of the fourmast barque Pegasus.
1901 July 9 - December 12: Sailed from New York to Shanghai with 119.207 cases of oil. Captain Thomas Dunning.
1902 July 14: Arrived at Queenstown with weath from Tacoma. 110 days out from San Francisco.
1902 October 5 - March 8: Sailed from Philadelpia to Kobe with 120.000 cases of oil.
1903 June 24 - November 1: Sailed from Tacoma to Queenstown with wheat.
1905 February 14 - July 14: Sailed from Port Blakeley and Port Townsend the following day to Liverpool with timber.
1905 November 15 - April 22: Sailed from Antwerp with general cargo for San Francisco where she arrived two days after the great earthquake.
1906 September 28 - March 1: Sailed from San Francisco to Liverpool with cargo of grain, honey and tinned fruits. Lost the fore topgallant mast and strained the main in a white squall in the Atlantic 5° north of the line. No spar long enough to replace the main topgallant mast could be found in Liverpool and the main skysail yard had to be removed.
1907 April 14: Run down at 01:52 by the German steamship Gertrude Woermann while at anchor in the Elbe at Altebruch, Cuxhaven.
The wreck was subsequently blown up at a cost of £ 12.000.
1907 April 22: The Seeamt zu Hamburg found that the Gertrud Woermann was completely responsible for the collision.

References:

John Masefield: The Wanderer of Liverpool.
William Heinemann, London, 1930 (1st). 8vo, (6), 120 pp, 17 plates.

Updated 1996-12-26 by Lars Bruzelius.

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