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Ariel (1889) - a general history

Completed April 1889; Official No. 95892: Code Letters LCJS.

Owners: 1889 Rickinson, Son & Co, West Hartlepool: 1897 SS Samara Co (Maclay & McIntyre) Glasgow–renamed Samara: Cullom Steam Shipping Co (Mussendon & Co) Glasgow: 1907 M Cornilakis, Syra–renamed Barbara

Masters: 1891-92 Race: 1893-96 William Coates Usher: 1896 S Bevan: 1897 Mahn: 1899 T Walker: 1904-07 W Lewis: 1908-11 D Calaffatis: 1913-16 M Calogiannis.

Voyages: On 1 December 1896 Ariel had left Dundee in ballast with a crew of 23 all told bound for Cardiff. During heavy weather she put into Dungeness Bay on 5 December when repairs were carried out on her engines. She put into Dartmouth on 7 December to stock up on bunker coal & left about 9am on 8 December. About 1pm she had brought up inside Plymouth breakwater with the port anchor & 45 fathoms of cable. At 6pm the cable parted & she began to drag. Rockets were fired for assistance but none came. The vessel became unmanageable & drove broadside onto the rocks near the Citadel & began filling with water. The crew got to safety by the starboard lifeboat & by means of a line. She was eventually refloated. No lives lost.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Monday, February 22nd, 1897:
The screw-steamer Ariel, belonging to Messrs. Rickinson, Son and Co., which stranded at Plymouth on the 8th December, is now a total loss, and the wreck has been sold.

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