Ibex - a general history

Completed July 1880;  Official No. 81649: Code Letters TJHP.

Owners: 1880 Cory, Lohden & Jackson, London: 1882 Jackson Bros. & Co. London: 1885 Jackson Bros. & Cory, London

Master: 1881 Watson: 1882 Clark: 1883 D Morgan: 1883-91 R Osborn: 1892 James Howrie

Ibex left Stettin on 18 November 1892 with a cargo of about 1,400 tons of flour & a crew of 19 bound for Sundsvall, Sweden. On 20 November she headed for Soderham Island & at 4.30pm she stopped about two miles from the island to signal for a pilot. Heavy snow showers were then falling & the lighthouse was obscured so the vessel kept her position as far as she was able. Becoming anxious about his position & with no sign of a pilot the master decided to stand out to sea but at about 5.30pm on 21 November 1892 she struck on the Norrgrundan Rocks near Soderham lighthouse in the Gulf of Bothnia on 21 November 1892. At about 10.30pm the crew left the ship reaching the shore in safety & through the night the vessel became a total wreck. It appeared that the lighthouse-keeper had come out to the vessel shortly before she was abandoned to tell them that no pilot would come as it was too cold & dark. The lighthouse keeper had told them that although the pilots were Government official they were like a group of farmers & not fit to be pilots at all. The master could only put the stranding down to an inset in the current during the snowstorms but there was no current mentioned in his sailing directions. The inquiry found that the cause of the casualty was that the master allowed the vessel to get to the westward of Soderham light. The vessel, after 5 p.m., was not navigated with proper and sea-manlike care. The master was in default but the Court thought he was in considerable difficulty as it was necessary to get a pilot to take the vessel for quarantine to Fejam, with which place he was unacquainted, and the sudden storm prevented him from ascertaining his exact position. The Court did not deal with his certificate but he was reprimanded. No lives were lost.

Crew November 1892:

Kenny, Charles, 2^nd engineer

Lewis, EJ, chief officer

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