Telesilla Technical Specification

Completed March 1877; Official No. 76943; Code Letters QMPN

Owners: 1877 Thomas George Greenwell (Sunniside, Sunderland) & Co, London; 1882 R Gordon & Co, London.

Masters: 1877-78 George Webster; 1879-80 Kirkaldy; 1880 George Webster; 1881-82 T Brewis; 1882-85 Vallint/Valling; 1885 Robert Milne; 1887-89 Hollingshead; 1891 J Frankland; 1892 W Faith; 1893 W Duncombe; 1894-96 A Harvey.

Voyages: bound for London with deals on 12 September 1877 stranded on Ower Sand. She was got off the following morning but with damage to several of her plates. The master’s certificate was suspended for two months; December 1882 William Martin died in Greenwich Hospital of injuries received on board. He was aged 36 & from South Shields; January 1884 Gottraid Samner, fireman aged 36, fell into Tyne Dock & drowned; 6 December 1885 Telesilla left London on 6 December 1885 bound for the Tyne in water ballast & with a crew of 17 all told. On 7 December the weather was hazy & there were snow showers when a light was seen which was taken to be the blast furnace near Seaham. The master altered course & she grounded on Whitburn Still. The vessel was holed under the after tank & engine-room. The holes were plugged & at high tide the following day she was towed off by two tugs & taken to Sunderland for permanent repairs. The master was severely reprimanded for steering too fine a course; April 1896 Thomas Hilton, mate, aged 36 & from South Shields disappeared from the vessel. It was thought he had fallen overboard whilst throwing a line to a foyboat.

On a voyage from Grangemouth to Hamburg with a cargo of coal Telesilla struck on the Beamer Rock & stranded half full of water on 14 September 1896 on the north side of Beamer near North Queensferry, Fife, Scotland. The coastguards assisted the crew ashore. The master was found at fault but because of his previous good character he kept his certificate but was severely reprimanded.

On a voyage from Grangemouth to Hamburg with a cargo of coal Telesilla was wrecked on Beamer Rocks near North Queensferry, Fife, Scotland on the Mackintosh Rock at 10pm on 14 September 1896. The remains of the wreck were discovered during the construction of the Forth Road Bridge in 1958.

Crew September 1877:

Forsythe, George, chief mate; Miller, Thomas, second engineer; Nevison, Thomas Coulthard, chief engineer; Parkinson, Thomas Henry, second mate; Strachan, Stewart, able seaman; Webster, George, master.

Crew December 1885:

Levesque, Samuel, able seaman; Milne, Robert, master; Park, John, chief engineer; Sands, Andrew, able seaman; Slater, David, able seaman.