Official No. 19723; Code Letters MTDS.
Owners: George Moon, JP Denton, William Robert Thomas Bell & Errington Bell Ord, Sunderland; 1856 Ord & Co, Sunderland.
Masters: 1854-61 William Moore; 1861-64 Johnston; 1864-64 Carruthers; May 1865 William Clouston; October 1865 Harris; 1865-66 Johnson; 1867 Carrie; 1868-70 F Burton; 1870 Prust; 1870 James Rudman.
The only known epidemic of yellow fever in the British Isles was at Swansea in September & October of 1865 & this was believed to have been brought in aboard Hecla. The barque sailed from Swansea on 11 May 1865 arriving at Santiago de Cuba on 9 June to collect a cargo of copper-ore. On the voyage the ship’s boy died & an able seaman, Hansel Pederson, was taken to hospital when they arrived at port. Two able seamen were taken on as replacements one of whom had been discharged from hospital the previous day but later died on the voyage from ague fever. Hecla sailed from the port with a clean bill of health on 26 July but there was illness & further deaths on the voyage back to Swansea & with another death of a crew member the day after they reached port this brought the total to five. A pilot was employed to guide them into the Cobre Wharf, North Dock, Swansea but no quarantine flag was displayed & the authorities were not notified that there may be infectious disease aboard. The cargo was unloaded & with it, no doubt, the mosquitoes that carried the deadly disease. There were then a reported 16 further deaths in Swansea. Once there had been a period of 13 days with no further cases Hecla was allowed to sail for Valparaiso on 13 October 1865.
Voyages: 8 May 1856 bound from Sheerness for Portsmouth; October 1864 during fierce gales at Shields, Joseph Fidle, seaman,was swept under a tier of ships & drowned; sailed from the Clyde 1 December 1857 for Valparaiso & during severe weather on driving through the Sound of Bartla she struck a rock. She arrived at Stornaway on 27 January 1858 with severe damage & some of her crew disabled; Liverpool for the USA; 1870 Swansea for South America.
Hecla left Swansea on 15 June 1870 with a crew of 16 & 650 tons of coal consigned to William Biggs & Co, Valparaiso. They left Valparaiso in October & sailed for Cobija on the coast of South America & from there for Tocopilla in Bolivia. On 18 November the weather was hazy & they saw what they thought were the copper works at Tocopilla. As they neared land a boat put out from shore with the occupant asking if their vessel was Hecla & then telling them that they should be five miles further up the coast. As the master tried to navigate his vessel it struck on a sunken rock & stuck fast. Every effort was made to free the vessel but by the following morning she had sunk almost level with the water. The Board of Trade inquiry at Swansea held between 17 & 24 March 1871 found the master not to blame for the casualty.

Deaths from Yellow Fever 1865: