User:Loch Vennachar/sandbox

The Foundling
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The Foundling was a three-masted iron sailing ship (clipper) that operated between Great Britain and various ports around the world between 1866 and 1874. The ship was built in 1866, in the city of Hull for the shipping company Wade & Sons of Liverpool. The ship was registered in the Port of Liverpool by Lloyds of London with the number 55029. The newly launched 1186 ton, iron clipper was managed by Edward Bates, of Rumford Place, Liverpool. Edward Bates was part owner of The Foundling, and acted as managing agent for Wade & Son's other vessels. For alomost nine years the ship was a regular sailor between Britain, India and the nitrate ports of South America.

The Foundlings Last Voyage
On September 19th, 1874 The Foundling set sail from Liverpool bound for Bombay, India, with 1051 tons of North Wales coal. The trip proved to be nothing out of the ordinary until somewhere off of the coast of Brazil the crew noticed that the ships cargo of coal had begun to smoulder. At first they tried to contain the growing fire by attempting to smother the fire by sealing the cargo hatches and hoping that the fire would abate. However all this achieved was to have the cargo hatches repeatedly blow off. The fire soon spread and on the 21st of November 1874 the Captain realised that his ship was lost. The passengers and crew took to the ships boats, leaving The Foundling well ablaze at lattitude 25 degrees South, longitude 23 degrees West. The lucky survivors rowed quickly away and after a time the blazing wreck attracted the attention of a passing steamer that hove to and picked up the passengers and crew. They were eventually landed at Pernambucco, Brazil from where the captain cable Liverpool announcing what had befallen the ship, and her fortuante passengers and crew.

The Foundlings Becomes A Ghost Ship
With the fire and eventual abandonment, many thought that The Foundling would meet her fiery end in a watery grave, however this was not to be. For even though every combustable object was consumed in the blaze, the ships iron hull remained water tight and much of her ballast cargo intact. The ship continued to blaze away for many weeks as the coal, timber cabins and decking, and the upper rigging were slowly reduced to ash and slag. The fore and main masts fell over the side whilst the mizzen stump collapsed forward. On the 4th of January 1875 the clipper,Loch Lomond sailing from Glasgow to Melbourne, sited the burning hulk. Captain Francis Wagstaff, skipper of the Loch Lomond sailed his vessel close the The Foundling. He noted that the masts were gone and cargo had burnt out. The only smoke visible was coming from the foward section which glowed red hot in the fading light. The Foundlings position was lattitude 28.25 degrees South, and 29.50 degrees West. The ships hull was painted green and the gilt lettering on her sterm proudly announced her as The Foundling of Liverpool. There were no obvious signs of life so the Loch Lomond sailed onwards. Captain Wagstaff's main concern was that the burned out hulk was adrift in a major shipping lane and there was no way to warn other vessels of the danger the hulk posed. The hulk became a ghost ship as she drited unassisted about the Mid-Atlantic. She was again sited on September 7th 1875, by the crew of the vessel Promptipao, a blackened wreck floating at lattitude 24 degrees South, longitude 43 degrees West. A few weeks later, the fishing smack Dolores sited the ship and attempted to put her under tow, but she proved too heavy for the little vessel. The ships Conquerer, from New York, and the Norwegian vessel William Tell also sited the drifting hulk as they made their way to Sydney in early September of that year. Finally in the first week of October 1875, the Port Captain, of Paranagua, Brazil, sighted the floating wreck of The Foundling riding in calm waters inside the sandbar inside the channel of Baia Paranagua. Upon closer inspection of the hulk the Port Captain discovered the ships hull perfectly water tight, and her cargo of railway lines and firebricks perfectly intact. The ships figurehead, a woman in white hold a child in her arms. Continuing her ghostly voyage, The Foundling had drifted safely past Paranagua's outer islands and reefs and had safely navigated the inner sandbar, to sit idly in the still waters having reached a safe anchorage unassited and having drifted more than 20 degrees of longitude in a little over eleven months. Eventually her remaining cargo was salvaged by local Paranaguans and her burnt out hull sunk by a warship having been deemed a navigation hazard.