The Burning of the “James Baines.”
After their trooping, the Lightning and Champion of the Seas returned to the Australian run, but her Calcutta voyage proved the death of the famous James Baines.
She loaded the usual cargo of jute, rice, linseed and cow hides in the Hooghly, and arrived back in Liverpool in April, 1858. She was hauled into the Huskisson Dock and discharging commenced. The ’tween decks were emptied, and on the 21st April the lower hatches were taken off in the presence of the surveyors, when there appeared no sign of anything wrong. But on the following morning smoke was noticed issuing from her hold, and a fire which started in the main hold soon destroyed her. The following account of her end I have taken from the Illustrated London News:—
The fire burst out on Thursday morning, 22nd April, 1858. Although the engines were brought into play as rapidly as possible, there was no visible effect produced; and four or five times the firemen, whilst endeavouring to penetrate the interior of the vessel so as to get at the seat of the fire, were driven back by the density of the smoke. It then became necessary to cut away the spars, rigging, stays, etc., which was done promptly and after some time it was deemed advisable to scuttle the ship as the exertions from the deck to extinguish the fire seemed unavailing. There was plenty of water in the dock at the time, but at the receding of the tide the vessel grounded and the fire seemed to have run through the entire length of the ship, for the smoke burst out of all parts and baffled every exertion. In the forenoon the masts were an anxiety, their fall being anticipated, and in the afternoon this happened, the main mast and mizen mast falling with terrific crashes upon the quay and in their descent destroying the roofs of two sheds. At 9 o’clock at night the inner shell of the hull, for nearly the whole length of the vessel, was rapidly burning, the flames rising with fury between the ribs, which had connected the outer and inner hull, the intervening spaces being to the spectators like so many flues; and iron bolts, released by the flames, were dropping one after the other into the hold, where in the fore part of the ship, particularly the uppermost portion of the cargo, was being fast consumed.
At first great alarm was felt for the neighbouring shipping, several of the steamers of the Cunard fleet being in the same dock, but no material damage was sustained by them, and they, with others, were as soon as possible removed out of harm’s way.
The value of the James Baines and cargo is estimated at £170,000. The vessel became a complete wreck, looking, according to one account, like a huge cinder in the Huskisson Dock; and very little of the cargo was saved.
The loss of this magnificent ship was considered as a national disaster. Since that date thousands and thousands of people have boarded the James Baines without knowing it, for the old Liverpool Landing Stage was none other than the wreck of this celebrated clipper.
America Sells her Clippers to Great Britain.
When the great financial depression fell upon America in 1857 and was followed four years later by the Civil War, James Baines seized the opportunity to buy American clippers cheap and many other British firms followed his example. Mr. George Crowshaw, the American shipbroker in London, negotiated the sales and working arrangements. I have given a list in the [Appendix] of the best known of these ships, which put up the last fight for the sailing ship built of wood. Their day in the Australian trade was a short one; and they soon found iron passenger clippers in the lists against them, even to flying their own house-flag. And in their last days we find the Black Ball and White Star Lines chartering fine iron ships such as the Sam Cearns, Cornwallis and Ellen Stuart.