''Charkieh'' was an iron

screw steamer A screw steamer or screw steamship (abbreviated "SS") is an old term for a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine, using one or more propellers (also known as ''screws'') to propel it through the water. Such a ship was also known as an " ...

launched in 1865. Built at

Leamouth Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former ''Leamouth Wharf'' and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at it ...

near London, she was purchased by the

Khedivate of Egypt The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brought an end to the short- ...

as a

mail steamer Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

. She was in a collision in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in 1872 and was eventually wrecked off Greece in 1900.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was powered by a 2-cylinder

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

, which had cylinders of and diameter by stroke. Rated at 283 nhp, it drove a three-bladed single screw propeller and could propel the ship at . The engine was built by James Jack & Co.,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

History

Constructed at the

Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf (often referred to as Blackwall) on the west side and at Cann ...

in 1865 for the Azizieh Steam Navigation Company, but was acquired in 1870 by the

Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...

of Egypt for £E23,289, for carrying mail. In 1872, she was sent back to England for a refit which included new boilers. Wreck of the Steamer Batavier 1872

While running trials in the Thames at Barking Reach on 19 October 1872, ''Charkieh'' was in collision with a Dutch

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

, of the

Batavier Line The Batavier Line () was a packet service between Rotterdam and London from 1830 until the 1960s. The line was established by the ''Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij'' (known as NSM and in English as Netherlands Steamship Company).Greenway ( ...

. The Dutch ship sank, survivors were rescued by ''Charkieh'' and ''Constitution'', a passing

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

. A baby and a sailor were killed. In a subsequent court case, the Egyptian government claimed that since ''Charkieh'' was flying the ensign of the

Ottoman Navy The Ottoman Navy () or the Imperial Navy (), also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later called Karamürsel ...

, there being no separate flag for Egyptian government vessels, she fell under the designation of a warship and was therefore immune from legal proceedings by the Dutch owners. The claim was rejected by the

High Court of Admiralty Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offenses. United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest records, held in West R ...

on the grounds that ''Charkieh'' had arrived with a commercial cargo from Egypt and "if a sovereign assumes the character of a trader, and sends a vessel belonging to him to this country to trade here, he must be considered to have waived any privilege which might otherwise attach to the vessel as the property of a sovereign". ''Batavier'' was found to be at fault. On her return, she was engaged on the

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

route. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, she was briefly used as a

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

for Ottoman forces. In 1879, she was laid-up after her boilers failed and was refitted with new boilers and

compound engine A compound engine is an engine that has more than one stage for recovering energy from the same working fluid, with the exhaust from the first stage passing through the second stage, and in some cases then on to another subsequent stage or even s ...

s of 1,500 ihp in Alexandria by James Jack & Co., completed in September 1881 at a cost of £10,500. At some point, ''Charkieh'' was fitted with an experimental six-bladed propeller. Coal consumption was cut by per day for a loss of in speed. In 1898, ''Charkieh'' was sold to the Khedivial Mail Steamship and Graving Dock Co. Ltd., London. She was allocated the United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

52687. ''Charkieh'' was wrecked on 22 September 1900, in

Karystos Karystos () or Carystus is a small coastal town on the Greek island of Euboea. It has about 5,000 inhabitants (12,000 in the municipality). It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry via Marmari from the port of ...

Bay, ''en route'' to

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from Alexandria during a gale. A total of 18 passengers and 21 crew were lost, 60 were rescued. (p. 6)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charkieh Ships built in Leamouth 1865 ships Steamships of Egypt Merchant ships of Egypt Ships of the Egyptian Navy Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks of Greece Maritime incidents in October 1872 Maritime incidents in 1900