The Erne was a
fully rigged sailing ship built in the late 19th century. The details surrounding the ship's abandonment and wreck have been debated off-and-on for over one hundred years.
Early career
The Erne was built as a 1,692 ton,
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
sailing ship
A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...
with a
length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...
of , breadth of and depth of .
She was built by
Russel & Company
Russel is an alternate spelling of Russell.
Russel may also refer to:
People with the given name
* Russel Arnold (born 1973), Sri Lankan cricketer
* Russel Crouse (1893–1966), American playwright
* Russel Farnham (1784–1832), American fr ...
for the
Nourse Line
The Nourse Line was a shipping company formed by Captain James Nourse in 1861. After taking delivery of his first ship, the ''Ganges'', in 1861, Nourse went on to build up one of the last great fleets of sailing ships.
Early life of James No ...
, named after the
River Erne
The River Erne ( , or ''An Éirne'') in the northwest of the island of Ireland, is the second-longest river in Ulster, flowing through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and forming part of their border.
Course
The Erne rises on ...
in northwest of
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, and launched in May 1886. She was primarily used for the transportation of
Indian indentured labourers to the colonies. Details of some of these voyages are as follows:
In 1895, the Erne took 22 days to travel from
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
to
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 ...
.
Storm at Sea
On either 1 February
or 26 January,
1912 the ship left Boston with a destination of Argentina. On 3 February a storm struck and the ship was cracked nearly in half, separating those at the bow from those at the stern. The damage was so heavy that the only thing keeping the ship from sinking was its hold filled with buoyant lumber.
On 8 February nine survivors were rescued by a passing liner. Ten others were missing, including the captain and his wife (the Ficketts), the second mate (Frank Cushing), and a passenger (Robert Hay.) The story told by the survivors, with few details, was that six crewman were washed overboard by a wave and that the Ficketts, Cushing, and Hay abandoned ship in the only remaining lifeboat.
After the rescue, the Erne could not be tracked down for inspection and was last seen floating upside down near
Sable Island
Sable Island (, literally "island of sand") is a small, remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Sable Island is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and about southeast of the clo ...
.
Theories
While the survivors indicated that Mrs. Fickett had been injured by a wave and the three men with her then launched the lifeboat in order to abandon ship, sailing experts at the time indicated that not only did that not match Captain Fickett's reputation, but that it would have been physically unlikely that the three men could have performed the launch by themselves or with the injured woman.
In the aftermath of the disaster multiple witnesses came forward stating that not only was there a feud between the captain and First Mate James Elliott that had led to the captain slapping Elliott, but that Elliott had been heard on more than one occasion claiming that he would get even with Fickett. The belief that a murderous mutiny led to the disappearance of the four "was almost universally agreed upon by New England seafaring men."
While another theory presented is that the lifeboat, the Ficketts, Cushing, and Hay were merely washed overboard with the other six victims,
this contradicts the story presented by the survivors without giving any explanation as to why they would lie about a situation wherein they would not have been culpable.
See also
*
Indian Indenture Ships to Fiji
Between 1879 and 1916, a total of 42 ships made 87 voyages, carrying Indian indentured labourers to Fiji. Initially the ships brought labourers from Calcutta, but from 1903 all ships except two also brought labourers from Madras and Mumbai. A to ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Indian Immigrant Ship List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erne
Maritime incidents in 1912
!
1906 in British Guiana
Indian indenture ships to Fiji
Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Individual sailing vessels
1886 ships