''Gouverneur Generaal Loudon'' was a mail steamer and excursion vessel which survived the

1883 eruption of Krakatoa The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa ( id, Letusan Krakatau 1883) in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago w ...

Ship history

The ship was built by

Caird & Company Caird & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based in Greenock. The company was established in 1828 by John Caird when he received an order to re-engine Clyde paddle-tugs. John's relative James Tennant Caird joined the compan ...

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, in 1875 and operated by the ''Nederlandsch Indische Stoomboot Maatschappij'' ("Netherlands Indies Steamship Company") until 1891, when the assets and business of the company was taken over by the ''

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (Dutch for Royal Packet Navigation Company), better known as KPM, was a Dutch shipping company (1888–1966) in the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia. It was the dominant inter-island shipping line in In ...

'' ("Royal Packet Navigation Company"). She was named after

James Loudon James Loudon (May 24, 1841 – December 29, 1916) was a Canadians, Canadian professor of mathematics and physics and President of the University of Toronto from 1892 to 1906. He was the first Canadian-born professor at the University of Tor ...

(1824–1900), a Dutch politician and governor of the Dutch East Indies (1872-1875). In 1883, while captained by

Johan Lindemann Johan * Johan (given name) * ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada * Jo-Han, a ...

, the ship was present at the eruption of

Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group ( Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands ...

and survived the subsequent

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

when the captain steered the ship head on into the wave. After the wave passed, pyroclastic airfall was the ship's biggest enemy. A foot of ash could have made the ship

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fr ...

, but everyone on board survived due to a combination of the crew keeping the decks clear of ash and Captain Lindeman's decision to move the passengers into the ship's hold to maintain stability which kept them alive long enough to ride out the effects of the eruption. After surviving the tsunami caused by the eruption of Krakatoa, the ship was stranded and lost in the

Flores Sea The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Geography The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea (to the west), Ja ...

off the Tengga Batoe

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

south of

Selayar Island Selayar is the main island of the Selayar Islands (''Kepulauan Selayar''). It lies off the coast of Cape Bira of South Sulawesi Province. The Selayar Straits separate it from the mainland of Sulawesi. Its main city is Benteng, towns to the so ...

in 1898.

In popular culture

The 1953 American adventure film ''

Fair Wind to Java ''Fair Wind to Java'' is a 1953 American adventure film in Trucolor from Republic Pictures, produced and directed by Joseph Kane, that stars Fred MacMurray and Vera Ralston. With special effects by the Lydecker brothers, the film was based on th ...

'' depicts a fictional

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

, the ''Gerrymander'', which rides out a large tsunami generated by the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa. The 1969 American disaster film ''

Krakatoa, East of Java ''Krakatoa, East of Java'' is a 1968 American disaster film starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. During the 1970s, the film was re-released under the title ''Volcano''. The story is loosely based on events surrounding the 1883 eruption o ...

'' depicts a fictional steamer, the ''Batavia Queen'', surviving an encounter with an enormous tsunami at sea between Krakatoa and Java in 1883. Both scenes apparently were inspired at least in part by the historical experience of the ''Governor General Loudon''. The 2005 British documentary ''Krakatoa'' and the 2006

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced t ...

docudrama '' Krakatoa: The Last Days'' (aired in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

with the title ''Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction'') both depict the experience of the ''Governor General Loudon'' and Captain Lindemann in the Sunda Strait during the 1883 eruption.

References

1875 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Steamships Merchant ships of the Netherlands Maritime incidents in August 1883 Maritime incidents in 1898 Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Shipwrecks of Indonesia {{Merchantship-stub