SS ''Arratoon Apcar'' was an iron-hulled sail and steam merchant ship that was built in Scotland in 1861 and wrecked off the coast of Florida in 1878. Her wreck in shallow water on Fowey Rocks is now a scuba diving site.

Building

James Henderson & Son built the ship at

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

, Scotland, as yard number 36. She was launched on 27 June 1861 and completed that year. Her registered length was , her

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

was , and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a cal ...

s were and . She was a sail-steamer. She had three masts, and a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

that was rated at 250 NHP. Her first owner was Apcar and Company of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, India. She was named after the member of the Apcar family who founded the company. She was

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. Her UK

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 ...

was 43924 and her

code letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

were TRBG.

New engine and owner

In 1873 Henry Frederick Swan acquired the ship and registered her in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Black, Hawthorn & Co Black, Hawthorn and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer with a works situated in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK. John Coulthard and Son The Quarry Field Works was opened in 1835 by John and Ralph Coulthard, known as John Coulthard and S ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

re-engined her with a two-cylinder

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 ...

rated at 160 NHP. By 1873 she was rigged as a

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

. Apcar & Co replaced her with a larger ship of the same name.

Wreck

In February 1878 ''Arratoon Apcar'' was en route from

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 ...

, England to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Hawk Channel Hawk Channel is a shallow, elongated Oceanic basin, basin and Channel (geography), navigable passage along the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Florida Keys. The channel makes up a smaller portion of the Florida Platform from Key West to the ...

, due to a miscalculation by her

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Pottinger. Other ships had already been wrecked on the reef. The

Fowey Rocks Light Fowey Rocks Light is located seven miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. The lighthouse was completed in 1878, replacing the Cape Florida Light. It was automated on May 7, 1975, and is still in operation. The structure is cast iron, ...

was being built at the time, and construction workers were camped on a platform on the new screw pilings for the lighthouse. They were almost hit by the ship, which stopped on the rocks only away. The ship's crew spent three days trying to pump her out before abandoning her and heading ashore in her lifeboats. The ''Tappahannock'' rescued Captain Pottinger and his entire crew of 24 men. Heavy seas pushed the ship onto the reef, breaking her on the rocks. She was a total loss by 12 March 1878.

Mistaken identity

The wreck now tentatively identified as the ''Arratoon Apcar'' was known for many years as ''Arakanapka'', and is so called in books and on various dive-related web sites.

Wreck

The wreck is at a depth of near Fowey Rocks. The lower hull and iron frames of the ship are visible, encrusted with coral, along with remains of some other parts of the ship. There are many fish, and with shallow water the site is excellent for snorkelling or diving. However, the shallow waters near the reef may create strong surges that could damage a boat. ''Arratoon Apcar'' is one of five historic wrecks in the

Biscayne National Park Biscayne National Park is a national park of the United States located south of Miami, Florida, in Miami-Dade County. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of th ...

"Shipwreck Trail".

References

Citations

Bibliography

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Other sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arratoon Apcar 1861 ships Biscayne National Park Maritime incidents in February 1878 Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Clyde Ships sunk with no fatalities Shipwrecks of the Florida coast Steamships of the United Kingdom Wreck diving sites in the United States