SS ''Canadian'' was a British

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

which struck an iceberg and sank in the

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while she was travelling from

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

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 ...

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in 1861. Thirty-five out of 301 persons aboard the ship perished in the disaster.

Construction

''SS Canadian'' was launched on 10 December 1859 and completed in March 1860 at the Robert Steele & Co. shipyard in

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

for the Allan Line. The ship was long, with a beam of and was assessed at . She had one 2-cylinder compound engine driving a single screw propeller.

Sinking

On 4 June 1861, SS ''Canadian'' sailed from

with 60 crew and 241 passengers on board. When the ''Canadian'' sailed through the

, ice and thick weather started to form and the captain ordered to slow the ship to 5 knots while passing through the ice. At 11:50 AM the ''Canadian'' struck an iceberg which, was largely hidden underwater, north of

Cape Bauld Cape Bauld is a headland located at the northernmost point of Quirpon Island, an island just northeast of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape Bauld, slightly north and east of ...

(). The collision fatally damaged the ship and the ship's 3 compartments were quickly flooded. Since the collision was at such a low speed and most passengers were preparing for lunch, most passengers did not know anything was wrong until they noticed that the crew, on order of the captain, were preparing the lifeboats to be lowered. Since the ship was sinking quickly, the crew needed to work very fast to evacuate everyone. All the lifeboats were safely launched except lifeboat No. 8, which capsized when being lowered, killing at least 30 people. The ship sank beneath the freezing ice-filled waters a half-hour after striking the iceberg. Some passengers and crew did not board a lifeboat and went down with the ship; in total 35 people perished in the disaster. Among those who perished was mail officer James Panton, who is considered to be one a hero of the sinking. He managed to guide many people to the lifeboats and even saved some of his mailbags. He also gave up his seat in a lifeboat for a female passenger. Mr. Panton was last seen hanging by a rope over the side of the ship as it went down. The 266 survivors were soon picked up by four French fishing vessels and taken to Quirpon Bay.

Wreck

''Canadian'' sank north of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian 1859 ships Maritime incidents in June 1861 Ocean liners Ocean liners of the United Kingdom Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Clyde Ships of the Allan Line Ships sunk by icebergs Ships sunk in collisions Shipwrecks of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast Steamships of the United Kingdom