''Sea Park'' was a sailing ship of 835 Net register tons, built by James Laing & Co at Deptford Yard near

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, in 1845. The ship took its name from an estate in

Morayshire The County of Moray, ( ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county in Scotland. The county town was Elgin. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 most of the historic ...

which the owner's brother, John Dunbar, had purchased in 1838. In 1853, the vessel undertook a contract for the British Government, transporting 305 male convicts from

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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. In 1854, the ship's owner was Duncan Dunbar, of London. It also operated as an emigrant ship, as its journey to South Australia in 1855 shows. Notably, on this voyage, the ship carried 165 single female passengers, out of the total of 278 passengers embarked. Later journeys are designated as normal without any specific purpose.

Loss

''Sea Park'' was purchased by Hargrove, Fergusson & Co., of

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 ...

in 1863 and, following repairs in a graving dock, set off on what was to be its final voyage, transporting coal from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. The ship started taking in water soon after leaving Cardiff and had to put into Falmouth, where it was beached for repairs to the hull. ''Sea Park'' then continued its journey without major incident until it reached the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, where the master became concerned about the rate at which water was seeping into the hull and decided to divert to Brazil. However, before it could reach land, the ship's pumps could not keep it afloat and so, on 13 July 1864, the ship was abandoned(). Her crew took to three boats. The pinnace, commanded by the ship's mate, landed at

Paranaguá Paranaguá (Tupi language, Tupi, 'Great Round Sea') is a city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

on 17 July. The twelve crew in the

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest bo ...

and lifeboat were rescued by the Brazilian

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

''Fraternidade''. News of the loss of the ship, and of the escape of the men in the pinnace, reached Liverpool before the fate of the other men, including the ship's master, were known. The loss of the ''Sea Park'' was the subject of a court case in Liverpool in April 1865. One of the insurers had refused to pay their share of the insured loss on the grounds that the ship had not been seaworthy for a voyage to Chile with a cargo of coal. After considering evidence from numerous expert witnesses over two days, the jury rejected this argument and decided that the ''Sea Park'' had been seaworthy when it left England.

References

{{reflist Ships built in England 1844 ships Convict ships to Western Australia Maritime incidents in July 1864