Lord Templemore

Background


Outline Research

​The "Lord Templemore" was in San Francisco having arrived on the 16th August 1895 after a harrowing journey around Cape Horn. They lost all their sails (which had to be replaced) and collided with an iceberg. There's a death notice in the Newsletter later that month  - saying John Reid died suddenly in San Francisco and was the son of John Reid, Agincourt Ave, Belfast. It is presumably the same family that is there in the 1901 census.

It would seem highly likely that the grave shown was somewhere in San Francisco.  This also explains why the J. Bell photograph collection was produced in Market Street, San Francisco as it was a regular destination for this barque. This was a challenging journey having to go around Cape Horn repeatedly.

In 1896, it seems to have been in the hands of Ismay, Imrie & Co. (who owned the White Star line).

Who was J. Bell ?   Who was Capt. T. McWilliams ?

Newspaper Accounts

Northern Guardian (Hartlepool) - Friday 3rd February 1893

SIXTY DAYS ROUNDING CAPE HORN. Particulars have reached Liverpool of the extraordinary voyage which the large ship Lord Templemore made to San Francisco, and which took 201 days to accomplish. The Lord Templemore, a four-masted steel ship, and entirely new, left Liverpool for San Francisco on the 26th of June, last year, and only arrived at her destination on the 13th of January this year. She was caught in a terrific storm off the eastern coast of South America, which lasted seventy days. It took the ship sixty days to get round Cape Horn. The rigging was badly damaged, and several of her crew were injured. The Lord Templemore is a ship of 2,947 tons register, and is under the command of Captain Walker.


Northern Whig - Friday 31 March 1893  (read to the end)


THE BELFAST SHIP LORD TEMPLEMORE. New York, Thursday. A Monte Video despatch states that the steamship Tanso arrived on Tuesday from the Falkland Islands with Captain Walker, his wife, and the crew of the Belfast ship Lord Templemore. The ship was crushed between icebergs to the North of the Falkland Islands on March 3rd. The crew took to the boats and drifted five days before being picked up. They were nearly dead of hunger and exhaustion when they were sighted by the ship Duboyne, who rescued them and landed them at the Falkland Islands. It will be remembered that the Lord Templemore had just recently started on her first homeward voyage from San Francisco. Her voyage out was a most adventurous one, she being something like seventy days overdue one time, was not spoken to after leaving Liverpool with general cargo until nearing San Francisco, after being over 170 days out. Captain Walker, who was in command, is a son of Lord Chancellor Walker, of Ireland. The Lord Templemore is one of the Lord Line, owned by the Irish Shipowners’ Company, of which Sir Daniel Dixon, Lord Mayor of Belfast, is the managing owner. She was built at the Queen's Island yard by Messrs, Harland & Wolff. The Lord Templemore was a steel four-masted barque of 2,947 tons register, and was one of the largest and finest sailing vessels ever launched in Great Britain. The Lord Templemore was one of the four vessels that started this winter to sail an ocean race from San Francisco to Queenstown around Cape Horn. Each of the captains staked  £50 ; the second was to save his stake.


There are, we are pleased to say,  good grounds for believing that this report is inaccurate. The vessel did not sail from San Francisco until the 22nd Inst., and consequently could not yet have reached the Falkland Islands. Monte Video is some four days' steam from those islands, and the captain and crew were said to be picked up after drifting about in the South Atlantic for five days. Accordingly the wreck is said to have occurred several days before the Lord Templemore left San Francisco, and at a point which she could not yet reach for at least three weeks.


Gloucestershire Chronicle - Saturday 27 May 1893

 In a hurricane in the Atlantic, the topsail-yard of the barque Lord Templemore fell while men were upon It. Ten lives were lost, and two sailors were injured. The crew refused to proceed, and the captaln had to return to Queenstown.  [ Is this another 'fake' report ?  If they had been at Queenstown, wouldn't they have won the race ? ]


Aberdeen Evening Express - Monday 19 June 1893

A 13,000 MILES RACE. According to a San Francisco correspondent, one of the longest races on record is now in progress between five British ships, the winner of which is to receive 1000 dollars. The competing vessels are the Bowdon, Pinmore, Lord Templemore, and the City of Athens. All the vessels are from San Francisco, and, with the exception the Lord Templemore, they are bound to Queenstown, for orders. The race is round the Horn to Queenstown, though in the case of the Lord Templemore some provision must be made or an allowance given. The Bowden, Lochee, and Lord Templemore left San Francisco on the 22nd March, the City of Athens on the 23rd, and the Pinmore the 24th. The correspondent states that the captain of each vessel has staked 250 dollars, the winner taking 1000 dollars, and the second to save his stake. The distance about 13,400 miles, and a 90 days'  run considered very fair speed. It is therefore probable that some of the vessels may reach the winning post towards the end of the present month. When last seen the Lord Templemore was leading. All the vessels are grain laden. 


Bristol Mercury - Thursday 20th July 1893

Local merchants have been not a little interested in the account of a race between wheat laden vessels from San Francisco to Queenstown. It was between five British ships-the Pinmore, Bowden, Lochee, Lord Templemore, and the City of Athens; and according to the "Shipping Gazette" it was a race for a sweepstake of £50 each, and it was won by the Greenook ship Pinmore, Capt. Maxwell, which vessel arrived at Queenstown on Monday night, after a favourable passage of 117 days, Capt. Maxwell saw nothing of the other four ships since the second day alter leaving. The second ship receives £50 out of the £250. 


West Somerset Free Press - Saturday 28 September 1895

SAFETY OF AN OVERDUE SHIP. The British vessel Lord Templemore, steel four-masted barque of 3,045 tons, belonging to Belfast, at last arrived at San Francisco, after being reported lost. Captain T. McWilliams reports having had a terrible experience rounding Cape Horn. All the sails of the vessel wore destroyed, and a new set had to be made. The ship also came into collision with iceberg over 200 ft. high, and was in imminent danger being sunk. Fortunately she only struck the berg glancing blow, and beyond being somewhat graced uninjured.