View source for Loch Ard (ship)

{{More citations needed|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2011}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image               = Loch Ard (ship, 1873) - SLV H91.108-1068.jpg
| Ship caption             = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header              = 
| Ship country             = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name                = ''Loch Ard''
| Ship namesake            = [[Loch Ard]], [[Scotland]]
| Ship owner               = [[Loch Line|General Shipping Co]]
| Ship operator            = [[Loch Line|James Aitken]]
| Ship registry            = [[Glasgow]]
| Ship ordered             = 
| Ship builder             = [[Charles Connell and Company|Charles Connell & Co]], [[Scotstoun]]
| Ship original cost       = 
| Ship yard number         = 87
| Ship laid down           = 
| Ship launched            = 8 November 1873
| Ship maiden voyage       = *Glasgow – [[Melbourne]]
*26 January – 24 May 1874
| Ship in service          = 
| Ship out of service      = 
| Ship identification      = *[[official number]] 68061
*[[code letters]] WSGD
*{{ICS|Whiskey}}{{ICS|Sierra}}{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Delta}}
| Ship honours             = 
| Ship fate                = Wrecked 1 June 1878
| Ship notes               = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header              = 
| Header caption           = 
| Ship type                = [[Clipper]]
| Ship tonnage             = {{GRT|1693}}, {{NRT|1624}}
| Ship length              = {{cvt|262.7|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam                = {{cvt|38.3|ft}}
| Ship draught             = 
| Ship depth               = {{cvt|23.0|ft}}
| Ship hold depth          = 
| Ship propulsion          = sail, three masts
| Ship sail plan           = [[full-rigged ship]]
| Ship crew                = 17
| Ship armament            = 
| Ship notes               = Gave her name to [[Loch Ard Gorge]], where she was wrecked.
}}
|}

'''''Loch Ard''''' was an iron-hulled [[clipper]] ship that was built in [[Scotland]] in 1873 and wrecked on the [[Shipwreck Coast]] of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia in 1878.<ref name=Argus>{{cite news |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5934740 |title=The Loch Ard Lost. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |issue=9,972 |place=Melbourne |date=3 June 1878 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=5 |via=[[Trove]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40481036 |title=The loss of the Loch Ard. |newspaper=[[Cairns Post]] |volume=XXXV |issue=5137 |place=Cairns |date=18 March 1925 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=3 |via=Trove}}</ref>

==Building==
[[Charles Connell and Company]] of [[Scotstoun]], [[Glasgow]] built ''Loch Ard'' for the General Shipping Company, part of the [[Loch Line]] of [[Glasgow]] that operated between Great Britain and Australia. Her yard number was 57 and she was launched on 8 November 1873. Her registered length was {{cvt|262.7|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{cvt|38.3|ft}} and her depth was {{cvt|23.0|ft}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|1693}} and {{NRT|1624}}. She had three masts and was a [[full-rigged ship]].<ref name=SBS>{{cite web |url= https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=4582 |title=Loch Ard |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref>

Her owners [[Ship registration|registered]] ''Loch Ard'' in Glasgow. Her [[official number]] was 68061 and her [[code letters]] were WSGD.<ref>{{cite book |year=1875 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |page=330 |url=https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=Loch%20Ard&steamsail=Sail&submit=Enter&year=1875 |via=Crew List Index Project |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531100102/https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=Loch%20Ard&steamsail=Sail&submit=Enter&year=1875 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |year=1877 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |place=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |at=LLE |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1877/page/n566/mode/1up |via=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref>

The ship was named after [[Loch Ard]] in Scotland, a [[loch]] west of [[Aberfoyle, Stirling|Aberfoyle]] and east of [[Loch Lomond]]. It means "high lake" in [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]]. She gave her name to [[Loch Ard Gorge]] on the Shipwreck Coast.

==Maiden voyage==
''Loch Ard'' was twice dismasted on her maiden voyage from Glasgow to [[Melbourne]]. The first dismasting was in December 1873, only days after leaving Glasgow. She was able to turn back and be repaired. On 26 January 1874 she left Glasgow for the second time. On 2 April a gale in the [[Southern Ocean]] broke all three of her masts. On the fourth day after the accident, her crew managed to bale her out and make [[Jury rigging|jury-masts]]. She reached Melbourne on 24 May.<ref name=Argus/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5870758 |title=The dismasted ship Loch Ard. |newspaper=The Argus |issue=8,719 |place=Melbourne |date=25 May 1874 |access-date=4 December 2022 |page=5 |via=Trove |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204170128/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5870758 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Final voyage==
[[File:Loch Ard with tugboat Robert Bruce.jpg|thumb|''Loch Ard'' with the Thames [[tugboat]] ''Robert Bruce'']]
''Loch Ard'' left [[Gravesend]], [[Kent]] on 1 March 1878, bound for Melbourne, commanded by [[Sea captain|Captain]] George Gibbs and with a crew of 37 men and 17 passengers, a total of 54 people. She was loaded with a general mixed cargo. On 1 June she was approaching Melbourne. The crew expected to sight land but encountered heavy fog. The inquest determined that, unable to see the [[Cape Otway]] lighthouse; having faulty chronometers on board; and not having been able to take a reading to establish his exact position due to bad weather conditions over the previous few days, Gibbs was unaware how close he was running to the coast. The fog lifted around 4am, revealing breakers and cliff faces. Gibbs quickly ordered sail to be set to come about and get clear of the coast, but they were unable to do so in time, and ran aground on a reef. The masts and rigging came down, killing some people on deck and preventing the lifeboats from being launched effectively. The ship sank within 10 or 15 minutes of striking the reef.

[[File:GOR Cemetery at Loch Ard.jpg|thumb|Graves of some of the passengers and crew of ''Loch Ard'', near Loch Ard Gorge]]
The widespread popular belief that Gibbs mistook the opening of the nearby Loch Ard Gorge for [[Port Phillip Heads]] has no basis in fact or probability. There is no physical or cartographic resemblance whatever, ships are obliged to stop outside the Heads to take on a pilot, and ''Loch Ard'' never entered the Gorge.

The only two survivors of the wreck were Eva Carmichael, who survived by clinging to a spar for five hours, and [[Thomas Richard Pearce|Thomas Pearce]], an apprentice who clung to the upturned hull of a lifeboat. Pearce came ashore first, then heard Carmichael's shouts and went back into the ocean to rescue her. They came ashore at what is now known as Loch Ard Gorge and sheltered there before seeking help. Pearce was the stepson of Captain RGA Pearce, Master of {{SS|Gothenburg}}, which had been wrecked off [[Queensland]] in 1875.

==Surviving artefacts==
[[File:lochardpeacock.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Loch Ard'' Peacock, now in [[Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village|Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum]]]]
''Loch Ard'''s cargo included various luxury goods, including a grand piano which later washed up in the Gorge, and a large decorative porcelain [[peacock]] made by [[Mintons Ltd|Minton]] in England, intended to be displayed in the [[Melbourne International Exhibition (1880)|Melbourne International Exhibition]] in 1880. The peacock was recovered intact and was eventually able to be displayed a century later for the Victoria Pavilion at the [[Expo 88|Brisbane 1988 World Exposition]]. It is now on display at the [[Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village|Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum]] in [[Warrnambool]], Victoria, along with other relics of the wreck.

Also recovered was a unique [[Georgian era|Georgian]] [[pocket watch]], made in 1814 by the [[Belfast]] watchmaker James McCabe, reputedly for [[Dublin Corporation]] to present to King [[George IV]] in 1814. It was found in the waistband of Eva Carmichael's elder sister Rebecca, whose body was among those recovered and buried after the shipwreck. Eva returned to Ireland, and in 1884 married a Thomas Townsend, to whom she gave the watch.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/i-have-seldom-seen-a-more-fearful-section-of-coastline-how-an-irish-family-was-shipwrecked-1.4621623 |last=Greene |first=J Patrick |date=20 July 2021 |title='I have seldom seen a more fearful section of coastline': How an Irish family was shipwrecked |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213103934/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/i-have-seldom-seen-a-more-fearful-section-of-coastline-how-an-irish-family-was-shipwrecked-1.4621623 |url-status=live }}</ref> The watch remained with their heirs until October 2011, when their grandson auctioned it in Australia. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum had the watch designated an "item of national significance", thereby securing [[Australian Government|federal government]] funding to buy the watch for the museum.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/11/24/3374778.htm |last=Lee |first=Jeremy |date=24 November 2011 |title=The Carmichael Watch |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213103934/https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/11/24/3374778.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/4fc6ff6c2162ef060839e72a |title=Instrument – Fob watch, 1814 |work=Victorian Collections |publisher=[[Museums Victoria]] and [[Australian Museums and Galleries Association]] Victoria |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213105338/https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/4fc6ff6c2162ef060839e72a |url-status=live }} – includes four photographs of the watch</ref>

==Wreck==
''Loch Ard''{{'}}s wreck lies at a depth of {{convert|25|m}}. It is a recreational [[wreck diving]] site, rated "Advanced Open Water and beyond".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scubadoctor.com.au/divesite.htm?site=Loch-Ard |title=Loch Ard |publisher=Scuba Doctor |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531100103/https://www.scubadoctor.com.au/divesite.htm?site=Loch-Ard |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Play==
''Eva and the Cabin Boy'' by Sheila Dewey, produced at the [[Warehouse Theatre]] in [[Croydon]] in 1994, concerned the ''Loch Ard'' shipwreck.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

==See also==
* [[List of disasters in Australia by death toll]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last= Charlwood |first= DE |year= 1971 |title= The wreck of the Loch Ard: End of a Ship, End of an Era |place= London & Sydney |publisher= Angus & Robertson |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2672966 |isbn= 0-207-12316-0}}
* {{cite book |last= Charlwood |first= Don |year= 1993 |title= Wrecks & reputations: the loss of the Schomberg and Loch Ard |edition= 3rd |place= |publisher= Burgewood Books |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1199960 |isbn=0-646-28006-6}}
* {{cite book |last= Loney |first= Jack K |year= 1970 |title= The Loch Ard Disaster |place= Geelong |publisher= Marine History Publications |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1570473 |isbn= 0-9599853-1-X}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |last= Christopher |first= Peter |year=2012 |title= Australian Shipwrecks. A Pictorial History |edition= 2nd |place= Stepney, SA |publisher= Axiom Publishing |pages= 39–45 |isbn= 978-1-8647658-8-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Coleman |title=The Young Hero |place=Melbourne |publisher=Messieurs Roberts |via=[[Trove]] |url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-an10568204}} – score of a [[schottische]] dance composed to raise money for the ''Loch Ard'' fund, with a photograph of Tom Pearce on the cover
*{{Cite book |last= Lubbock |first= Basil |author-link= Basil Lubbock |year= 1921 |title= The Colonial Clippers |edition= 2nd |place= Glasgow |publisher= James Brown & Son |pages= 290, 247–250 |oclc= 1750412}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url= http://heritage.vic.gov.au/page.asp?ID=245 |title=Shipwreck Discovery Trails: ''Loch Ard'' (1873–1878) |publisher=Heritage Council Victoria |date=11 February 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050617144857/http://heritage.vic.gov.au/page.asp?ID=245 |archive-date=17 June 2005}}{{dead link|date=September 2022}}
* [http://www.foundationexpo88.org/expose/interviewwiththelochardpeacock.pdf Interview with the Loch Ard Peacock, by Foundation Expo '88]{{dead link|date=September 2022}}
* {{cite web |url= https://www.gravetales.com.au/eva-and-tom/ |title=Attachment: Eva and Tom |website=Grave Tales}} – photographs of Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce

{{Coord|38|38|55|S|143|04|19|E|type:landmark_region:AU-VIC|display=title}}

{{Clipper ships}}
{{1878 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:1873 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1878]]
[[Category:Sailing ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built in Glasgow]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Three-masted ships]]
[[Category:Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]