Tod & Macgregor Shiplist
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Yard No.: |
106 |
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Name: |
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Year: |
1858 |
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Description: |
Steamship |
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Webpage: |
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Picture: |
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Tonnage: |
2,083 |
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Length: |
274 |
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Width: |
38.5 |
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H.P.: |
400 later 1,373² |
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Type: |
Iron. Two direct inverted engines, 16.5psi.² |
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Customer: |
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Fate: |
Wrecked on rocks in the China Sea, out of Shanghai; May 23rd 1868. |
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Points of Note: |
Named after the city of Varanasi on the Ganges, India. |
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Date of Launch: |
1st February 1858 |
Notes:
Her maiden voyage was to Alexandria with 600 troops on the 3rd of April 1858. Brought home mail from P & O's short lived rival; European & Australian Royal Mail SP Co.
On the 20th of August she left Southampton in search of the Colombo, which she found at Vigo. She arrived in Southampton, with the Vigo, in Tow on the 4th of September.
She then worked the Suez/Mauritius/Australia run for four years, running aground briefly in the Red Sea. Her Captain was fined one month's pay for not using a lead. She had to stow 250 tons of coal on deck to make the Mauritius-Albany passage, which took 14-15 days.
In 1862 ahe was transferred to the Suez/Bombay route, being given the duty to search again for the Colombo, which this time was wreaked on Minicoy, Arabian Sea.
In 1864 she rescued both the Candia and the Colaba of Sandheads.¹
In some personal notes, a writer talks about the lack of napkins on board ship. He was making the passage to Australia, and he mentions that, after two days' coaling at Mauritius, their ship (the Benares) sailed with every possible corner crammed with coal and with 250 tons on deck - a "necessary nuisance" because of the distance to King George's Sound. Heavy head winds prolonged the passage, and it took 15 days to get there.²
¹ [from information kindly provided by the P & O company]
² [One Hundred Year History of the P. & O., Boyd Cable]
[British Passenger Lines of the Five Oceans, Commander C.R. Vernon Gibbs]
