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Pereire's lines based on her original as-built 1865 configuration. Initially, her owners p lanned to have her built as a paddle steamer, but she was converted to screw propulsion during construction. all was smoo th sailing for this speedy workhorse. In June 192 1, she collided with a bi g iceberg in th e fo g. She had loaded cargo in the St. Lawrence and was bound for Scotland. The bow and port side hit first, then her yards jammed into the towering iceberg. For about a half hour, the ship was fas tened to the ice. Assuming she was about to go down, the whole crew manned the lifeboats and waited . When she final ly broke loose from the iceberg, the crew scram bled aboard to check her holds fo r flo oding. They found her damaged but dry. She had sustained damages on her upper hull, one mas t, some yards, and the rigging, but she was intact. The order was given to haul up the lifeboats and set sail. Lancing limped in to po rt in Sco tland. Divers surveyed the hull and declared it so und. With the Titanic disaster in recent mem o ry, few could believe that such a large windj ammer could escape from an impact with an iceberg and survive. One could argue that the Titanic was m ade of steel that gets brittl e in low temperatures and rivets might let go, while Lancings hammered w roughriron hull was pliable and could survi ve th at sort of an impact by giving way, though, of course, the main difference would have to be Titanic's greater size and speed. Finally, in 1924, Captain P. H ansen rook the fifty-nine-year old ship o n two runs from Canada to Scotland and managed 58 nautical miles on his best watch . Late that year, the Lancing was sold to breakers in Ir-
SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008
aly. The last entry in her logbook is dared 6 December 1924. She was sailed and rowed to Genoa by a skeleton crew, later to be broken up in Savona in 1925 . A ship like the Lancing needed a knowledgeable and skillful captain who understood what this ship could handle. Though she was m anned with the required twen ty-eight-man crew most of the rime, the age of sail had passed, and she was often plagued by the lack of professio nal sailors. In those logbooks that no ted incredible speeds and runs, m any en tries note problem after problem with the crew in port. Drunkenness, fights, and diseases were common, as well as desertions. Lancing becam e a living legend around the world and an inspiration for artists. Posters and paintings showing a big full-rigged ship in the dusk, leaving an ocean liner in her path, becam e popular. Seamen who had sailed in her never missed an opportunity to brag about a reco rdbreaking voyage and how they left a slower steamship behind. Backbreaking wo rk was forgotten. After word got o ut that she had been sold to breakers, many windjammer buffs were devastated that no one could save her fo r the future. O n Ch ristmas Eve of 1924, the Glasgow H erald printed a pi cture and an article abo ut her that ended with a two line poem : "O ut of the bay yo u may sail away, but never out of 'our hearts' ." The sam e article co ncludes that, when the day
com es that the complete history of the era of white sails will be told, then the beauti ful, 405-ft. , four-mas ted, full-rigged ship Lancing will be rem embered and find a place among the best sailing vessels the world has ever seen. Lancings complete history th at the Glasgow H erald predicted mo re than eighty years ago has ye t to be told. This is o nly a brief summary. The yea rs that followed the turn of the twentieth-century witnessed the las t period of big sailing ships carrying cargo across the world's oceans. Bigger and more efficient steamers, the opening of the Panama Canal, and other events m ade the freight-carrying windship unprofitable. This steamer-turned full -rigged ship was the last windj ammer to hold a full classification with Lloyd's Register of London . O ne could argue that the age of sail co ncluded in 1925, and that Lancing ofKristiani a made the perfect final e. W hen Lancing was sent to the breakers 83 years ago, the age of sail went with her. J, Olaf T Engvig has extensive maritime experience and a graduate degree in maritime history from the University of Oslo. H e has written numerous books and articles in English and Norwegian and has worked on the restoration of several historic ships, including the sail steamship, H ansteen, among others. H is latest book, Viking to Victorian: Exploring the Use ofiron in Ship Building (2006) was reviewed in Sea History 117. Read more at engvig.comlolaf
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