Windsor Castle was a wooden-hulled, three-masted sailing ship that was built in England in 1857 and wrecked off the coast of Cape Colony in 1884.
Building
William Pile built Windsor Castle in his North Shore shipyard in Sunderland, launching her on 12 March 1857 and completing her that May.[1] Her registered length was 195.5 feet (59.6 m), her beam was 36.2 feet (11.0 m) and her depth was 22.5 feet (6.9 m). Her tonnages were 1,075 GRT and 1,075 NRT.[2]
Windsor Castle sailed between England and Australia. The Queensland Migrant Shipping records show her carrying passengers between 1877 and 1881.[citation needed]
In 1882 Elias Cox of Bridport, Dorset bought Windsor Castle.[1] According to Lloyd's Register she remained registered in London, but according to the Mercantile Navy List she was re-registered in Bridport.[5][6]
In 1884 Windsor Castle was sailing from Cochin to London when a cyclone on 27–28 June washed the third officer overboard and swept away her rudder. She drifted for the next 12 days. Her remaining crew of 21 men then set her afire, abandoned her 35 nautical miles (65 km) off the coast of Algoa Bay, Cape Colony. The Norwegian barqueOphir rescued the crew.[1][7]
References
^ abc"Windsor Castle". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 28 May 2022.