The greatest tall ship in history?

THE LATEST IN A SERIES OF WEEKLY FEATURES IN THE RUN-UP TO THE 2018 TALL SHIPS RACES IN SUNDERLAND

In less than a year, 80 tall ships will grace Wearside.

But the best ever built, according to one man, was constructed on our very doorstep more than 140 years ago.

It has since been described as probably the greatest tall ship to sail the oceans.

It’s a topic which intrigued researcher and historian Jack Curtis, himself a Wearside man. He put together the story of The Torrens.

We plan to share it, with Jack’s co-operation, with Echo readers over the coming weeks. Tunstall man Jack, 86, begins the tale. ‘It was in the Spring of 1875 that Captain Henry Robert Angel, the commodore of the Elders, Smith and Co shipping line, came north to Sunderland to oversee the building of a new clipper ship which was to be constructed largely to his own specification.

He was the major shareholder in the costs for building her and had played a part in her design.

He would act as supervisor for the Elders line whilst she was under construction at the yard of James Laing at Deptford here in Sunderland.

The original design of the clipper was American and the first of this class was launched at Baltimore, USA, in 1832. She was named the Ann McKim of some 494 tons and proved the design to everyone’s total satisfaction but was of an all-wood construction.

The ship showed such good sailing qualities and speed that she was soon copied and our own William Pile brought the design to Wearside, then started building here.

The basic design was for a sharply raked stem, a counter stern and she was square rigged, carrying three masts.

In the year 1863, the first major design change took place and this was the introduction of the composite clipper which was built around a steel frame, to carry an outer hull of teakk cladding which gave the ship tremendous strength.

The clipper was so much faster than the the old East Indiamen, outsailing them on the great voyages from India and China with tea and other cargoes.

She was also used for the opium trade in the Far East.

Last but not least, the ship was perfect for our Great Australia runs.

This was the route that the Torrens was built for, the most hazardous route in the world.

It was here she would make her mark, which was to intrigue writers and historians alike down the generations since her great record-breaking runs.’

Next week - the figurehead which was modelled on a beautiful woman.