FOAM
FOAM
Years Active: 1848-1890
Vessel Type: 2-masted wooden Schooner
Schooner
Nationality: Falkland Islands
Near record-breaking polar schooner which became a Falklands mail ship, pilot boat and farm support vessel, before being wrecked by a gale in 1890.
Main Use:
Mail later Farm Settlement Support
Years Active:
1848-1890
Power:
Sail
Built:
1848
Size:
71.09 Gross and Net tons
22.49 x 5.03 x 2.87 metres
(length, breadth, depth) metres
Design/Build:
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Main Use: Mail later Farm Settlement Support
Built: 1848
Power: Sail
Design/Build: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Size: 71.09 Gross and Net tons
Dimensions: 22.49 x 5.03 x 2.87 metres
On the 6th August 1856 Lord Dufferin, owner and navigator of the FOAM, sails her into English Bay, northern Norway with this message: “We have landed in Spitzbergen, almost at its Northern extremity, and the little FOAM has sailed to within 630 miles of the Pole; within 100 miles as far north as any ship has ever succeeded in getting.” On 22nd December 1863, FOAM sails into Stanley Harbour to start a 10-year stint as a mail ship and pilot boat. In 1873 the Falkland Islands Government sells her to Andrez Pitaluga, a farmer from Stanley, who turns her into a farm support vessel, carrying wool and supplies. In May 1882 it’s reported that Charles Hansen is the new owner. Eight years later, on 4th May 1890, FOAM is inside Carcass Reef, West Falkland, under reefed sails, waiting for daylight, when “the wind suddenly shifted several points before the reefs could be shaken out of the sails to enable her to work off the land”. FOAM drifts ashore and is broken up by a South Westerly gale.
On the 6th August 1856 Lord Dufferin, owner and navigator of the FOAM, sails her into English Bay, northern Norway with this message: “We have landed in Spitzbergen, almost at its Northern extremity, and the little FOAM has sailed to within 630 miles of the Pole; within 100 miles as far north as any ship has ever succeeded in getting.” On 22nd December 1863, FOAM sails into Stanley Harbour to start a 10-year stint as a mail ship and pilot boat. In 1873 the Falkland Islands Government sells her to Andrez Pitaluga, a farmer from Stanley, who turns her into a farm support vessel, carrying wool and supplies. In May 1882 it’s reported that Charles Hansen is the new owner. Eight years later, on 4th May 1890, FOAM is inside Carcass Reef, West Falkland, under reefed sails, waiting for daylight, when “the wind suddenly shifted several points before the reefs could be shaken out of the sails to enable her to work off the land”. FOAM drifts ashore and is broken up by a South Westerly gale.
