LEOPOLD
LEOPOLD
Years Active: 1856-1858
Vessel Type: 3-Masted Full-Rigged Ship
Full-rigged
Nationality: Belgian
Smashed to pieces after striking a rocky shelf in the Falkland Islands in April 1858. Captain and 18 crew killed. Only one survived to tell the tale.
Main Use:
Cargo
Years Active:
1856-1858
Power:
Sail
Built:
1856
Size:
577.68 Net tons
Depth 5.18 metres
(length, breadth, depth) metres
Design/Build:
Clement Littlefield at Kennebunk, Maine, USA as the CELIA
Main Use: Cargo
Built: 1856
Power: Sail
Design/Build: Clement Littlefield at Kennebunk, Maine, USA as the CELIA
Size: 577.68 Net tons
Dimensions: Depth 5.18 metres
LEOPOLD struck a rocky shelf on Grand Jason Island, West Falkland at 05:00 on 12th April 1858 and was holed. All aboard perished, bar one. The survivor, Pierre de Clercq, aged 33, revealed: “I sat down on the heel of the bowsprit, and eleven of the crew, with Captain Coussement, got onto the jibboom. That was the last time I saw any of them, for the ship soon went to pieces. I was washed onto the rocks. I did not see anything more of the ship. I was on the island for twenty-four days before Captain Smiley in the schooner NANCY picked me up. I had nothing to eat for two days before Captain Smiley came to the Island. There were twenty-one of us when we sailed from Ostend, including the captain. One seaman, however, deserted at Swansea. Nothing was saved off the ship. I walked all around the Island and watched for days and days. Neither do I recollect seeing any of the bodies washed ashore.” de Clerck left for Montevideo on 15th June in the mail Schooner VICTORIA.
LEOPOLD struck a rocky shelf on Grand Jason Island, West Falkland at 05:00 on 12th April 1858 and was holed. All aboard perished, bar one. The survivor, Pierre de Clercq, aged 33, revealed: “I sat down on the heel of the bowsprit, and eleven of the crew, with Captain Coussement, got onto the jibboom. That was the last time I saw any of them, for the ship soon went to pieces. I was washed onto the rocks. I did not see anything more of the ship. I was on the island for twenty-four days before Captain Smiley in the schooner NANCY picked me up. I had nothing to eat for two days before Captain Smiley came to the Island. There were twenty-one of us when we sailed from Ostend, including the captain. One seaman, however, deserted at Swansea. Nothing was saved off the ship. I walked all around the Island and watched for days and days. Neither do I recollect seeing any of the bodies washed ashore.” de Clerck left for Montevideo on 15th June in the mail Schooner VICTORIA.
