Shipwrecks
Amoy (1863-1889)
The AMOY was originally launched onto the River Clyde in Glasgow with the name CITY OF AMOY by its renowned Scottish builders, Barclay, Curle & Co. An iron barque with three masts, which were fully rigged, she had a nett tonnage of 994 tons and carried the yard number 98. She was registered in Glasgow on 8th April 1863, a few weeks after being put into the water.
The name ‘Amoy’ comes from China. Between 1842 and 1912 it was a British-run treaty port city (now known as Xiamen). There is also an Amoy Street in Singapore, which found fame in the 1830s as defining Chinatown under Stamford Raffles’ 1822 plan for Singapore.
Little is known about CITY OF AMOY’s first 19 years as a cargo vessel but, in 1882 she was sold to a Glasgow-based company, Robert Bramwell & Gardiner, who shortened her name to AMOY. On the 30th October 1889, she was heading for Port Stanley, as the Falklands capital was known as then, to take on provisions and water to continue her journey to Valparaiso in Chile. She had on board a cargo of yerba mate´, a plant species of the holly genus native to South America, the leaves of which were used to make a beverages. The AMOY had picked up the mate´ from Paranaguá in Brazil.
Key Facts:
Three-master Iron Barque
Built: Barclay, Curle & Company, Scotland
Size: 994 grt. 200 Feet long, 31.6 feet wide
Fate: Driven ashore at Mengeary Point, East Falkland
As she made to enter Stanley harbour, on the 30th, under the command of Captain Crouch, in what were described as “foul conditions”, the AMOY struck what was then called Point William (now Mengeary Point) which is the northern entrance to Port William within Stanley and the southern entrance to Berkeley Sound. She was driven ashore by the storm and soon became what was called “a total wreck”. Her crew of 28 quickly abandoned ship and none were lost.
A month later, on 30th October 1889, an official enquiry was held in Stanley, at Captain Crouch’s behest, presided over by Frederick Cobb, manager of the Falkland Islands Company Ltd. It’s conclusion, apparently, was that the AMOY’s master was not to blame for the shipwreck.
According to a Falkland Islands Company memo dated November 1889: “The Amoy from Paranagua for Valparaiso was totally wrecked on point William on the 29th ult. In endeavouring to enter the harbour. The ship was unmanageable, owing to the foul conditions of her bottom, and the Master was acquitted at the enquiry.”
Captain Crouch and all but two of his crew later left for Montevideo in the mail steamer KARNAK, accompanied by 173 bales of sheepskins. The name of this vessel will strike a chord with Agatha Christie aficionados: it was the name she used for her fictitious mail steamer in her classic crime novel Death on the Nile. The name Karnak is derived from an ancient Egyptian temple comlex located near Luxor. In reality, the steam ship Agatha Christie used for her murderous plot in the novel was inspired by one of the oldest and and most luxurious cruise ships to operate on the River Nile – the SUDAN (which was actually used in the 1978 film adaptation of Christie’s book).
Back in 1889, in Stanley, the Falkland Islands Company advertised someone to take on the job of salvaging the wreck of the AMOY. She was in a dangerous position and needed to be removed quickly. No offers were forthcoming, so the vessel was put up for auction to the highest bidder.
The wreck of the AMOY became known in the islands as “The Mate´ Wreck”. According to a piece in the Falkland Islands Magazine in January 1890, the wreck and her cargo was bought by a Mr Williams of Stanley for £36-2-0d. The magazine stated that Williams “has been very fortunate in salving a great portion of it.”
Other local reports confirm that Mr Williams was indeed fortunate: “aided by two days of uncommonly fine weather, the buyer succeeded in saving some spars and sails but not much more as she had fallen over on her beam ends and was likely to break up or slip into deep water at any moment.”
