View source for Derry Castle

{{short description|British three-masted barque}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|display title=''Derry Castle''}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image= 
| Ship caption= The figurehead of the ''Derry Castle'', which served as a grave marker for victims of the 1887 shipwreck on [[Enderby Island]]}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name= ''Derry Castle''
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| Ship builder= Dobie and Company, [[Govan]], [[Glasgow]]
| Ship yard number=136 
| Ship identification=[[Official Number]] 86651 
| Ship original cost=
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| Ship launched=16 October 1883 
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| Ship fate= Lost off [[Enderby Island]], 20 March 1887 
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship class= Iron [[barque]]
| Ship tonnage= 
*1367 [[Gross register tonnage|GRT]]
*1317 [[Net register tonnage|NRT]]
| Ship length={{convert|239.8|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam={{convert|35.9|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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| Ship depth={{convert|21.4|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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| Ship sail plan=[[Barque]]-rigged
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|}

The '''''Derry Castle''''' was a 1,367&nbsp;ton iron [[barque]] built at Glasgow in 1883, and initially operating out of [[Limerick]], [[Ireland]]. She had been registered there on 19 November 1883 by Francis Spaight & Sons. In 1887 while voyaging from Australia to the United Kingdom with a cargo of wheat, she foundered off [[Enderby Island]], in the subantarctic [[Auckland Islands]], on a reef which now bears her name.

==Design and construction==
The three-masted [[barque]] ''Derry Castle'' was built of iron in [[Govan]], [[Glasgow]], by [[Dobie and Company]]. registered tonnages were 1,367 [[Gross register tonnage|gross]] and 1,317 [[net register tonnage|net]], and dimensions were length {{convert|239.8|ft|m}}, [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] {{convert|35.9|ft|m}}, and [[Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)#depth of hold|depth]] {{convert|21.4|ft|m}}.<ref name="LR1885">{{cite book |title=Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping |date=1885 |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/HECROS1885/page/n295/mode/1up |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>

''Derry Castle'' was launched on 16 October 1883 for shipowner James Spaight of Francis Spaight & Sons.<ref>{{cite news |title=Launches |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000060/18831017/006/0004 |access-date=11 February 2024 |work=Glasgow Herald |issue=Year 101, No.249 |date=17 October 1883 |page=4|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The company was based in [[Limerick]], Ireland, and the family home was at nearby Derry Castle, [[County Tipperary]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Emigrants as Ballast |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Spaightf001.pdf |publisher=Limerick City Council |access-date=10 February 2024 }}</ref> The ship was registered at Limerick on 19 November and commenced her maiden voyage from Glasgow on 26 December under Captain J Goffe for [[Fiji]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Additional Reports |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001702/18831227/070/0004 |access-date=11 February 2024 |work=Shipping and Mercantile Gazette |issue=14463 |date=27 December 1883 |location=London |page=4|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

== Shipwreck ==
On 12 March 1887 ''Derry Castle'' sailed from [[Geelong]], [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]], still under Captain Goffe, and under charter to [[Gibbs, Bright & Co.]], with a cargo of wheat for [[Falmouth, Cornwall]], or [[Queenstown, County Cork]], where she would receive orders for discharge.<ref name="LT03101887">{{cite news |title=Wreck of the Derry Castle |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18871003.2.45 |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Lyttelton Times |volume=LXVIII|issue=8290 |date=3 October 1887 |page=6|via=Papers Past}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Wreck of the Derry Castle |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000287/18871116/043/0004 |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Shields Daily Gazette |volume=XXXVIII|issue=9841 |date=16 November 1887 |location=South Shields|page=4 |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In the early hours of 20 March 1887, eight days into her voyage, in strong winds and sailing at {{convert|12|knots}}, ''Derry Castle'' ran onto a reef off Enderby Island and immediately began breaking up.<ref name="LT03101887" /> Manned by a crew of twenty-three, she carried one passenger and a cargo of wheat.<ref name="LT03101887" />

Only the passenger and seven of the 23&nbsp;crew made it ashore.<ref name="LT03101887" /><ref name="Ingram259"/> At that time the New Zealand government maintained a number of [[castaway depot]]s on their [[New Zealand Subantarctic Islands|subantarctic islands]] equipped with emergency supplies. Unfortunately, the depot at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island had been looted of all but a bottle of salt.<ref name="Peat81">Peat, p. 81.</ref> The castaways constructed crude shelters and subsisted on shellfish and a small quantity of wheat recovered from the wreck.<ref name="Ingram259"/> On a cliff overlooking the water, they buried the bodies of their fellow crew members that had washed ashore. The grave was marked with the ship's figurehead.

A box of matches proved ineffective at producing a flame, despite drying, but the survivors, by detonating the charge in a revolver bullet, were able to start a fire, which they maintained until leaving the island.<ref name="LT03101887" /> After 92&nbsp;days they discovered an axe head in the sand and were able to build a boat, which became known as the Derry Castle Punt, from the wreckage. Two men navigated the boat to nearby [[Erebus Cove]], Port Ross on [[Auckland Island]], where they obtained supplies from the government depot there.<ref name="Ingram259"/> The group lived at Port Ross until rescued by the 45&nbsp;ton schooner ''Awarua'' on 19 July.<ref name="Ingram259">Ingram et al, pp. 259–260.</ref>

[[File:"Derry Castle" figurehead Enderby Island.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Derry Castle''{{'}}s figurehead served as a grave marker for victims of the wreck]]
The ''Awarua'' arrived in Hobson's Bay, Victoria on 21 September 1887, returning from an illegal sealing expedition in the Auckland Islands. News of the arrival reached [[Lloyd's of London]] on the same day, shortly before she was due to have been declared  a "missing vessel".<ref>{{cite news |title=Maritime Intelligence |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001941/18870921/055/0007 |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Shipping & Mercantile Gazette and Lloyd's List |issue=15624 |date=21 September 1887 |location=London |page=7|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Lloyd's Missing Vessel Book 1885-1889 |date=12 February 1889 |publisher=Lloyd's of London |page=116 |url=https://archive.org/details/LMV-1885-1889/page/n132/mode/1up |access-date=10 February 2024}}</ref>

The punt remained on the Main Auckland Island until in 1989, when during an expedition which included artists [[Bill Hammond]], [[Laurence Aberhart]], Geerda Leenards and [[Lloyd Godman]], it was transported back to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery at Invercargill on a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel where it is on permanent display. The Castle grave site was maintained for many years by the New Zealand government until it sank into the ground. However, during [[World War II]], the figurehead was resurrected by those stationed on the islands. The figurehead can now be viewed (along with other items from the wreck) at the [[Canterbury Museum, Christchurch|Canterbury Museum]] in Christchurch, New Zealand. The makeshift punt was used as a grave headstone for a while before being removed to the [[Southland Museum and Art Gallery|Southland Museum]], where it is on display. In its place, a plaque now marks the site of the sailors' graves.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book|last1 = Ingram|first1 = C.|last2 = Wheatley|first2 = P.|last3 = Diggle|first3 = L.|last4 = Diggle|first4 = E.|last5 = Gordon|first5 = K.|display-authors = 1|year = 2007|title = New Zealand Shipwrecks: Over 200 Years of Disasters at Sea|location = Auckland|publisher = Hodder Moa|isbn = 9781869710934}}
* {{cite book|last = Peat|first = N.|year = 2003|title = Subantarctic New Zealand: A Rare Heritage|location = Invercargill|publisher = [[Department of Conservation (New Zealand)|Department of Conservation]]|isbn = 0478140886}}

== External links ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=5487&vessel=DERRY+CASTLE Derry Castle at clydeships.co.uk]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/derry.htm Derry Castle details, New Zealand Bound site]
* [http://tpo.tepapa.govt.nz/ViewTopicExhibitDetail.asp?TopicFileID=0x000a3311&Language=English&dumbyparam=search Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa topic file]
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/party.aspx?irn=38277 Images relating to ''Derry Castle'' from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
* [http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=THD18881103.2.23&e=-------10--1----0-all ''Timaru Herald'' report 1888] 
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=22763 Derry Castle Reef: site of the wreck]
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=19690 ''Derry Castle'' lifesaving buoy]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaAndAirTransport/Castaways/2/ENZ-Resources/Standard/3/en Photograph of punt, Te Ara Encyclopaedia]
{{div end}}

{{1887 shipwrecks}}
{{Shipwrecks of the New Zealand outlying islands}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1883 ships]]
[[Category:1887 in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in March 1887]]
[[Category:Ships built in Govan]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Auckland Islands]]
[[Category:Sailing ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Barques]]