Lucinda (steam yacht)
Lucinda c1885
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History | |
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Australia | |
Name | Lucinda |
Owner |
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Builder | William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton |
Cost | £13,000 [1] |
Yard number | 292 [1] |
Laid down | 18 April 1884[1] |
Launched | 7 October 1884[1] |
Completed | 20 December 1884[1] |
Fate | Hulked as a breakwater 1937 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Paddle steam yacht |
Tonnage | 301 GRT, 148 NRT |
Length | 172.6 ft (53 m) registered[2] |
Beam | 25.1 ft (8 m)[2] |
Draught | 6.2 ft (2 m)[1] |
Depth | 9.2 ft (3 m)[2] |
Propulsion | steam compound oscillating 114nhp, paddle[1] |
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)[1] |
The Lucinda was a Queensland Government owned, 301-ton paddle steamer built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1884.[4]
Description
The Queensland Government ordered Lucinda from the Scottish shipyard of William Denny & Brothers at Dumbarton in January 1884 to replace an earlier steam yacht Kate from 1864. She was designed as a paddle yacht and lighthouse tender with a steel hull of 180 feet (55 m) length overall, 25 feet (7.6 m) beam and 9+1⁄2 feet (2.9 m) depth; the steamer measured 301 gross register tons and had a service draught of 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m). Her two side paddles were powered by an oscillating two-cylinder compound engine of 114 nhp, made by Denny, and she was equipped with electric light. She had a female figurehead and her accommodation was well fitted out.[1] The press reported that "Although technically designated as only as lighthouse tender, the Lucinda is in reality one of the most magnificent upholstered and effectively equipped steamers afloat."[5] The forward saloon was fitted with sofas and could be converted to sleep 20 passengers, while the aft saloon was designed for social events. The specification notes that "an oval shaped deck opening in centre, with stained glass skylight, afforded light and ventilation" and that the "aft part of the deckhouse was fitted up as a ladies' ante-room, with side panels of japanese tapestry." There was also a smoking room in the forward deckhouse.[2][1]
Queensland Government Service
Lucinda was named in honour of
As well as servicing Queensland lighthouses, the steamer was used for ministerial visits along the coast (and to New Guinea on occasion), cabinet meetings on the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay, picnic outings for various associations and annual excursions for school children in the state. Lucinda was also flagship of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, and she was referred to as Queensland Government Steam Yacht (QGSY) Lucinda.[3][6] Lucinda was used at one time as a mail vessel for delivering mail along the Queensland coast. At that time she was largely captained by Captain James Hodda South (serving with distinction from 17 November 1887 until his retirement with the rank of Commander on 1 May 1907) who notably surveyed/sounded and used South Passage in Moreton Bay to cut hours off the mail route. It was thought by some that this is how South Passage came to be named; however, the name had been given to this Southern Passage about 50 years earlier.[3]
Another captain was Dennis O'Hara Burke 'Dinney' (years of service not known) of
In March 1891, the first
In 1896, the ship was involved in the capsize of the ferry Pearl with the loss of 80 to 100 lives. Among later ceremonial occasions was her involvement in the formal arrival in Brisbane of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) in May 1901.[3]
Retirement and fate
In 1921, in view of her age and cost of upkeep, Lucinda was laid up in Brisbane.[3] In 1923 Lucinda was sold for £400 to local engineering company Evans, Anderson, Phelan & Co who partially dismantled her, much of her outfit being auctioned.[3] It is speculated that the table of the Lucinda, which was used by politicians to draft the constitution, was sold for a pound after it was scrapped.[9] Later, in 1926/1927, she became coal lighter for the Riverside Coal Transport Company, who fitted conveyors and a bucket elevator for mechanised discharge, using her to carry coal from Ipswich to Brisbane.
On 28 January 1937, the vessel was beached on the south east side of Bishop Island at the mouth of the Brisbane River to form a breakwater,[10][11] after she had been cut down to a bare hull.[3][4] The hulk was removed in 1993 as part of the expansion of the Port of Brisbane.[12]
The bar and some panelling from the steamer's saloon are retained in the Lucinda Room in Parliament House, Brisbane.[13]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lyon, David John (1975). The Denny List, Part 1. Greenwich: National Maritime Museum. pp. 238–239.
- ^ a b c d e Mercantile Navy List. London: Spottiswoode. Ballantyne & Co Ltd. 1900. p. 216. Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Davis, J M; M W D White (September 1993). "The Q.G.S.Y. Lucinda" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. XV (4): 183–200. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Environmental Protection Agency: Other Wrecked Ships". Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
- ^ "Shipping Intelligence". Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton QLD. 14 February 1885. p. 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Number 94 - Extract from the logbook of the Queensland Government Steam Yacht Lucinda kept by the Chief Engineer on the voyage from Dumbarton towards Brisbane (1884-1885)". Queensland State Archives. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-9593052-0-3
- ISBN 0-522-85042-1.
- ISSN 0312-6307. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
- ^ "HISTORIC YACHT'S LAST DAYS". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 29 January 1937. p. 17. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Photograph Album of the Raising of the Lucinda 1993". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ "Lucinda Room". Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.