The Quillota 

The Quillota was a 1300 ton iron fully rigged ship. She was built by Robert Steele and Co. of Greenock as the Brahmin in 1876. As the Brahmin she made a number of voyages to New Zealand carrying emigrants, as did her sister ship Padishah.

She had changed her name in 1893 when she was bought by Bordes and Son; she was still owned by them in 1901, and registered under the French flag at Dunkirk.

She sailed from Nantes on 29^th October 1901 bound for Shields to load with coal. When she was off Sunderland she took a tow from a tug to try and shelter from the storm in the Wear. However, the tug was unable to tow her against the Storm and cast her off. The Storm drove her ashore near Hendon and the crew of 22 took refuge on the bridge. Since the weather made this unsafe they attempted to take to the rigging but were all washed overboard. Most were unfortunately drowned. Seven men made it to the shore but even now they were not safe. On gaining the beach they found that they had been washed up on a section where the only way off the beach was to climb the cliff. In the dark, and being buffeted by Force 11 winds this would have been task enough for any man. These men had just survived being washed ashore. But fate had a final trick to play on them; as two of the men attempted to climb the cliff it crumbled and fell upon them. They were trapped under a huge heap of rock debris. Fortunately a fisherman had made his way to the beach to see if he could help and heard them groaning. After gathering assistance the two Frenchmen were dug out, but unfortunately one of them later died. Only six men, including the Captain Celestine Delapine, survived the night.

Maritime Archaeology Project successfully located the wreck of the Quillota in August 2001, on a very silty sea bed. A sketch of how she lies on the seabed can be seen below:

The Quillota:

Specification

• Iron fully rigged ship built by R. Steele and co. of Greenock as the Brahmin in 6 months in 1876. 231.4’x 36.3’x 21.7’ moulded depth 23’ 3” Poopdeck 44’ forecastle 30’, 9” depth bar keel. 2 decks, 1 bulkhead cemented.

• 1335 gross registered tons, 1182 under deck, 1112 net tons.

• Signal flag KSFH

• Special surveys carried out in London 10/89 (no.3) and Antwerp 1898 (no.2) last survey carried out at Antwerp 12/00 100A1 Anchors and Chains proofed on Lloyds approved machinery.

• Owned by Ant. Dom. Bordes and Fils, registered Dunkirk