The steel full rigged sailing ship Naworth Castle was launched from the Sunderland yard of William Pickersgill and Sons Ltd (Yard No 97) on 25th May 1892. She measured 265.0′ x 39.4′ x 23.3′ and her tonnage was 1871 gross tons, 1767 net tons. She was ordered by the Lancashire Shipping Co Ltd (J Chambers and Co Ltd.) Liverpool and began service for this company later in 1892. Her official number was 99421. In 1899 she was sold to Knohr and Burchard of Hamburg who renamed her Tarpendek. Finally in 1921 she was sold to Nordische Handelsgesellshaft Hachfiled – Fischer Gmbh, also of Hamburg who renamed her Tamara XII.
Tamara XII alongside
The details of how and why the ship foundered on 18th February 1923 are not known as, unfortunately, her captain, Magnus F J Allwardt, and his crew of 15 men were lost when she disappeared off the east coast of Orkney. She set sail from from Leith bound for Hamburg with a cargo of coal on 6th February when she was caught in a severe east south east gale. It appears that she battled the unfavourable weather for days but was steadily swept north and eventually towards Orkney. The lighthouse keeper was the first to see a ship in trouble spotting her distress signals in the dark stormy evening in mountainous seas between the Pentland Skerries and Copinsay. Around 7pm news of the vessel in distress reached Kirkwall and the Stromness and Longhope lifeboats were called out. Unfortunately, before any of the lifeboats could reach the scene, the lights of the ship, which initially could be seen from the shore, dimmed and then disappeared. The following morning wreckage began to wash ashore along the east coast of Orkney from Deerness to Stronsay. Finally a ship’s boat marked ”Tamara XII, Hamburg” with the body of a young man aboard wearing a lifebelt, was picked up by Mr Donald Tulloch, Fish house, below Scofferland, near Start Sound at 10 am this morning. The mystery of the ship’s identity had been solved.
Dundee Courier 20th February
The wreck believed to be Tamara XII lies in position 59° 00.140’N, 02° 23.180’W. She lies in 82 metres orient4ed 012/192 degrees with a least depth clearance of 73 metres. The wreck was dived by a group of divers in 2007 who reported a large vessel with no engine or boilers and only a small diesel engine, maybe for a generator. From the diver description, the dimensions from the Hydrographic Survey and last known position of ship this is almost certainly the wreck of Tamara XII.
Wreck location
