View source for Kaisow (clipper)

{{short description|Scottish composite clipper}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2019}}

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{{Infobox Ship Image
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|Ship caption=A picture of ''Kaisow''
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country             = United Kingdom
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name                = ''Kaisow''
| Ship owner               = Alexander Rodger, Glasgow
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| Ship builder             = [[Robert Steele & Company]], [[Greenock]]
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| Ship launched            = 19 November 1868
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country             = United Kingdom
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name                =
| Ship owner               = [[Killick Martin & Company]], London
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| Ship acquired            = 1875
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country             = United Kingdom
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship name                =
| Ship owner               = William Bowden Jr
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| Ship acquired            = 29 April 1885
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| Ship fate                = Lost November 1891
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship class               = [[Composite ship|Composite]] [[clipper]]
| Ship tonnage       =*{{GRT |820}}
| Ship length              = {{convert| 193.2 |ft|m|abbr=on|1}}<ref name=MacGregor/> 
| Ship beam          = {{convert| 32 |ft|m|abbr=on|1}}<ref name=MacGregor/> 
| Ship draught             = 
| Ship depth          = {{convert| 20.3 |ft|m|abbr=on|1}}<ref name=MacGregor/>
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'''''Kaisow''''', a [[Composite ship|composite]] [[clipper]], was built by [[Robert Steele & Company]] at [[Greenock]] and [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 19 November 1868.<ref name="MacGregor">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date= 1983|title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833-1875 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |pages=186–188|isbn=0-85177-256-0}}</ref>

[[Robert Steele & Company]] also built the famous clippers {{ship||Ariel|clipper|2}} and {{ship||Taeping}} which took part in the [[Great Tea Race of 1866|great tea race]] of 1866, and {{ship||Sir Lancelot|clipper|2}}, another renown clipper ship.<ref name=MacGregor/>

''Kaisow'' was the 173rd vessel to have been built by the yard. She was {{convert|193.2|ft|m}} in length, had a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|32|ft|m}}, a depth of {{convert|20.3|ft|m}} and measured at {{GRT|820|disp=long}}. The clipper had a demiman [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] [[figurehead]].<ref name=MacGregor/>

==Service history==
===Alexander Rodger===

''Kaisow'' was originally owned by Alexander Rodger, [[Glasgow]] and commanded by Captain Anderson.<ref name=MacGregor/> She made a voyage from [[London]] to [[Shanghai]] on 1 December 1869 in 99 days, and in 1870 made a transit back from [[Fuzhou|Foochow]] with a cargo of [[tea]] to [[Deal, Kent|Deal]] in 99 days.<ref name=MacGregor/>

===Killick Martin & Company===

''Kaisow'' was brought by [[Killick Martin & Company]], led by [[James Killick|Captain James Killick]] in 1875 and was captained by John Gadd between 1876 and 1885. ''Kaisow'' was a [[sister ship]] in the Killick Martin fleet to ''Wylo'', the last ship to be built by Robert Steele & Company.<ref name="ChinaBird">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date= 1986|title=The China Bird: The History of Captain Killick, and the Firm He Founded, Killick Martin & Company |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited|isbn=0-85177-381-8}}</ref>

Under Killick Martin ownership ''Kaisow'' never made a tea passage from China to the U.K., but did load tea to [[Cape Town]] and [[Port Elizabeth]]. She also made three Trans-Pacific passages between Shanghai and [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]] between 1877 and 1879, not returning to her home port of London for two years and four months. The times of these transits being equal to any previously recorded.<ref name=ChinaBird/> In 1878 she was [[barque]]-rigged so she could be manned with a smaller crew.<ref name=ChinaBird/>

In 1883 ''Kaisow'' passed the eruption of [[1883 eruption of Krakatoa|Krakatoa]]. Second mate on ''Kaisow'' was Harry Davis, who went onto be a captain himself, wrote a very graphic account of the experience. He described how Captain John Gadd sailed the ship down the Straits, braced sharp up, how the ship weathered the erupting island and so got into the open water and felt the tail end of a huge tidal wave which tore north up the Straits, overwhelming the two sides, wiping out the town of [[Anjur]] and killing some 30,000 people.<ref name=ChinaBird/>

===William Bowden Jr and fate===

On 29 April 1885 ''Kaisow'' was sold to William Bowden Jr of [[Llanelly]], [[Carmarthenshire]].<ref name=MacGregor/>

Between 1885 and 1891 ''Kaisow'' made several journeys between Liverpool, [[Valparaíso|Valparaiso]] and [[Coquimbo]] with cargoes of [[manganese]] ore. On 15 November 1891 the clipper foundered {{convert|60|mi|km}} west southwest of Valparaiso on a voyage from Coquimbo after cargoes had shifted aboard the vessel.<ref name=MacGregor/>

===Wreck report===

A transcription of a Board of Trade Wreck Report for ''Kaisow'' in 1891 reads as follows:
(No. 4447.) "KAISOW." Finding of a Naval Court of Inquiry held at Valparaiso on the 26th and 27th days of November 1891.
"The Court, pursuant to an order from Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at Valparaiso, proceeded to investigate the cause and manner of the abandonment at sea of the British barque Kaisow of London, official No. 60,392, and having deliberately weighed and considered the evidence and observations preferred by the master, officers, and crew of the vessel, The Court finds:-
That the Kaisow, a composite barque of 795 tons register (re-classed in 1887 for 13 years, A 1 Lloyd's, London), sailed from Valparaiso at 5 p.m. on the 14th day of the present month of November, with a cargo of about 1,170 tons of manganese ore, bound for the United Kingdom, and was abandoned at sea at about 60 miles west-south-west of Valparaiso, in a sinking and unmanageable condition at 5 a.m. on the 15th instant.
That from the evidence adduced, the Court is of opinion that the vessel was in a thorough seaworthy condition at the time of her departure from this port, and that the cargo was stowed in the proper and customary manner.
That at 2 a.m. on the 15th instant, the ship, being under [[topsails]] and [[foresail]], was struck by a heavy sea, which hove the vessel on her beam ends, and which must have caused the cargo to shift to [[starboard]].
That efforts were made to righten the vessel by putting her before the wind, but without success. That as the ship was rapidly filling with water, the master and crew were constrained to take to the lifeboat and abandon the vessel; that the vessel disappeared shortly after. That there were no deaths.
That the master and crew succeeded in reaching land a few miles south of the [[Limarí River|River Limari]] on the 16th instant, whence they proceeded to [[Tongoy|Tongoi]] on the following day, arriving there at noon on the 18th.
Further, the Court is of opinion that the master did all in his power to save the vessel, and that he was justified in abandoning her when he did.
Therefore, the Court has pleasure in returning to Mr. William Davies, the master, his certificate, and doth recommend that Mr. Arthur Woodley, the mate, be supplied with duplicates of his certificates which were lost with the vessel."

==''Kaisow'' artwork==

The renown maritime artists [[Montague Dawson]] and Barry Mason have painted ''Kaisow'', and images of her are still being produced today.

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* ''The China Clippers''; [[Basil Lubbock]]; 1914.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=22000 Clyde Ships]
* [https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol02/tnm_2_3_17-29.pdf The Northern Mariner]
* [http://www.killickmartin.com Killick Martin & Company Ltd]
* [https://www.richardjoslin.com/print-view.php?Early-Morning-Mists-the-i-Kaisow-i-Gliding-Down-Channel-1870-172 Richard Joslin Fine Art]
* [https://www.printsandfineart.co.uk/product/7623/GM833/montague-dawson-the-tall-ship-clipper-kaisow Prints & Fine Art]
* [https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?195657 Wreck Site]

{{Clipper ships}}
{{1880 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:Tea clippers]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]
[[Category:Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built in Scotland]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks]]