Repulse, an East Indiaman from the same period and similar in size to Arniston
| |
History | |
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Great Britain | |
Owner | |
Builder | William Barnard, Deptford |
Launched | 1794 |
Fate | Wrecked, 30 May 1815 at Waenhuiskrans, South Africa |
General characteristics [3] | |
Type | East Indiaman |
Tons burthen | 1468, or 14338⁄94[4] (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 43 ft 3+1⁄2 in (13.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m) |
Propulsion | Sail |
Complement | 120–140 men[5] |
Armament |
|
Arniston was an East Indiaman that made eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked on 30 May 1815 during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives – only six on board survived.[6] She had been chartered as a troopship and was underway from Ceylon to England on a journey to repatriate wounded soldiers from the Kandyan Wars.
Controversially, the ship did not have a marine chronometer on board, a comparatively new navigational instrument that was an "easy and cheap addition to her equipment" that would have enabled her to determine her longitude accurately. Instead, she was forced to navigate through the heavy storm and strong currents using older, less reliable navigational aids and dead reckoning.[7] Navigational difficulties and a lack of headway led to an incorrect assumption that Cape Agulhas was Cape Point. Consequently, Arniston was wrecked when her captain headed north for St Helena, operating on the incorrect belief the ship had already passed Cape Point.
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