Wooden paddle steamer Solway built Grayson & Howson, Holyhead 1826
190nrt, 238grt, loa 140ft, lwl 133ft, beam 21.5ft, width 38ft, depth 9.5ft.
Engines by Boulton & Paul of London
First owner: Carlisle and Liverpool Steam Navigation Co.
Ran aground in 1839, but refloated.
Voyage Belfast to Solway, struck Dumroof Bank in foggy weather, then run ashore, 25 August 1841
Captain Thomas Burton, crew and about 200 passengers,
all saved by boats taking them ashore.
The arrival of Solway at Bowness in July 1826 is described in the local papers with great enthusiasm.
From Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser Tuesday 21 March 1826
The first of the steam-vessels intended to trade betwixt
Liverpool and Carlisle, was launched at Holyhead on the 24th of last
month [by Grayson & Howson]. She is named the Solway, and is
pronounced a superior vessel of her class: her register about 250
tons, and her general equipment in the finest style; the accommodation
for passengers being very complete. She proceeds for London as soon
possible, there to receive her engines, which have been prepared by
Bolton and Watt, and await her arrival in the Thames. As soon as
complete, she will return northward, and take up her destined station.
The commencement of steam navigation in the Solway Firth is an
important era in the commerce of Cumberland.
London Evening Standard - Monday 23 September 1839:
The steamer Solway, of Carlisle, left Belfast for Carlisle on the
morning of Tuesday, the 17th inst, with 250 head of cattle, a valuable
cargo, and several passengers on board, when off the Mull of Galloway
she sprung a leak. The sea running very high at the time, 55 of the
cattle were thrown overboard to lighten the vessel and clear the
decks, the leak having increased so fast as to extinguish the fires.
Through extraordinary exertion, however, at the pumps, she succeeded
in getting into Port Logan in a sinking state; 12 of the cattle were
drowned in the hold - all these, with the remainder of the live stock,
were landed at Port Logan. Some of the cargo has been landed,
although in a very damaged state. We have not heard the cause of the
leak: the Solway still remains at Port Logan. The cattle thrown
overboard have for the most part come on shore on the coast from Port
Patrick to Corsewall and were yesterday selling to the farmers and
others in the respective localities.
After many years of trading to Solway ports and to Liverpool, Belfast and the Isle of Man, Solway ran aground again in 1841 in the approaches to the Solway Firth on Dumroof Bank. She was later beached on the northern shore where she became a total wreck.
Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser - Tuesday 31 August 1841
WRECK OF THE SOLWAY STEAMER. We regret exceedingly to announce that
early on Wednesday morning last this noble vessel, whilst on her way
from Belfast to Carlisle, laden with cattle and horses, and having
about two hundred passengers on board, struck upon Drumruff[Dumroof] Bar.
owing to the foggy state of the weather.
She beat violently over the
bank and made water so rapidly that the captain, in order to save the
passengers, was obliged to run her ashore, near the mouth of the Nith[Southerness].
One hundred and fifty-six cattle were thrown overboard, and the
passengers were, after some difficulty, safely landed in the boats.
The vessel has sustained considerable damage, and though she still
remains on the bank, hopes are entertained that, should the weather
continue favourable, she may be got off and be prevented from becoming
a total wreck. The Solway is the property of the Carlisle and
Liverpool Steam-ship Company. Several thousand pounds had been spent
upon her in the spring, in improvements.
The Solway had on board at
the time of the accident about two hundred passengers in addition to
her crew, but fortunately from the judicious steps taken by Captain
Burton, and the exertions of his crew, all reached shore in safety. We
understand that about 150 head of cattle were drowned.
There are
various statements as to the number of cattle thrown overboard, and
the number which perished in the hold, but we understand that, of the
whole, only about 40 of the cattle reached the shore alive. Of the
horses only one was lost. We have not learned that any of the cargo
was insured. One respectable Irish dealer, named Jackson, has lost
property to the amount of at least £1,000, having had 90 cattle on
board, of which only five had been saved.
At first, considerable
confusion prevailed from the number of Irish harvesters on board
making their way to Cumberland; but as soon as possible they were
conveyed in boats to where the water was shallow enough to admit of
their wading. Assistance was soon procured from the shore, and a
gentleman in the neighbourhood (whose name we could not learn) gave
every accommodation to the ladies, among whom were the lady and
daughter of Colonel Napier, who was also himself on board.
Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser - Tuesday 14 September 1841
The Solway Steamer is now a total wreck sunk to the gun-wales in water. A
few things were got out of her, but the greater part of the machinery
has been lost; and but faint hopes are entertained of recovering any
more of the materials.
By 1842, Captain Thomas Burton was sailing in steamer Newcastle on the same route.