Earl Of Caithness: Aberdeen Harbour Entrance, North Sea
Steamship (19th Century)
Site Name Earl Of Caithness: Aberdeen Harbour Entrance, North Sea
Classification Steamship (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) 'In Aberdeen Bay'; 'opposite [the] South Pier'; Aberdeen Harbour, South Pier; Earl Of Caithness
Canmore ID 206454
Site Number NJ90NE 8091
NGR NJ 961 057
NGR Description NJ c. 961 057
Datum Datum not recorded
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/206454
- Council Aberdeen, City Of
- Parish Maritime - Aberdeen City Of
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Maritime
- Former County Not Applicable
NJ90NE 8091 c. 961 057
N57 8.5 W2 4
NLO: Aberdeen [name: NJ 95 05].
Location of loss formerly entered as NJ c. 96 05 [N57 8 W2 4].
7th January 1859, EARL OF CAITHNESS, steamship, 93 tons, Official Number 20138, Master James Murray, stranded in Aberdeen Bay. Inquiry ordered before the Local Marine Board, Aberdeen. Casualty arose through attempting to take the harbour at an improper time.
Precis of Special Inquiries into Casualties, ordered by the Board of Trade during the Year 1859. [Record received incomplete].
NMRS, MS/829/68 (no. 2043).
(Classified as steamship: no cargo specified, but date of loss cited as 8 January 1858). Earl of Caithness: [this vessel stranded] at the entrance to Aberdeen [harbour], opposite [the] South Pier. Capt. Murray.
(Location of loss cited as N57 8.50 W2 4.00).
I G Whittaker 1998.
(Location entered as NJ c. 961 058 [N57 8.5 W2 4]). The location assigned to this record is essentially arbitrary, being derived from the unverified location ('at the entrance to Aberdeen, opposite South Pier') that is cited by Whittaker. It remains unclear whether the citation of the 'South Pier' refers to the Old South Breakwater (NJ90NE 7.04), the (present) South Breakwater (NJ90NE 7.05) or another structure, which is otherwise unrecorded.
The remains of the vessel were presumably removed without delay from this constrained location.
Aberdeen Harbour (NJ90NE 7.00) is centred at NJ 95 05. The present entrance extends from NJ c. 959 056 to NJ 964 059, but this location reflects development towards the East through the construction of successive piers and breakwaters.
Aberdeen Bay is not noted as such on the 1999 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map. The name presumably applies to the ill-defined and sand-fringed indentation that forms a shallow arc extending North from the mouth of the River Dee (at NJ 96 05).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 24 January 2002.
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 6888
Name : EARL OF CAITHNESS
Latitude : 570830
Longitude : 20400
Type : SS
Loss Day : 8
Loss Month : 1
Loss Year : 1858
Comment : Stranded at the entrance to Aberdeen, opposite South Pier. Capt. Murray