State Library of South Australia

The 'Elvira Camino' at Bristol [PRG 1373/20/31] • Photograph

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Summary

The wooden barque 'Elvira Camino', 296 tons, at Bristol [composite 3 mast barque, 296 tons. 126.5 x 26.1 x 13.8. Built 1872 (11) C Connell and Co. Glasgow as Dona Juana, but was renamed about 1879. Owners Camino and Gomez, registered Havana] [seems to have another name on bow].

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Physical description

Photograph; 8.8 cm x 14.9 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1877

Collection

Part of A.D. Edwardes Collection

Subject

Elvira Camino (Ship)
Dona Juana (Ship)
Ships, Wooden

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

From the volume titled 'British Owned Wooden Barques'.

This image is from the A.D. Edwardes Collection of about 8,000 photographs, mostly of sailing ships from around the world, taken between about 1865 and 1920. Mounted in 91 albums, the photographs are arranged by country of ownership, with some special volumes such as 'Shipping at Port Adelaide' and 'South Australian outports'. Additional information, giving the history of the ships where known, has been provided by maritime historian, Ron Parsons.

Historical information

According to Patrick Kelly from Dublin Ireland, his father, later Captain James P Kelly of Cork, sailed on the Elvira Camino circa 1920 as an Able Bodied seamen. At that time she had a crew of 7 men. The Master was Asby Kinch of Arklow, Co Wicklow. He was 70 years old a great seaman. James P Kelly said Kinch was like a Viking, absolutely fearless and still well able to climb the rigging. The first Mate was from Portmadoc in Wales and there four Able Bodied Seamen and a Cook. She sailed a lot between Cork and all around the British Isles, without an auxiliary engine. All the deck gear, winches and windlass were all "Armstrong's Patent" otherwise known as hand operated. Once when entering Liverpool at the Bar Light she was becalmed for several days. A tug came looking for £300 (A lot of money in the 1920's) to tow the ship to Liverpool. Capt Kinch refused and allowed the ship to drift up the channel on the incoming tide and when it turned, he dropped anchor and waited for the next tide to get him closer to Liverpool. This went on for several days and the tug kept coming back and each time the tugboat captain would lower the price. As time went on the food started to run low. There was still no wind so Capt Kinch organised whatever provisions needed. By the time they did this the ship had only moved a half mile. Eventually the ship was carried all the way to the Rock Light close to Liverpool and the tugboat Captian eventually settled for £50 to tow them into the docks in Liverpool through the locks. Kelly spent all his working life at sea, most of it as a deep sea Master Mariner and he visitied Australia many times.

Digitisation information

Date

16/08/2007

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

3,701 x 2,227 pixels (8.2 MP)

Size

24.75 MB

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