Aristides - Rob Andrew

One-time flagship of the Aberdeen White Star line, built by W. Hood & Co. and launched in March 1876. A popular ship sailing to Sydney and Melbourn. Her best day's run was a respectable 320 miles. But such a run was more the norm once steam became established in the trade.

 

Once displaced by steam, she was sold to owners who used her to transport Chilean nitrates to the United States - not a glamorous business. The loading port was Caleta Buena, north of Iquique, the smallest and bleakest of the nitrate ports, “clinging to the edge of the Tarapaca desert.” A seaman writing of this port during WWI said, “We have fallen into a lovely hole this time and no mistake”. 

 

On Thursday 28 May 1903, she sailed for San Francisco with a cargo of nitrate of soda and was never seen again.