The Tayleur is often called the first Titanic. The name is tempting, and the comparison does not hold in the way it is usually told. What is true is that a brand-new, much-praised iron ship set out on her maiden voyage with hundreds of emigrants, and lost most of the women and children aboard within two days.
The Horror
The Tayleur was an iron clipper, designed by William Rennie of Liverpool and launched in October 1853. She was owned by Charles Moore & Company and chartered for the Australian trade by a firm trading as the White Star Line. That firm was not the White Star Line of the Titanic. The later company was a separate business, so the idea of one shipping line losing two great ships is a myth. The ship’s voyage was nonetheless a maiden one, and she was carrying emigrants to the Victorian goldfields.
She sailed from Liverpool for Melbourne on January 19, 1854, under Captain John Noble, then aged 29. The number of people aboard is not settled. Estimates run from 528 to 680, and research by Dr Edward Bourke names 662. Of her crew of 25, only 12 were trained seamen, and the inquiry heard that eight of those spoke no English.
The ship was in trouble from the start. Her compasses had not been properly corrected for the effect of an iron hull, and the officers believed they were heading south when they were heading west towards Ireland. Her rudder was small for her size, and her new rigging had not been stretched, so the sails were hard to work. In fog and a storm on January 21, within about 48 hours of leaving port, she struck the east coast of Lambay Island, about five miles from the entrance to Dublin Bay. The time of day is not given.
The anchors failed to hold her. One lifeboat was smashed on the rocks and the other drifted away; it was found in 1856. Some passengers got ashore by climbing a fallen mast and using ropes, and Captain Noble is said to have jumped last. The ship then slid into deeper water, leaving only her masts and flags above the surface.
The deaths were not evenly spread. Very few women and children survived: one account has three women surviving from more than 200 aboard, and two children from more than 50. Another says more than 100 women. The figure for the dead varies from 100 to 475 depending on the source, and the best that can be said is that they were several hundred. William Vivers, the last survivor, was taken off by the coastguard after about 14 hours in the rigging. The chief boatman George Finlay received an RNLI silver medal on March 2, 1854.
Four inquiries followed, and they did not agree. The coroner’s inquest at Malahide absolved Captain Noble and blamed the owners for sending the ship out with uncorrected compasses. The Board of Trade criticised the captain for not taking soundings. Newspapers blamed the crew. Taken together, the findings point to a handful of faults and no single villain: the compasses, the rudder, the rigging, a poorly trained crew and a ship that had never been tried at sea.
The Legend
The comparison with the Titanic is the part that is unconfirmed. The name White Star was shared, but the companies were different, and the claim that historians call the Tayleur the first Titanic is unconfirmed. It is a modern way of fixing the wreck in memory. The parallels that do exist are general ones: a new ship, a maiden voyage and a heavy loss of life among the passengers.
The Modern Relic
The wreck was rediscovered in 1959 by the Irish Sub-Aqua Club. It lies in about 17 metres (10 fathoms) of water, roughly 30 metres off the south-east corner of Lambay Island. The hull, side plates, a donkey engine and the lower mast are still there, and diving requires a licence from the Office of Public Works.
A memorial to the dead was unveiled at Portrane on May 16, 1999. Items recovered from the wreck are on display in Ireland, though sources disagree on whether they are at Newbridge House, Donabate or at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland.
