A Century at Sea: Celebrating the Legendary Sailing Ship Success: June 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Last Days of the Success

Success sunk in the ice at Sandusky, Ohio, about 1944.

If you are in the Port Clinton, Ohio, area next Saturday, July 2nd, drop by the Ottawa County Museum and hear my talk on the last days of the ship. Here's the press release out by the museum:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On the afternoon of July 4th, 1946, Port Clinton residents and visiting tourists alike witnessed a most unusual fireworks display when the old convict ship Success, which had grounded offshore the previous summer, went up in flames. On July 2nd, Rich Norgard, a Port Clinton writer and historian who has spent the last 40 years researching the history of the legendary ship, will present “Last Days of the Success” at the Ottawa County Museum, 126 West 3rd Street, Port Clinton.

The presentation will cover the prison ship’s fascinating and controversial career, with emphasis on the months and days leading up to the ship’s final demise. Mr. Norgard’s fascinating talk will be accompanied by a lively slide presentation featuring dozens of rare photographs and videos, as well as artifacts from the ship itself. The talk will be followed by a question and answer session and time to view the photographs and artifacts.

The presentation will begin at 2pm on Saturday, July 2nd, at the museum, located at 126 West 3rd Street, Port Clinton. Ample parking is available across the street at the Ida Rupp Public Library.

Mr. Norgard, who is the world’s authority on this historic vessel, is completing a book on her history. He maintains a website about the Success at www.shipsuccess.com and blogs about the ship at www.shipsuccess.blogspot.com. He has also written an Alaskan mystery novel.

The Ottawa County Museum will be open on July 2 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

A History of the Success

Lauched in 1840 at Natmaw on the coast of Tenasserim, in what is now Myanmar, for Calcutta owners, this teakwood vessel was as fine an example of native shipbuilding as any ever seen. Her dimensions were: 117'3"×26'8"×22'5", she displaced 621 tons, and was equipped with two decks, forecastle and poop, and square stern with single quarter galleries. She was given a scroll figurehead, to be replaced two years later by the female bust that became the hallmark of this fine vessel. The first 50 years of her remarkable career saw her performing in a wide variety of roles: trader, emigrant ship, coolie transport, and penal hulk. It was in this latter role that she gained much notoriety as one of five penal hulks anchored off Willliamstown near Melbourne, Australia, during the 1850s. During the remainder of her career she was towed from port to port as a show ship. During this period a succession of owners displayed her as a sort-of convict ship museum and with increasingly greater misrepresentation of her true history. After a successful exhibition tour of the British Isles from 1895 to 1911, she sailed to Boston. For the next 30 years she toured both coasts, the inland rivers, and the Great Lakes. During this time official representatives for Australia quietly - and unsuccessfully - petitioned the U.S. to have the exhibit stopped. Meanwhile, many millions took advantage of the opportunity to see this unique attraction. By the time she met with her rather sad end by fire in 1946, near Port Clinton, Ohio, she had earned a reputation, somewhat unfairly, as a hoax. In truth, the world lost the chance to preserve a superb example of 19th century shipbuilding. If you have any information about this vessel, please contact me at nauticalguy@hotmail.com. Also, visit my companion website at ShipSuccess.com.