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The Ship Success

This web site is devoted to the life and legend of one of the most remarkable vessels in the annals of the sea. Use the links at the top of this page to explore the site. If have any information to share about the Success, or simply have a questions about the ship, I encourage you to contact me. Enjoy!

News

4/14/2005: Finally updated! Thanks to you all for your patience. Well, this has been an exciting year so far. I have just returned from a research trip to Australia and I have to say that I was so blown away by the beauty of the country and the warmth and generosity of its people. If you’ve never been there, do yourself a favor and add the land down under to your list of future destinations. To all the wonderful people who assisted me while there I extend a sincere “thank you.” You will not be forgotten!

For all of you who have been asking about the book, I can report that Heart of Teak is in its final stages of completion, so stay tuned!

I am finally getting around to updating the Links page, so check that out over the next few weeks.

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I want to thank everyone who has contacted me as a result of this web site. I remain amazed at the sheer number of folks interested in the Success who have written with offers of information, to share their memories about the ship, or simply to compliment me on the site. All of these comments have been most appreciated.

The culmination of over 30 years of research will be my book, Heart of Teak. This will be the definitive history of the Success. It was to been published in 2002, but had to be delayed because of a wealth of new information I have received in the last year, much of as a result of responses received from people who found this web site. Information on how to get your hands on the book will be posted here, so stay tuned...

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Introduction

Welcome to the Ship Success Home Page, my page is devoted to research of the Ship Success, often referred to as the Convict Ship Success, or simply the "Convict Ship."

In a career spanning 106 years (1840-1946), this vessel made history on four continents, gaining notoriety first as one a group of prison hulks fitted out by the Australian government and anchored off Port Melbourne for the purpose of housing convicts during the 1850's, and later as an exhibition ship that was towed from port to port and her patrons charged an admission fee. During the more than half century she was on display, she generated a tremendous amount of controversy in the maritime world, for the reason that her exhibitors claimed erroneously that she had been built in 1790 and that she had seen service as a convict transport, both of these claims being misrepresentations.

By the time the Success ended her days at the hands of an arsonist, July 4th, 1946, near Port Clinton, Ohio, a formidable amount of myth and legend had developed about the ship. This problem has only increased over time. Much of her history is clouded in mystery...

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The Research

I have been researching the history of the Success off and on for over 30 years. With the explosion of the World Wide Web as a communication and research medium, I decided to create this site to further aid my research and to provide other the opportunity to learn about this fascinating ship.

This site is intended as a source of information for those wishing to learn more about the Success, and to serve as a clearinghouse for information about the ship.

Despite my digging, there is still much to learn about this enigmatic vessel. There must still be a wealth of information lurking in dusty basements and forgotten attics in the United States, Great Britain and Australia, not to mention in the memories people who still have some invaluable personal knowledge.

Do you know something about the Success? Do you know someone who does? Have you stumbled across some old photographs, letters, diaries, clippings or other materials that relate to this ship or the people who were involved with her? If so, I would like to hear from you! Please contact me now!

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The History

The Ship Success has been a pet project of mine for many years. Little known today outside of nautical circles, the Success was seen by millions as she toured the world as an exhibition ship, touching ports on three continents from 1895 to 1942. Launched in 1840 in Burma 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" and she displaced 621 tons. Equipped with two decks, forecastle and poop and had a square stern with single quarter galleries. A little known fact is that when built she was given a scroll figurehead, to be replaced two later by the female bust that became a 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 prison hulk. The remainder of her career saw her essentially towed from port to port as a show ship. Unfortunately, her owners during this period, through a combination of ignorance and greed, displayed her as a sort-of convict ship museum, which was, strictly speaking, a misrepresentation of her true history. By the time she met with her rather sad end by fire in 1946, 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. What follows is a brief chronological history...If you have any information about this vessel, please contact me at nauticalguy@hotmail.com.

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A Brief Chronological History

Early History (1840-1852)
1840 - Launched at Natmaw (The Brits called it Natmoo), near Moulmein, Burma for four members of Cockerell & Co. of Calcutta, one of the more prominent firms of the day. She was built for the Indian "country trade."
1842 - Sailed to London and sold to Frederick Mangles. A female bust replaced the original scroll figurehead. Mangles accepted a tempting charter to take settlers to Western Australia.
1843 - Sailed with emigrants to the Swan River settlement of Western Australia.
1845 - Sold to Wm. Phillips & Wm. H. Tiplady, London. Made a few voyages from India to the West Indies.
1847 to 1852 - Made a series of successful voyages from England to Australia with emigrants. After her crew abandoned her to go to the gold fields in 1852, the Victorian government bought her for use as a prison.(The discovery of gold had brought an overwhelming influx of humanity into Victoria, including a sizeable criminal element. The lack of available prison space forced the government to resort to unusual measures. Borrowing on the English experience with prison hulks, five vessels were purchased, beginning with the President.

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Government Service (1852-1890)
1852 - Sold to the government of Victoria, Australia for use as a prison hulk and fitted out with cells that lined both decks.
1854 - John Giles Price, former infamous commandant at Norfolk Island was appointed.
1856 - Warder Owen Owens was murdered during an attempted prison escape
1857 - Prisoners from the Success murdered John Price, Superintendent of Prisons
1860 - 1869 - Success was used to incarcerate women and boys.  Subsequently, the ship was used to store ammunition.
1885 - All the hulks were ordered broken up but for some reason the Success escaped this fate. (Despite it being widely published that the Success was scuttled in 1885 and lay submerged for five years, I have found no evidence of this whatsoever. Refer to the entry for 1892 below.)

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Exhibition and Destruction (1890-1946)
1890 - Sold to Alexander Phillips, who was initially going to cut her down into a barge and hired a young man named Edward William Nottingham to assist. Nottingham was pestered with so many curious visitors that he convinced Phillips that they could make money and charge a fee.
1891 - With money from a syndicate, the Success was fitted out for exhibition. The owners procured a lot of old prison paraphernalia and wax figures depicting former prisoners. She was also given a bark rig. She was then towed to Sydney and displayed at Circular Quay. However, this initial exhibition was not particularly successful. The Success was moored in a secluded bay with Nottingham acting as caretaker while the owners raised money for a voyage to England.
1892 - Success sank at her moorings. Reports that she was scuttled by disgruntled locals were disputed by Nottingham who maintained that she sank owing to leakage.
1893 - Refloated by a new syndicate and began exhibition tour of various ports in Australia.
1895 - Sailed to London under command of Captain Allen.
1895 to 1911 - Successfully toured numerous ports in the British Isles. Manager of the ship during this time was Australian Joseph C. Harvie. Nottingham was primarily responsible for the ship's maintenance.
1910 - Success was sold to Edward Nottingham.
1911 - Success was bought by an Isle of Man syndicate assembled by David Smith of Worthington, Indiana. Her rig was changed to that of a barkentine.
1912 - Canadian master John Scott sailed her to Boston after a stop off in Cork, arriving to much fanfare.
1912 to 1915 - Visitors on the Eastern Seaboard flocked to see the ship.
1915 to 1916 - Success passed through the Panama Canal to the west coast. She was a major attraction at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Later she drew large crowds in Seattle. Upon returning to the Gulf Coast, Nottingham, who had been affiliated with the ship since 1890, was bought out.
1916 to 1919 - Exhibited on the Mississippi River system, going as far as Pittsburgh. In 1918, near Carrollton, Kentucky, she was caught in an ice gorge. When the gorge broke she began to move and damaged several other vessels before sinking.
1920 to 1923 - Exhibited on the east coast of the U.S. Around 1920, Smith, possibly with the backing of as yet unknown financial interests, bought out the Isle of Man interests.
1023 to 1928 - First show tour of the Great Lakes. Shown to generally huge crowds, particularly at Chicago. Returned to the east coast in 1928 amid rumors that she would be sold to Australian interests and returned to that country. If true, this sale nonetheless never materialized.
1930 (approximately) - Sold to Lawrence Jontzen, owner of a Cleveland, Ohio, printing company. Around 1931 David Smith ceased to be affiliated with the ship and returned to Indiana to pursue other interests.
1933 - Returned to the Great Lakes; on display at the Chicago Exposition.
1933 to 1942 - Shown at various ports on the Great Lakes. After being on display at Cleveland for several years (her last official exhibition site), she was towed to Sandusky in poor condition thanks to the efforts of Harry Van Stack. Stack, a native of South Africa, had hired on as a lecturer in 1925 and became the ship's defacto guardian.
1943 - In March, following a heavy storm, she settled on the bottom alongside her moorings at Sandusky. Her last owner, Walter Kolbe, acquired her soon afterward.
1945 - Kolbe had the Success towed to nearby Port Clinton. When shallow water prevented her entry into Port Clinton harbor, Kolbe had her moved toward the east side of town where he had some property. She grounded hard a half mile off shore just east of town in about 16 feet of water. After failing to bring her closer to shore, he began stripping her of her teak timbers and other valuables. One night someone went out to the ship and sawed off the head of the figurehead. Lake Erie fall storms pounded away at the ship, and later when the lake froze over, ice also took its toll.
1946, July 4 - A mid-afternoon fire broke out aboard the vessel and she burned to the waterline. Hundred watched the blaze from the shoreline. The fire is generally attributed to unknown vandals, although there was some talk around town that Kolbe himself had set the fire because he was getting pressured to remove the wreck by the Coast Guard, who considered the vessel a hazard to navigation.

Postscript: Most of the relics aboard the ship disappeared between the time the ship was abandoned at Sandusky and her final grounding at Port Clinton. Vandals got many of them, Kolbe probably sold some, and he perhaps kept some for himself. Harry Van Stack, realizing that the end was near when the ship arrived in Sandusky, managed to rescue some items, including the binnacle, an old teak carving and some old records and photographs. His widow, Louise, later donated these items to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in nearby Fremont, Ohio, where they may be viewed by anyone. The Success Links page contains a list of locations which have Success artifacts and records.

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Contact Me

Primary: nauticalguy@hotmail.com
Sometimes hotmail gets overloaded, in which case try this: alaskapi@gci.net

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Copyright Richard J. Norgardİ2002.
Last revised: January ,(, /),(.