Galatea in a twilight rendezvous

The iron full-rigger Galatea was built for C.S. Caird & Co. of Greenock by Robert Duncan on the Clyde at Port Glasgow. Launched in 1884, she was registered at 1,753 tons gross (1,694 net) and measured 265 feet in length with a 40 foot beam. Generally regarded as a 'medium clipper', she proved a highly successful addition to the Caird fleet and, although no record breaker, regularly turned in excellent passage times consistent with being a 'fast' ship. Sadly, her career was cut short when, on 27th June 1898, she stranded on the Hammond Knoll, in the North Sea, off the Norfolk coast, in a gale and was wrecked whilst en route from Hamburg to Sydney, Australia.