SS Xantho
| History | |
|---|---|
| Owner: |
|
| Builder: | William Denny and Brothers |
| Launched: | 1848 |
| Fate: | Sank 1872 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | steam ship |
| Installed power: | Horizontal trunk engine (1871–) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
SS Xantho was a steam ship used in the colony of Western Australia as a pearling transport and mothership, as a tramp steamer, carrying passengers, including Aboriginal convicts and trade goods before she sank at Port Gregory, Western Australia in 1872. She was powered by a horizontal trunk engine.
The wreck was forgotten until 1979 when it was found. Subsequent investigations by the Department of Maritime Archaeology at the Western Australian Museum, in concert with the Museum's Department of Conservation and Restoration saw the trunk engine recovered in 1985. In the ensuing years it was gradually restored for display at the museum.
Xantho was built in 1848 as a paddle steamer by the Denny Shipbuilding Company. The vessel was used by the Anstruther and Leith Steamship Company for crossings of the Firth of Forth between Leith and Aberdour. In 1860, she was sold and relocated to Scarborough, North Yorkshire. In July 1864, Xantho was sold again, and her register transferred to Wick, from where she was permitted to take excursions to sea.
In early 1871, Xantho was sold to the 'metal merchant' Robert Stewart of Glasgow, who replaced the paddle engines with a second-hand Crimean War-era two-cylinder, non-condensing trunk engine built (or assembled) in 1861 by John Penn. Stewart also lengthened the vessel's stern and fitted a propeller and a new boiler. The Crimean War-type gunboat engine and those built to the same design in the ensuing years were the first high-pressure, high-revolution, mass-produced engines made for use at sea. The type also used Whitworth's Standard Thread throughout, allowing for interchangeability of parts. The refurbished, schooner-rigged Xantho was offered for sale in October 1871 and was purchased by Charles Edward Broadhurst, a Manchester-born entrepreneur involved in colonial ventures in northwest Australia.
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