Qualla: Cospatrick https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Cospatrick https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship Cospatrick: Introduction https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ Second mate Henry Macdonald had been asleep for barely thirty minutes when the cry of "Fire!" jolted him awake. It was quarter to one in the morning on 18 November 1874, and the Cospatrick -- a three-masted sailing ship carrying 472 people from Gravesend to Auckland -- was 400 nautical miles southwest of the Cape of Good Hope, surrounded by nothing but dark ocean. In the boatswain's store below decks, flames were already devouring oakum, tar, paint, and rope. Within hours, this wooden ship would become a furnace. Within days, only three people aboard her would still be alive.

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Cospatrick: A Ship Built for Empire https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ The Cospatrick was a Blackwall frigate, built in 1856 at Moulmein in Burma from teak -- prized for its resistance to rot and insects, though not, as it turned out, to fire. She spent her early years as a workhorse of the British Empire, shuttling passengers, troops, and cargo bet...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-a-ship-built-for-empire.mp3 0:06 2 full Cospatrick: Families Bound for a New World https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ On 11 September 1874, the Cospatrick departed Gravesend under Captain Alexander Elmslie with 44 crew and 433 passengers. Among those passengers were 429 assisted emigrants -- people whose passage was subsidized by the New Zealand government, families seeking opportunity on the fa...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-families-bound-for-a-new-world.mp3 0:06 3 full Cospatrick: The Night the Sea Caught Fire https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ The fire likely started when someone -- crew or passenger -- entered the hold with a naked flame, igniting the highly flammable stores. Captain Elmslie and his crew fought to turn the ship before the wind, hoping to drive the smoke and flames forward and contain them, but the man...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-the-night-the-sea-caught-fire.mp3 0:06 4 full Cospatrick: Nine Days Adrift https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ The surviving boat drifted for nine days. The men aboard had no meaningful provisions, no shelter from the elements, and no prospect of rescue in those vast, empty waters. The British Sceptre found them on 27 November, roughly 500 nautical miles northeast of where the Cospatrick ...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-nine-days-adrift.mp3 0:06 5 full Cospatrick: A Lesson Ignored https://qualla.com/cospatrick-ship/ The inquiry that followed determined the most likely cause was someone entering the cargo hold with an open flame. The public was outraged -- not only by the fire itself, but by the grim mathematics of the lifeboats. Five boats for 472 people, and even those could not be launched...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/2/t/cospatrick-ship-wp/k32t-cospatrick-a-lesson-ignored.mp3 0:06 6 full