The Tayleur was a full rigged iron ship built at Warrington in 1853 and launched 4 October 1853. She was the largest ship ever built at Warrington and possibly the largest commercial ship of her day.

She was 1,750 tons, 230 feet in length with a 40 foot beam, 3 decks and a carrying capacity was 4000 tons, in holds 28 feet deep. She cost £34,000 to build.

She was chartered by White Star Line and left Liverpool on 19 January 1854 for Melbourne, less than 3 months after launch. Her compasses did not work properly because of the iron hull. The rudder was also undersized for the ship and the rigging faulty. Her crew of 71 had only 37 trained seamen amongst them and of these ten could not speak English.

On 21 January 1854, within 48 hours of sailing on her maiden voyage she foundered after running aground in fog during a storm. Despite dropping both anchors as soon as rocks were sighted, she ran aground on the east coast of Lambay Island about five miles from Ireland. She was so close to shore that some people aboard were able to jump onto land, but she was then washed into deeper water. She sank with the loss of 380 lives out of the 652 people originally on board. The wreck currently lies in 18 metres of water.

External links

• http://eraoftheclipperships.com/maritimebookreview5.html
• http://www.mightyseas.co.uk/articles/tayleur.htm
• http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/issmemorials/Memorials/Eire/TayleurPortrane/tayleur.htm
• http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.88