`County of Peebles' Shipwreck: A Connection Among Jute of Calcutta, Textile of Dundee, Coal of Chile

`County of Peebles', A Shipwreck — A Connection Among
Jute of Calcutta (India), Textile of Dundee (UK), Coal of Chile
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While traveling along the northern bank of the Strait of Magellan, I came across a shipwreck within a Chilean Navy site. I casually took a few photos and a short video before moving on, not thinking it was significant enough to be part of my 66 Facebook posts (during March–May, 2025 in   / biplab.bhawal   ) on the exploration of the Southern Cone.

Only after returning to Los Angeles and digging through old ship logs did I come to realize the remarkable story behind that rusting hulk.

The Shipwreck of `County of Peebles'
– A Forgotten Giant of the Seas:
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The wreck I stumbled upon turned out to be the remains of the `County of Peebles' — a ship that once stood at the forefront of maritime innovation.
Launched in 1875, it was the world’s first four-masted, iron-hulled full-rigged ship, designed for speed and endurance in the long-haul jute trade between Britain and India.

This engineering marvel marked a turning point in naval architecture and inspired a fleet of similar vessels that dominated global trade routes in the late 19th century.

Its purpose linked three far-flung corners of the world: transporting raw jute from Calcutta, feeding the mills of Dundee — then known as the world’s jute capital — and, in later years, carrying coal while stationed in Chile.

In many ways, this ship embodied a forgotten global triangle of commerce driven by wind, labor, and industrial need.

After a distinguished career — including voyages from Cardiff to Bombay and Glasgow to Buenos Aires — she was sold in 1898 to the Chilean Navy and used as a floating coal depot.

Her final chapter came in the 1960s when she was deliberately beached off in this Chilean Navy Facility to serve as a breakwater.

Today, only the skeletal remains of her iron hull and the stumps of her once-proud masts are visible — a ghostly monument resting silently on the southern fringe of the world, linking continents, industries, and histories in rust and shadow.