Northfleet

Coordinates: 51°26′51″N 0°19′29″E / 51.447588°N 0.324783°E / 51.447588; 0.324783

Northfleet is a town in the Gravesham Borough of Kent. It borders the Dartford Borough. It is located north west of Gravesend.

The Area

Its name is derived from being situated on the northern reach of what was once called the River Fleet (today known as the Ebbsfleet). There is a village at the other end of the river named Southfleet. It has been the site of a settlement on the shore of the River Thames adjacent to Gravesend since Roman times. It was known as Fleote by the Saxons c. 600 AD, Flyote c. 900 AD, and Flete c. 1000 AD. It was recorded as Norfluet in the Domesday Book, and Northflet in 1201. By 1610 the name of Northfleet had become established. A battle took place during the civil war at the Stonebridge over the Ebbsfleet river. Northfleet became a town in 1874 with the Northfleet Urban District Council being established c. 1894. In 1974 it was merged with the adjacent Borough of Gravesend. The first council offices were off the Hill, but the council then moved to Northfleet House (now a nursing home for the elderly). Northfleet House was once the home of Mr. Sturges a local landowner. Northfleet was in the lathe of Aylesford and the hundred of Toltingtrough.

Northfleet (ship)

The Northfleet was a British full rigged ship that is best remembered for her disastrous sinking in the English Channel in January 1873.

Description

The Northfleet was a Blackwall Frigate of 951 tons gross, 895 net registered tons on dimensions of 180 feet (55 m) between perpendiculars, 32.3 feet (9.8 m) beam and 20.0 feet (6.1 m) depth of hold. She was built at Northfleet, Kent in 1853 for London shipowner Duncan Dunbar and spent much of her career trading between England and Australia and between England, India and China.

Sinking

In 1872 the ship was owned by John Patton, Jr., of London when she was chartered to carry labourers and their families, 340 tons of iron rails, and 240 tons of other equipment to build a railway line in Tasmania, under the command of her previous chief officer Captain Edward Knowles (born on 4 May 1839).

The Northfleet left Gravesend for Hobart on 13 January 1873 with 379 persons on board: the pilot, 34 crew, three cabin passengers and the assisted emigrants comprising 248 men, 42 women and 52 children. Bad weather forced the ship to drop anchor at several points before leaving the Channel and on the night of 22 January she was at anchor about two or three miles (5 km) off Dungeness. Around 10.30 p.m. she was run down by a steamer that backed off and disappeared into the darkness. The heavily-laden Northfleet sank within half an hour, before vessels in the vicinity realised anything was amiss, and in the ensuing panic a total of 293 people were drowned. 86 were saved. Of the women on board only the captain's wife and one emigrant survived, along with just two of the children. Only two boats managed to get clear of the sinking ship, one without any oars and the other damaged. The captain went down with his ship.