.jpg) County of Peebles | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | County of Peebles |
| Owner | R. & J. Craig, Glasgow |
| Route | India—Great Britain |
| Builder | Barclay Curle & Co.,Glasgow[1] |
| Yard number | 252[1] |
| Launched | 5 July 1875[1] |
| In service | 1875 |
| Out of service | 1898 |
| Fate | Sold to Chile, 1898[1] |
 Chile | |
| Name | Muñoz Gamero |
| Acquired | 1898 |
| Fate | Beached as a breakwater, 1960s |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Type | Windjammer |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 266 ft 6 in (81.23 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft 7 in (11.76 m) |
| Depth | 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
TheCounty of Peebles was the world's first four-masted, iron-hulledfull-rigged ship. It was built during 1875, byBarclay Curle Shipbuilders inGlasgow,Scotland, for the shipping companyR & J Craig of Glasgow.[3] Measuring 81.2 metres (266 ft 5 in) long, with abeam of 11.8 metres (38 ft 9 in), adraught of 7.1 metres (23 ft 4 in) and a cargo capacity of 1,614 net register tons (NRT), it was a state-of-the-artwindjammer when it began its use, for thejute trade between the ports ofDundee andCardiff inGreat Britain andBombay andCalcutta /Hooghly River in East India. Its rig was 'Scottish style', with royal sails above double top-sails and single topgallants.
County of Peebles represented an important development of sailing ship design, which allowed wind-powered ships to compete successfully on long haul routes withsteamships during the last quarter of the 19th century.[4] With its success R & J Craig ordered a further eleven similar four-masted 'full-rigged ships' for the thriving Indian jute trade, forming what was referred to as theScottish East India Line. Using the pattern ofCounty of Peebles, the other ships ordered were also named after Scottish counties as follows:County of Caithness (launched in 1876),County of Inverness (1877),County of Cromarty (1878),County of Dumfries (1878),County of Kinross (1878),County of Selkirk (1878),County of Aberdeen (1879),County of Haddington (1879),County of Edinburgh (1885),County of Roxburgh (1886), andCounty of Linlithgow (1887).
In 1898,County of Peebles was sold to theChilean Navy. RenamedMuñoz Gamero, it was used as a coalhulk atPunta Arenas on theStrait of Magellan. During the mid-1960s it was beached as abreakwater in Punta Arenas, where it lay as of 2025, with masts cut down.[5]
53°10′37″S70°55′03″W / 53.17698°S 70.91746°W /-53.17698; -70.91746