Update on Emigrant Ship Disaster

Trevor Whittley’s talk in January 2019 told the tragic story of the SS Kapunda and the mystery of the model in the museum.  Following responses it has now been established that the model ship was donated to the Queensferry Town Council on 13th March 1950 through the good offices of the then Burgh Chamberlain, William M. Moir.  The gift was gladly accepted by Provost Lawson as particularly appropriate given Queensferry’s long established and close connection with the sea.  Mr Moir had a great interest and love of the sea and had worked as a clerk at Trinity House in Leith.  [We would be very interested to hear if anyone knows anything about William M. Moir]
Queensferry Heritage Trust has organised a visit to Trinity House on Thursday 5th March 2020 where we will follow in the footsteps of Provost Lawson who in 1950 was given a personal tour of Trinity House by Burgh Chamberlain Moir.

See the model in Queensferry Museum



Pleased also to tell that in July a long lost American cousin of Trevor’s stepped off the liner Crown Princess in Queensferry; his side of the family had emigrated five generations ago back in the 1880s.  Together they went to see the model ship in the local museum and commemorated the loss of four of their cousins who perished aboard that unfortunate vessel whilst on its way to Australia in 1887.


Cousins reunited to remember tragedy

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.