Lot 1751
‡J** CARRINGTON BIRCH (Fl.1950-1969)
THE PAMIR, A FLYING P-LINER SAILING SHIP
Signed, oil on board
48 x 73cm.
* The fate of the Pamir was a tragic tale of poor preparation, haste and incompetence. On 10 August 1957 the Pamir left Buenos Aires with 86 men aboard. The vessel was dangerously overloaded with 3780 tons of grain. Captain Diebitsch had approved the departure, working under intense pressure and time restraints with an untrained crew. On the morning of 21 September 1957 the ship was caught in Hurricane Carrie. Her badly stored cargo forced the vessel to list dangerously to port and she took on copious quantities of water. Lifeboats could not be deployed and the vessel capsized 600 miles west-southwest of the Azores. None of the lifeboats contained any provisions for survival. A nine day search traced just six desperate survivors. Although these lucky few claimed that most of the ship's crew had managed to make it into lifeboats, eighty men had died from hunger and dehydration.
