The Glenmark and the missing gold

With the mysterious loss of the ship Glenmark went a king’s ransom in gold - all from New Zealand.
The Glenmark had made the round trip from England to New Zealand eight times, bringing immigrants out and taking back goods.  She made her first voyage in 1864 and was one of the fastest ships - making the trip in 83 days.  She had been built in an Aberdeen shipyard especially for the New Zealand trip.
The ship was initially captained by John Thomson, a weak grumpy man,who was eventually replaced after several dangerous incidents.
Plushly appointed, it had first and second class cabins (although passengers had to bring their own furniture) and a concert hall with two pianos.
Immigrants travelled in relative luxury - compared to those on other ships - and arrived quicker.  The ship still suffered from the usual complaints - like disease, but it was often in the newspapers when she arrived so the public could go and view her.
On February 1, 1872, the Glenmark left Lyttelton carrying 50 passengers and filled to the brim with wool, sheepskins and £80,000 in colonial gold.
In today’s money that's well over $1.5 billion.
The Captain was now Lieutenant Richard Wrankworth, born in Cape Town and with a good reputation after having been in the merchant navy his whole working life.
He had gained his master’s certificate in 1851.
The Glenmark set sail with no issues.  But after 154 days with no mention of her arriving, concerns grew about her fate.
Two other ships had left Lyttelton about the same time, the Robert Henderson and the Natal Queen, whose captain wrote that something must be very wrong.
He had also noted the very bad weather off the Falklands and rumours of a ship foundering.
Another ship, the Sir Humphrey Davies, had left Sydney for England shortly before the Glenmark left New Zealand.    It encountered a cyclone and on the second day of the storm came across a debris field in the ocean.
The storm prevented them from examining the debris.
After a year there was no hope.  The Glenmark was lost with all hands.
The watery grave of all on board is unknown to this day.
Photo by Jingming Pan.

​