Bronze Age Gold from Wales
DELTA (painting)
Port side view of the Swansea copper ore barque DELTA at sea. Unsigned and undated.
The barque Delta was built at Hill's Drydock, Cardiff in 1865 for Henry Bath & Co., Swansea, one of the 'Swansea copper ore barques' that carried copper ore from Chile to Swansea, around Cape Horn. These vessels were admired across the world, and praised by no less authority than Joseph Conrad. The Delta was eventually scrapped at Bilbao in 1934.
The iron barque DELTA was launched from Hills' Yard, Cardiff in June 1865. Built for Henry Bath & Co., Swansea, she was 164 feet long and registered at 567 tons. She usually traded between Swansea or Hull and various South American ports, particularly Valparaiso, normally carrying railway equipment out and returning with guano. Sold to the Swansea Merchants Co. in 1875, she was then resold several times during the 1890's and finally converted to a pontoon in 1908. She was scrapped at Bilbao in 1934.