page_title: SS Canastota
section_title: Taffrail log found near Seal Rocks
hierarchical_section_title: SS Canastota / Remnants found / Taffrail log found near Seal Rocks
caption_attribution_description: English: "Cherub" model ship's mechanical speed log, manufactured by Thomas Walker. On display at Scalloway Museum.
context_page_description: SS Canastota was a British-flagged, coal-burning, two-masted, steel screw, cargo steamer of 4,904 gross register tons and 3,139 net register tons.
  She was built in 1907 as Falls of Orchy at Napier and Miller's Old Kilpatrick Yard, Glasgow, Scotland, for the Falls Line. She was sold in 1914 and briefly owned by the New Zealand Shipping Co. She was renamed Canastota when purchased by the Canastota Steamship Co. Ltd in 1915.
  Canastota was last seen on 13 June 1921, leaving Sydney bound for Wellington, New Zealand.
  SS Canastota is not to be confused with:
  USS Canastota, a World War II submarine chaser; or
  another ship, a U.S. Navy tug with a similar sounding name, USS Conestoga, that also disappeared in 1921.
context_section_description: A taffrail log is a mechanical device used to determine a ship's speed. The device obtains its name because the dial was typically attached to a plank that was secured to the taffrail of a ship. A rotor was towed behind the ship to measure the distance travelled in a similar way to an odometer.
  In early August 1921, a 'Walker's Cherub Mark II' taffrail log attached to an Oregon plank was found washed up on a beach near Seal Rocks on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales.Two ships were wrecked on the Mid-North Coast on the night of 25 June 1921, but it was thought likely that the taffrail log was from Canastota.
  Some reports state that the Oregon plank was charred but the statement by the finder (Andrew Johnson) does not mention charring. A number of freshly painted planks also washed up around the same time. 
  The taffrail log carried a serial number (3295 M / -) and the ship's agent, George Parkes was asked if that serial number matched the taffrail log carried by Canastota. It seems it was never confirmed that the taffrail log or the painted planks belonged to Canastota.
caption: Walker's Cherub Taffrail Log - showing how its dial is attached to a plank mounted on the ship's taffrail.(Scalloway Museum)
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