(RETURN)


                          CONVICT TRANSPORTS
       
         Between 1788 - 1886 158,830 convicts from England and Ireland
            were transported and landed in the Australian Colonies -
            134,262 males and 24,568 females. Some 2,911 died on the way.  
            They were transported in 477 ships many of which made more
            than one journey.  (See Charles Bateson's "The Convict Ships"
            for details)
           
            After being sentenced to transportation many convicts had to
            spend months in prison hulks before a ship to transport them was
            available.  An image of one of the many prison hulks below.  The
            journey to Australia itself could take up to four months and
            sometimes longer.  Coditions in the transports improved over time
            as did the time taken by the voyage.
 
            Below is a small sample of the ships which transported convicts
            to Australia for which images have been identified or there is
            evidence supporting identification, how long the voyages lasted 
            and the numbers of convicts landed on arrival at their destination.
       
                     
         A CONVICT HULK

           
             Convict prison hulk Discovery  
                           E.W. Cooke's  "Shipping and Craft"
             at Deptford 
             
             The hulk was not Cooke's old ship but the ship Discovery in which Captain George
             Vancouver explored the West Coast of Canada.  She became a prison ship in 1818 for
             convicts awaiting transportation and served as such until 1824 when she was broken up.


              I. Images Identified as of Convict Transports by the National  
                Maritime Museum, Greenwich, in its Reseach Guide G3 dated
                1/28/2004 (Passengers: Ships sailing to Australia & New Zealand
                (images)   
 

                   
                   CHARLES KERR -   w3s 463t 1926 Sunderland

                                   
                                                 National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (PU6382)

                    The Charles Kerr made one voyage to Sydney as a convict transport  in
                    1837 landing 246 male convicts after a voyage of 123 days.  She visited
                    Sydney again in 1839 and Adelaide in 1840. 


                 
                  EMERALD ISLE - w3s 501t 1836 Moulmein 
                  HENRY PORCHER -
w3s 485t 1817 Bristol 
                  EDEN - w3s 513t 1826 London
 

                  At anchor In Port Adelaide  1839 - five sailing vessels - from right: Emerald Isle, Eden, Goshawk,
                  Henry Porcher and David  
                               
                   State Library of South Australia (B7177)                  National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (9402)

                  The Emerald Isle made one voyage of 104 days to Hobart in 1843 nd landed 213 male convicts.  
                   From Hobart she is recorded as going on to New Zealand. She visited South Australia in 1854

                  The
 Eden made four voyages as a convict transport - two to Sydney,  the first in 1836 when she landed
                  277 male convicts after a voyage of 113 days, and the second in 1840 when she landed 269 male convicts
                  after a voyage of 131 days. The next two voyages were to Hobatt in 1842 where sh e landed275 male
                  convicts after a voyage of 105 days,  and to Hobart and Port Phillip in 1849.  She landed 53 male convicts
                  in Hobart and then went to Port Phillip.  There was opposition to the landing of convicts at Port Phillip so
                  the198male convicts designated for Port Phillip were unloaded at Geelong
                 The vessel went to Sydney in 1937 after unloading convicts in Hobart, and visited Adelaide in 1838.
                   

                 
The Henry Porcher made three voyages as a convict transport - two to Sydney in 1825 and 1835,
                  and one to Hobart in 1836. The first voyage to Sydney lasted 120 days with with 175 male convicts
                  landed, and the second 119 days with196 male convicts landed.  Her third voyage to Hobart was of  
                  103 days and 258 male convicts were landed.  The vessel was under Eat India Company charter
                  1818 to 1831, so after her first voyage would have gone to India for a return cargo.

                 

                  FLORENTIA - w3s 453t 1821 Newcastle

                 
                                                                                                  National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (PW7704) 
 
                  The Florentia made two voyages to Sydney as a convict transport in 1828 and 1830.  The first voyage 
                   took 110 days and 165 male convicts were landed.   The second voyage lasted 121 days and 196 male
                   convicts were landed. She is also recorded as arriving in Sydney from London in1841 and 1843. The vessel
                   was under East India Company charter from 1821 to 1827.



                  LADY JULIANA - w3s 379tt 1778 Whitby
          
    
                  Etching  by R. Dodd - Lady Juliana in                                   Frank C. Bowen's "The Golden Age of Sail"
                  a storm in the West Indies in 1782
                  with mainmast shattered by lightning

                  The Lady Juliana was the first convict transport to leave Englandafter the First Fleet.  She made only one
                  such voyage leaving Plymouth in July 1789 with 226 female convicts and arriving at Sydney in June 1790
                   after a voyage of 309 days.  The vessel was under charter to the East India Company from181800 to 1809.
            

                 LADY KENNAWAY -   w3s 584t 1817 Calcutta

             
                Acquatint: "Off Margate, homeward bound, 1827"            National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
                 made 1829 - engraver E.Duncan,                                                               (PAH8468)
                 artist & publisher W.J. Huggins
                                                                                                                    
                The Lady Kennaway made three voyages as a convict transport - to  Hobart (VanDiemens Land as
                Tasmania was then called)  in 1835 and1851,
and to Sydney in 1836.  The first voyage to Hobart was 109
                days and 274 male convicts were landed, and the second was for 112 days with 249 male convicts landed.
                Her third voyage to Sydney was of 123 days and 258 male convicts were landed.  She also made voyages
                with  Government assisted
 emigrants to Sydney in 1841 and Port Phillip in 1848, 1850 and 1853. The
                vessel was under carter to the East India Company from 1826 to1831.


                          
              NORWOOD  - w3s 849t 1854  Sunderland                    
                                                              
                
                                                                                               National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (PY0635)

              The
Norwood  made two voyages as a convict transport to Western Australia in 1862 and 1867.  In the first
               voyage of 85 days she landed 290 male convicts, and in the second of 86 days she landed 252 male convicts.


                                                                                 
               PITT -  w3s 775t 1780 Thames                                   

                           
                Acquatintby J.W. Edy after Dominic Serres, R.A.               Frank C. Bowen's "The Golden Age of Sail"
 

               The Pitt  made one voyage of 212 days to Sydney as a convict transport in 1792.  The ship was the first
                regular East Indiaman (under charter to the East India Company from1786 to 1798) and the largest at
                that timeto be used as a convict transport.  As an East Indiaman, her officers were entitled to carry trade
                goods on their own acccount and the ship was over crowded.  It appears that there were 402 convicts
                (344 males and 58 females) on board when she departed.  During the voyage 20 male and 9 females
                convicts died, and 120 male convicts were landed sick on arrival at Sydney and there were further deaths.  
               Ther were also deaths among the military guard and their families  during the voyage.  The vessel
                would have gone to India from Sydney to pick up a return cvargo.
                  
                   


               SIR GEORGE SEYMOURw3s 724t 1844 Sunderland           

             
               From an oil painting by W.Howard                    National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (BHC3640)
                                                                            
                                                                                
                                                                             
               The Sir George Seymour made one voyage as a convict transport - to Hobart and Geelong (with
               Pentonville
 'exiles') in 1845 and landed 394 male convicts.  She made a voyage to Port Phillip with
               government assisted emigrants in in 1849. In 1850,
she was one of the first four ships opening the
               Canterbury settlement in New Zealand .



 
             
 VIMEIRAw3s 941t 1851 Sunderland  
                     
                                                                              
                                                                                            National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (PO6721)

              The Vimeira made one voyage as a convict transport  to Western Australia in 1865 where she landed 278
               male convicts  She also made avoyage to
Port Phillip with Governmen assisted emigrants in 1868.


                           
               II. Other Images which are Probably Images of Convict Transports   
          
 

                 BLENHEM w3s 808t.n.m. 1845 Shields         

                 
                 From a postcard which describes the Blenheim                                                    State Library of Victoria 
                 as "808 tons built Dunstan at (Sunderland?)".                                                    (Accession No.H27568/40)                    
                 Sunderland   and Shields are close by and there
                 is a query besides "Sunderland".
                
                 Blenheim of that tonnage made three voyages as a convict transport to Hobart  in 1848, 1850 and 1851. 
                 
The same ship also made one voyage to Port Phillip with Government assisted emigrants in 1854.
                  Over the three voyages she landed 896 male convicts in Hobart.



                BUSSORAH MERCHANT - w3s 530t/om 650t/nm 1818 Calcutta

                                 
                                                                                                                  State Library of South Australia (B25221)

                The Bussorah Merchant made three voyages as a convict transport - two to Sydney in in 1828 and 1831,
                and one to Hobart in 1830.  In her two voyages to Sydney she landed 166 and 198 male convicts respectively,
                and in her voyage to Hobart  198 male convicts were landed.  The vessel was owned by Duncan Dunbar.  
                She visited Hobart in 1837 and in 1839 brought emigrants to Sydney from London and Plymouth.  She is
                recorded as visting Hobart and Sydney in 1841, and South Australia for London and Plymouth in 1848.  
She
                visited Melbourne in 1860.  


                                                                                 
                CLYDE - i3s 1,151t 1860 Glasgow
       

                                                                                            
                                                                                             National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (GO2266)
                 
               A ship of this name and details  (tonnage, date and place built) was a convict transport to Western Australia
                in 1863.  After a voyage of 75 days she landed320 male convicts


               
                 EDWIN FOX - w3s 836gt 1853  Calcutta           

                  
                 Photo of painting of the Edwin Fox under sail.            From the website http://www.shawsavillships.co.uk.
                                                                               
                 The  Edwin Fox made one voyage as a convict transport to Western Australia  in 1858. She landed 280
                 male convicts after a voyage of 86 days. She was purchased by
Shaw, Savill & Co. in 1873 and in 1885
                 became  a refrigerated meat storage ship in a number  of  New Zealand
ports while shore plants were
                 constructed.  In 1886, the vessel was hulked in Queen Charlotte Sound, Picton.
 In 1897, she was moved
                 to Port Chalmers where she  became derelict.  She is back at Picton.and being restored                                                             

          


                 HAVERING w3s 906t  1849 Sth Shields   

               
                 Watercolour (The Havering,  Captain Pryce,                                                  National Library of Australia
                 passing St.  Helena in Dec. 1851, bound for                                                         (nla.pic-an591979) 
                 Sydney, New South Wales passage 82 days)
                                                                              
                The Lloyd’s Register 1851 lists the Master for a voyage London-Sydney as “C. Price”  The Register has
                only one
vessel named “Havering”  of  775tom/906tnm, built in South Shields in 1849.  She made one
                voyage as a
convict transport to Sydney in 1849, landing334male convicts after a voyage of 96 days. 
                Her Master for that voyage was John Fenwick who is listed in
Lloyd’s Register as Master of the  vessel
                from 1849 up to the voyage to Sydney in 1851.


               
                H.M.S. BUFFALO (ex-HINDOSTAN) - w3s 589t 1813 Calcutta

             
                From a pen and ink drawing by Lt. Y.B. Hutchinson RN     /      State Library of South Australia (B4263)
                who was a passenger on the ship in1836

                Purchased by the Royal Navy in 1813 as a store ship and general carrier.  She made a voyage in 1833 as
                a convict transport to Sydney with female convicts -  landing 178 at Sydney.  In 1836, under the
                command of Captain John Hindmarsh she made the voyage to found the South Australia colony.


             HOOGHLY - w3s 466t 1819 London           
 
                       
             Engraving (ca. 1840) / State Library of South Australia
                                                              (B26873)


             The Hooghly  made four voyages as a convict transport to Sydney  in 1825,1827,1831 and
             1834.  She landed 736 male convicts aafter voyages ranging between 93 and 113 days.
 She
             carried emigrants to South Australia  in 1839, and made a further six voyages to South
             Australia from
1843 to 1856. (See Ronald Parsons' "Migrant Ships for South Australia
             1836-1866") . She also visited Port
 Phillip on a half dozen occasions no doubt looking for a
             cargo for the return journeyduring this period.




               LADY CASTLREAGH – w3s 842t 1802 Thames     

               
               Oiil Painting - dismasted in a cylone                 National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (BHC 3437)
                 off  Madras 24 October1818) 
                                                                                
              The Lady Castlreagh made one voyage as a convict transport to Sydne in 1818 landing 220 male convicts
              after a voyage of 129 days   She arrived in Sydney on 30 April 1818 and then went to Hobart from where
              she departed for Madras on 26 June 1818.  At Madras she was hit by a cyclone and blown out of the
              Madras Roads and stranded. (See Ronald Parsons' "Shipping Losses and Casualties Concerning Australia
              and New Zealand")-  The vessel was under charter to the East India Company from 1803 to 1817.
                                                                                  
             
                                                                      
                MANGLESw3s 594t 1802 Calcutta    
               
               
               Painting with title :"Convct ship Mangles,                                                      State Library of Victoria 
               masterJohn Coghill"                                                                                         (Accession No. H93.410/20)

               Mangles made seven voyages to Sydney as a convict transport in 1820,1822,1824,1826, 1828, 1833 and
               1837 and one to Hobart in 1835   In Sydney she landed a total of 1,469 convict males after voyages
               ranging from 100 to 149 days, and in Hobart 308 male convicts after a voyage of 109 days.
The ship's
               Master for the first four voyages (1820-1826)
voyages was John  Coghill.  Mangles made further voyages
               to Sydney in 1837 and 1840.  The vessel was under charter to the East India Company from 1816 to 1832.
               She would have gone to India after her first five voyages to Sydney for a return cargo, and probably after
               her next three voyages as a convict transport after the East India Company's monopoly of the Indian trade
               ended in 1834.  



                MELLISH
w3s 424t 1820 Calcutta       

               
                Acquatint hand coloured  by E. Duncan after W.J. Huggins                          National Library of Australia
                "Entering Sydney harbour"  published 1830?                                                         (nla.pic-an9576808)
                                                            
                The Mellish made two voyages as  a convict transport - to Sydney in 1829 and Hobart  in 1830.  After a
                voyage of 106 days to Sydney she landed168 male convicts,  and after a 108 days voyage she landed 115
                female convicts in Hobart.  She subsequentlyvisited
Sydney in 1839 and 1840, and Hobart in 1840.

   
                
               
  Ships engaged by the Canterbury Association to carry emigrants to New Zealand.  
                 From left to right: Bangalore, Dominion, Duke of Portland, Lady Nugent, Midlothian and Canterbury.
                 Of these six ships: Bangalore, Duke of Portland, Lady Nugent and Midlothian had or would make
                 voyages as  convict transports.
     
         
                         
                                                                                                                Illustrated London News, 1851, Vol. 18, P. 422
                BANGALORE w3bk 877t 1843 Jersey
                The Bangalore made two voyages as a convict transport in to Hobart in 1848 and Moreton Bay in 1850.
                At Hobat she landed  222 male convicts.  At Moreton Bay she landed 292 male convicts after a voyage
                of 113days.  She wasin charter to the East India Company for one voyage in 1797-1798.

                LADY NUGENT
w3s 535t 1813 Bombay (rebuilt 1843 642t)   
                The Lady Nugent made two voyages as a convict transport -to Sydney in 1835 where she landed
                284 male convicts after a voyage of 126 days; and to Hobart in 1836 where she landed 286 male
                convicts after a voyage of 121 days.  
She made a voyage to Sydney in 1838; and four voyages
                to New Zealand from 1840 -1851 (henry Brett
 "White Wings", Vol.II). Her first arrival in New
                Zealand was  in Wellington in October 1840 - one of
 the pioneer ships of the Wellington settlement.
                She was in charter to the East India Company  from 1825 to 1832.
                                                                               
                MIDLOTHIAN w3bk 414t 1836 Sunderland
                The Midlothian (distant) in the woodcut has the same tonnage and place of build as the convict transport
                of that name except that the date of build is given as 1835 not 1834.   The Midlothian was in Lyttelton in
                October1851 with a Capt. Gibson as master. She made one voyage as a convict transport to Hobart in
                1853 with 'J. Gibson' as master. She landed167 female convicts after a voyage of 99 days She had
                previously visited Melbourne in 1839, 1840, 1843 and 1850.


  
                MOUNT STEWART ELPHINSTONE w3bk  611t 1826 Bombay    

               
                Oil painting  (signed and dated 1840)                National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (BHC3504 &
                                                                                                                         Negative No. 9422)

                                              
                                                                                 
                The catalogue of of paintings of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,  gives 1826 as date of
                construction
of the vessel in the painting which is also the date of  build of the convict transport of the same
                name. The
Mount Stewart Elphinstone made two voyages as a convict transport - to Hobart in 1845 and
                1848, and
one to Moreton Bay in 1849..She brought Government assisted  emigrants to  Port Phillip in 1857.

             

   
                  ST. VINCENTw3s 410t 1829 London (lengthened in 1844 and  remeasured as 497t o.m. and  630t n.m)

               
                   Wood engraving (Leaving with "bounty" emigrants,              Illustrated London News 1844,
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                  
                   The details (name, tonnage, date and place built) of the vessel in the engraving are  the same as those of  
                   the convict transport.  The St..Vincent  made three voages as a convict transport to Sydney in 1837
                   landing 190 male convicts after a voyage of 114 days,  to Hobart in 1850 landing 205 female convicts after a
                   voyage of 106 days,  and to Hobart again in 1853 landing 207 male convicts after a voyages of  128days.  
                   In her 1853 voyage, she was the last convict transport to reach Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
  She  
                   made voyages to Sydney in 1840, 1841 and 1844.   She was still afloat in1863.




                  SESOSTRIS
w3s 487t 1817 Hull  
 
   
                  MORLEYw3s 480t om 1811 Thames      
                   (later 492tom/579tnm)                     
                                                                                                                                                           
                  Sesostris, Morley being piloted through the Torres Straits by HM Brig Britomart (Captioned
                  “Sunset May 22, 1841 of Mt. Cook” 
                                                                                .
                   Water colour  (Publisher ca. 1841)                           National Library of Australia ( nla.pic-an23501541)

                 Sesostris made one voyage as a convict transport to Sydney in 1826 landing 147 male convicts after a
                 voyage of 111 days. 
  In the Sydney records,  she is listed as arriving in Sydney from London in 1839,
                 Tahiti in 1840 and Calcutta in
February 1841. She is decribed as a barque.

                   Morley made six voyages as a convict transport – to Sydney in 1817 and 1818,  to Hobart and Sydney
                   in 1820, to Hobart in 1823, and to Sydney in 1828 and 1829.  She landed a total of  730 male and 71 female
                   convicts in Sydney ans 170 male and 50 female convicts in Hobart.

                  There is
no record of other visits by the Morley in the 1830s to Auastralian ports.  She did however visit
                  Adelaide in April 1840 from where she was reportedly destined for New
Zealand and Valparaiso. 
                  According to Ian Nicholson’s “Log of Logs” Vol. 2, she was in
Sydney in early May 1841,and destined
                  for Bombay.This is consistent with a passage of the
Torres Straits later in that month.

                  H.M. Brig  Britomart
(Lt. Cdr Owen Stanley) was leaving the Australian Station for India

                   
               
                TORYw3bk 512t 1842 Sutherland       

                 
                 Lithograph by T.G. Dutton with caption:                                                       National Library of Australia
                 “Barque Tory..G.E. Langford, Commander…                                                     (nla.pic-an9579666)
                 Australian Cordilleras Gold Mining Company ..
                 Ship leaving the Downs with their first
                 expedition to Australia”)  
                                                                                
                                                                                 
                The barque Tory, 433tom/512tnm,built Hylton near Sutherland 1842 (details from Hobart records) made three
                voyages as a convict transport. Two voyages were to Hobart in 1845 and 1848. On both of these voyages
                she embarked and landed  170 female convicts after voyages of 104 and 98 days.  In 1847 she went  to Norfolk

                Island where sh landed 195 male convicts There is no record of the length of the voyage.. 
                                                                                 
                A barque Tory of the same details was lost when she went ashore near Port Stephens, N.S.W. in 1853. Her
                Master
was Captain Langford (as in the caption of the Dutton lithograph).  The vessel was carrying a party
                of labourers
from the UK to Port Stephens for the Peel River Mining Company. No lives were lost. (R.Parsons:
                “Shipping Losses
and Casualties Concerning Australia and New Zealand”).  This was possibly the end of
                the voyage of which the
beginning is depicted in the Dutton lithograph  There was another barque Tory,
                402t om /483t nm,also  built in
Sutherland in 1842 with which there has been some confusion. She visited
                Adelaide in 1850 and 1851 from London
and on her way to Melbourne. She  traded between Melbourne  and
                New Zealand from 1851 until at least 1854.
 Her Master from her 1850 visit to Adelaide until at least 1854 in
                Melbourne was Capt. J. Rowe.


                 
                VIMIERA - w3bk 941t 1851 Sunderland

             
                                                                                              National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK (PO6721)
                 
                 Vimiera made one voyage to Western Australia in 1865 and landed 278 male convicts after a voyage
                 of 83 days.



                WATERLOOw3s 414t 1815 Bristol          

                 
                  Lithograph of the wreck of the convict                                                 WL Crowther Library, Tasmanian 
                  transport Waterloo at the Cape of Good                                               Archive and Heritage Office
                  Hope in August, 1842                                                                                             
                                                                                 
                Waterloo made six voyages as convict transport between 1829 and 1838 - five to Sydney and one to
                
Hobart in 1835. In these voyages she landed  1,026 male convicts in Sydney and 224  male convicts in
                Hobart.

                On her seventh voyage as a convict transport in 1842 with 219 male convicts on board Waterloo went to
                and anchored at Table Bay on 24 August to pick up fresh supplies because of an outbreak of scurvy.
                The Captain went ashore leaving a young first mate in command.  A storm blew up during the
                night, the ships anchors failed to hold and the ship went ashore.  Some 143 convicts were drowned along
                with 14 of the crew, 14 of the military guard, 4 soldiers' wives and 14 of the soldiers' children. (For a fuller
                account of the loss of the Waterloo see Charles Bateson's "The Convict Ships 1797-1866".)  


             
               

             
                                                                             
                                                                         
          
              

                
                (Ship details from Charles Bateson’s “The Convict Ships 1797-1868”,  
                Library of Australian History, Sydney 1983 - first published by Brown,
                Son & Ferguson, Glasgow 1959.  The Lloyd's Register, and Ship Arrival
                and Departure information  for Sydney,  Hobart, Adelaide  and other
                Australian ports have also been consulted. East India Company details
                from http://www.eicships.info/shiplistM.asp).



                (RETURN)