South Australia - Immigration
Emigrant Ships
Miscellany
The Pre-Proclamation Emigrant Ships
Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience
On 28 July 1836 (the ship's first mate Robert Russell, insisted it was the 27th), there came into Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island, the barque, Duke of York, of 197 tons, with 38 passengers, under the command of Captain C. Morgan. We, who now look back at that time, cannot but regret that she ended her career on a treacherous reef in the same year, for a vessel invested with so much historical interest would be regarded with some veneration now, as the Mayflower<> was by the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers. There have been radical changes since those days of wooden ships and a complete revolution in marine architecture. The old wooden walls of England have been superseded by the ironclad leviathans propelled by steam power and a ship of the type of 70 years ago is a curiosity. Oaken timbers have given place to iron ribs and 'wooden walls' to steel bulwarks.Early in 1836 the South Australian Company laid on a number of vessels in London to take emigrants to this untried land, of which people had such vague ideas, that some of them believed that lions or tigers infested its forests, crocodiles and alligators its unknown rivers, and savages of a strange type its woods and plains. They were even more willing to believe that gold existed in abundance in its gullies and river-beds, and, perchance, precious stones in unexplored places among its mountains - in fact, that it was a new El Dorado.
The following list will, I trust, be read with interest as tending to revive recollections of the colony's infancy. In 1877, Sir George Kingston took a great interest in preserving the names of the early vessels and I am partly indebted to his list for the following particulars:
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Lady Mary Pelham - Barque, 206 tons; Captain R. Ross; anchored Nepean Bay, 30 July 1836; 29 passengers. (Again Sir George Kingston and Robert Russell are at variance - the latter says the date was 28 July.)
John Pirie - Schooner; Captain G. Martin; 16 August 1836; 38 passengers - another source says 28.
Rapid - Brig, 162 tons; Captain Colonel William Light; anchored Nepean Bay, 2 August 1836 - other sources say 19 or 20 August); 24 passengers.
Cygnet - Barque; Captain J. Rolls; anchored in Nepean Bay, 11 September 1836 and in Holdfast Bay 5 November 1836; 84 passengers.
Emma - Barque; Captain T. Nelson; anchored Nepean Bay, 5 October 1836; 22 passengers.
Africaine - Barque, 346 tons; Captain J.F. Duff; anchored in Nepean Bay, 2 November 1836 and in Holdfast Bay on 8 November 1836; 76 passengers.
Tam o'Shanter - Barque; Captain Freeman; anchored in Nepean Bay, 30 November 1836 (another source says 5 October) and in Holdfast Bay on 17 December 1836; 74 passengers.
HMS Buffalo - Captain John Hindmarsh, RN; anchored in Port Lincoln, 24 December 1836 and in Holdfast Bay on 28 December 1836; 174 passengers.
The above-named ships brought out a total of 549 men, women and children, the nucleus of the colony.
The Voyage of the Emma
Little has been recorded on the journey of this emigrant ship to our shores and, accordingly, I reproduce a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations of caring for animals at sea by one of its passengers, C.S. Hare, taken from a letter written to George Fife Angas in London, and dated 28 November 1836, at Kingscote, Kangaroo Island:
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You will be glad to hear of the safe arrival of the Emma at this port with her passengers all safe, though it has been literally 'through a sea of troubles', such as I, with all the vicissitudes of my little life, have never before and trust never again to experience.
I wrote an account of the heavy gales and their unpleasant consequences at the Cape. I sent you a sworn statement of circumstances in connection with them. Your agents there sent you a protest against Captain Nelson, and accounts of the affairs besides. After closing my melancholy business there, I put Mrs Hare on board at our lives' peril.
The gale increased, and a series of losses and disasters occurred in constant succession, until our arrival in this place. We lost after we had cleared out, but while in the bay, our best Vriesland cow. On the 8th our best grey mare died after a heavy squall. On the 16th the second cow died; I skinned her and tied the toughest pieces of her hide on the chafed and sore places of the stallion and two mares. On the 19th the little black mare died. On the 22nd our brown mare died. On the 27th our stallion, with three Cape, four English sheep, five goats and all our remaining poultry died, or were rather killed.
It was a perfect hurricane, in which we lost our foresail, our fore-topsail, main topsail and almost everything else. I had four men attend the cattle and I never suffered them night or day to be alone. While they were alive I made it a point of conscience to be up at least twice every night, mostly three times, and frequently all night to watch them. I had them slung all the time.
I have had as many as eight bags of hay round and about the mares, with sheepskins round their ropes, etc., to prevent them chafing. In the course of a single night, such was the rolling of the ship, etc., that it has frequently cut through a bag of hay and cut half an inch into their flesh.
By every means which my knowledge of medicine and cattle could suggest, did I do my best to keep them alive. If they had been my own I would have cut their throats and thrown them overboard, in mercy to them, long before they died. They were, without exception, before they died, the most miserable mass of wounds, bruises and sores, that I ever beheld. I landed one sheep here; one died in the boat. You will be glad to hear that the half-Merino rams are alive still.
The ship came in here in an almost wrecked condition... In as bad condition as the Emma came in here, I found the settlement in a perhaps worse condition.
General Notes
An obituary of James Miller (Buffalo) is in the Express,
12 February 1894, page 2c,
of Israel Mazey (Duke of York) on
28 June 1894, page 2e,
J.A. Hill (Africaine) on
26 December 1894, page 3c,
James Harvey (Buffalo) on
25 April 1895, page 3e,
John Wood (Lady Emma) on
30 May 1895, page 3d,
Isaac French (Lady Emma on
28 January 1896, page 2d,
Charles B. Powell (Duke of York) on
13 January 1898, page 2f,
John L. Thompson (Buffalo) on
18 April 1898, page 4a,
of Edward Holthouse (Cygnet) in the Observer,
5 December 1903, page 33e,
of Arabella C. Williams (Duke of York) on
11 November 1905, page 38c,
of Michael Calnan (Africaine) on
16 July 1910, page 40a.
Also see Comments on the Colony.
"A Survivor of the Buffalo", Mrs Fraser, "whose father built the first stone structure in the State - the government treasury office", is in the Observer, 27 February 1904, page 1c (supp.).
Information on H. Douglas (Lady Emma) and his family is in the Express,
31 December 1895, page 3d.
"A First Ship Pioneer [Charles Powell]" is in the Register,
30 October 1895, page 7d.
The reminiscences of C.B. Powell (Duke of York) are in the Observer,
15 January 1898, page 12d.
A series of informative articles on early immigrant ships is in The News in 1936 -
5 August (Rapid),
6 August (Africaine),
7 August (Isabella),
8 August (Buffalo),
10 August (John Denison),
11 August (Lady Emma),
12 August (Pestonjee Bomanjee),
13 August (Buckinghamshire),
15 August (Lysander).
For further information on the Pestonjee Bomanjee see Observer,
28 November 1896, page 42a and
25 February 1911, page 49e for the Duke of York.
Historical information on the Tam O'Shanter is in the Register,
25 and 28 May 1920, pages 9g and 9e.
For information on the John Pirie see Observer,
21 August 1886, page 31a.
"The Story of the Rapid" is in the Register,
29 September 1917, page 6i,
2 October 1917, page 5d.
"Emigrant Ships" is in the Register,
27 May 1876, page 7a.
The reminiscences of Robert Russell (Duke of York) are in the Register,
27 July 1886, page 6d.
The reminiscences of a passenger on the John Renwick are in the Register,
27 December 1886, page 1h (supp.).
"Our Pioneer Ships - A Narrative of 1836" is in the Observer,
31 July 1886, page 6c.
"The Roaring Forties in the Sixties - Voyage on a Small Sailing Ship" is in the Observer,
21 June 1924, page 17b.
The quarantine of the Taymouth Castle is discussed in the Observer,
11 August 1855, page 7c.
An 1836 letter from C.S. Hare in respect of the arrival of the Emma is in the Express,
28 December 1872, page 3c:
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You will be glad to hear of the safe arrival of the Emma at this port with her passengers all safe, though it has been literally 'through a sea of troubles', such as I, with all the vicissitudes of my little life, have never before and trust never again to experience.
I wrote an account of the heavy gales and their unpleasant consequences at the Cape. I sent you a sworn statement of circumstances in connection with them. Your agents there sent you a protest against Captain Nelson, and accounts of the affairs besides. After closing my melancholy business there, I put Mrs Hare on board at our lives' peril.
The gale increased, and a series of losses and disasters occurred in constant succession, until our arrival in this place. We lost after we had cleared out, but while in the bay, our best Vriesland cow. On the 8th our best grey mare died after a heavy squall. On the 16th the second cow died; I skinned her and tied the toughest pieces of her hide on the chafed and sore places of the stallion and two mares. On the 19th the little black mare died. On the 22nd our brown mare died. On the 27th our stallion, with three Cape, four English sheep, five goats and all our remaining poultry died, or were rather killed.
It was a perfect hurricane, in which we lost our foresail, our fore-topsail, main topsail and almost everything else. I had four men attend the cattle and I never suffered them night or day to be alone. While they were alive I made it a point of conscience to be up at least twice every night, mostly three times, and frequently all night to watch them. I had them slung all the time.
I have had as many as eight bags of hay round and about the mares, with sheepskins round their ropes, etc., to prevent them chafing. In the course of a single night, such was the rolling of the ship, etc., that it has frequently cut through a bag of hay and cut half an inch into their flesh.
By every means which my knowledge of medicine and cattle could suggest, did I do my best to keep them alive. If they had been my own I would have cut their throats and thrown them overboard, in mercy to them, long before they died. They were, without exception, before they died, the most miserable mass of wounds, bruises and sores, that I ever beheld. I landed one sheep here; one died in the boat. You will be glad to hear that the half-Merino rams are alive still.
The ship came in here in an almost wrecked condition... In as bad condition as the Emma came in here, I found the settlement in a perhaps worse condition.
"The Buffalo's Guns" is in the Observer,
11 September 1875, page 6g,
1 January 1898, page 13d.
"The People Who Arrived by the Buffalo" is in the Express,
16 December 1886, page 4b.
"The Boatswain of the Buffalo" is in the Observer,
6 January 1883, page 9d; also see
Register,
18 and 30 March 1865, pages 3a and 3f and Place Names - Glenelg - Old Gum Tree.
A list of the officers and crew of HMS Buffalo is in the Observer,
1 January 1887, page 21e,
"The Buffalo Guns" on
19 January 1895, page 26b,
"The Buffalo and Her Fate" on
1 January 1898, page 33e,
"Some Buffalo People" on
31 December 1921, page 31d.
"HMS Buffalo - The South Australian Mayflower" is in the Advertiser,
25 December 1912, page 19c
"HMS Buffalo - Facts Disclosed for the First Time" is in the Register,
28 December 1925, page 8h,
"The Buffalo and Her Fate" on
28 December 1897, page 5e; this article includes personal
reminiscences of early colonial days.
A "correct" list of passengers of the Duke of York compiled by W.L. Beare is in the Observer,
9 January 1858, page 6h.
Information on its crew and passengers is in the Register,
28 June 1894, page 4h.
Information on the Africaine is in the Observer,
26 December 1868, page 4f,
2 January 1869, page 7d,
"The Adventures of the Africaine Pioneers" is in the Observer,
22 November 1924, page 48a.
The reminiscences of Henry Douglas (Emma) are in the Observer,
7 June 1902, page 25e.
A list of "Early Arrivals of Vessels" is in the Register,
29 December 1924, page 9b; also see
5 January 1925, page 13g,
"Early SA Shipping" on
29 December 1924, page 8h,
"Immigrant Ships - Arrivals in SA, 1848-1883" on
26 January 1926, page 12f.
"The Pioneers by the Rapid and Cygnet" is the subject of a letter to the Advertiser on
15 February 1878, page 6e.
Reminiscences of landing from the Cygnet in 1836 are in the Register,
1 January 1877, page 5d.
The loss of the emigrant ship, Kapunda, is reported in the Register,
2 and 18 February 1887, pages 4f and 5d.
The reminiscences of David Morgan (Lady Emma) are in the Observer,
26 March 1892, page 42a.
Information on the voyage of the David Malcolm in 1839 is in the Observer,
25 November 1899, page 34c.
"The Outward-Bound Emigrant Ship" is in the South Australian Magazine, 1841-1842, page 52.
Perceived errors in E.A.D. Opie's early records of the arrival of ships to South Australia are narrated in the Register,
5 June 1920, page 12e.
27 December 1886, page 1h (supp.).
Information on the immigrant vessel Truelove from Sydney in November 1836 is in the Register,
7 September 1886, page 3a.
"Information for Emigrants" is in the Southern Australian,
13 October 1838, page 3d.
"Landing in Pioneering Days" (Asia - 1839) is described in the Register,
27 July 1911, page 9c.
Also see Geoffrey H. Manning, Memoirs of Thomas Frost.
"The Asia's Homeward Voyage" is in The Examiner,
14 May 1853, page 10a.
The condition of emigrant ships is discussed in the Register, 28 March 1840, page 5b:
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True, there was a variety to relieve the direful monotony on the voyage. Sales of effects belonging to the departed took place, and large sums were realised thereby; bodies, scarcely cold, were toppled into the deep, with little, if any, ceremonial Christian burial.
A thoughtless captain, desirous of dispersing the gloom, danced on the deck with a lady's bustle... An officer was taken into adultery and a defrauded husband quenched his wrath with a glass of rum; a beer shop was opened by a penny-turning passenger, on the strength of a stock of porter bought from the captain...
'Indeed, such was the scarcity of the ship's dietary, we are told a rat was skinned, dressed and eaten by the cabin passengers, while anything they could lay their hands on was grabbed by those in the steerage... It is the opinion of all or a great majority of the passengers that several lives, out of the seventeen that died, might have been saved if proper attention had been paid and medical comforts served out to them.
Three officers... had "fancy girls" selected from among the fair passengers. These libertine pranks occasioned little or no surprise on board. With abhorrence we visited the ship and saw one poor fellow in articulo mortis, whom Dr Duncan had kindly and promptly visited. Until that gentleman came he was dying with no friendly hand to aid him among his fellow-passengers: custom had made them cold and careless...
English emigration agents for these cheap ships are mere sordid actors in a dismal farce. The Emigration Agent here is not, we believe, called upon to interfere when persons have arrived without any charge upon the Land Fund of this colony; but in our mind the claims of humanity are imperative, and such claims ought not to be shirked under any pretence...
In conclusion, we regret to state, that whilst we have been writing death has been busy again, more victims have been added to the dismal catalogue of mortality on board the death-ship, under concomitant circumstances of the most disgusting loathsomeness and intoxication.
But what decency, what sobriety, what cleanliness, what humanity can be expected on board a vessel whose commander and surgeon are habitually drunk? Many men less culpable have been tried for manslaughter, and we fear that the lives of some of the passengers by the Douglas will be charged against those who pretended to command and superintend, but forsook or neglected their duty. Britons, bestir yourselves! The honour of the British name is at stake, and all through the reckless use of stimulating drinks.
The seizure of the Ville de Bordeaux is recounted in the Register,
20 and 27 February 1841, pages 2b and 3d,
6 and 20 March 1841, pages 3c and 3b,
10 April 1841, page 4b,
15 May 1841, page 2f,
26 July 1845, page 2c,
17 July 1921, page 4h for a history by A.T. Saunders.
The diary of a voyage from London in 1849 in the Ceclia (Cecelia?) is reproduced in the Register,
7 October 1916, page 11b.
"Emigrant Ships" is in the Observer,
3 February 1849, page 3c.
A public dinner given to Captain Godfrey of the Constance, who "made the extraordinary passage of 77 days from England to this colony" is reported in the SA Gazette & Mining Journal,
29 November 1849, page 3a.
Information on the arrival of the Princess Louise in 1849 is in the Register,
8 August 1889, page 5c.
A public meeting of passengers from the Harpley is reported in the SA Gazette & Mining Journal,
23 January 1851, page 3b.
"An Early Voyage - How Our Constitution Was Delivered" in the Ascendant is in the Register,
9 June 1900, page 5h.
A log of the Trafalgar over the years 1848-1860 is reproduced in the Register,
26 November 1923, page 11b.
A diary of the 1849-1850 voyage of the Agincourt is reproduced in the Register,
1 and 15 February 1923, pages 7f and 6g.
"Emigrant Ships to Australia" is in the Register,
16 February 1853, pages 2e and 3b.
Reminiscences of the wreck of the Electric off Port Noarlunga are in the Register,
20 July 1921, page 9d.
Historical information on the arrival of the Samuel Boddington in 1857 and the Cruttenden family is in the Register,
11 January 1921, page 6d.
A report on the arrival of the Confiance is in the Observer,
4 December 1858, page 6g and
the Escort on
13 August 1859, page 4f,
Trevelyan on
16 October 1875, page 10f.
Distilling apparatus for fresh water on emigrant ships is discussed in the Register,
31 January 1861, page 3e.
The arrival of the Castle Eden is reported in the Register,
27 December 1862, page 2e,
of theMary Shepherd on
20 April 1863, page 3a,
of the Agamont on
28 September 1863, page 3b,
of the Northumberland on
11 January 1864, page 3a,
of the Rockliff on
22 December 1864, page 2h,
of the Queen Bee on
13 March 1865, page 3a,
of the Coldstreamon
6 June 1865, page 2f,
of the Peerless on
10 July 1865, page 2g,
of the Atalanta on
16 April 1866, page 3b,
of the British Lion on
16 and 19 July 1866, pages 3e and 2f.
The arrival of the Sir John Lawrence is reported in the Express,
15 December 1863, page 2d,
of the Northumberland on
11 January 1864, page 2d,
the Peeress on
10 July 1865, page 3d,
the Norman Morrison on
22 August 1865, page 3b,
the Cornwallis on
28 August 1865, page 3d,
theElectric on
25 September 1865, page 3c,
the Lady Milton on
30 November 1865, page 3c,
the Lincoln on
4 December 1865, page 3c,
the Trevelyan on
22 March 1866, page 3d,
the Atlanta on
16 April 1866, page 3d.
Information on the voyage of the Saint Vincent in 1867 is in the Register,
12 June 1924, page 3e.
Sketches of shipboard scenes are in the Pictorial Australian in March 1875.
The Dalhousie is described in the Observer, 17 January 1874, page 12e.
Information on the Hesperides is in the Register,
17 August 1875, page 6c,
on the Trevelyan on
12 October 1875, page 6b.
Drunkenness on board emigration ships is discussed in the Advertiser,
17 and 20 January 1876, pages 5a and 6f.
"Emigrant Ships" is in the Register,
27 May 1876, page 7a. On
6 November 1877, page 6e George S. Kingston supplies a list of early immigrant ships and names of passengers.
The arrival of the Lochee is reported upon in the Register,
2 and 7 February 1877, pages 5f and 4d.
The arrival of the Rodney and Queen of Nations is reported in the Express,
4 December 1877, page 3e,
of the Scottish Lassie on
2 January 1878, page 2d.
The arrival of the Ashmore is reported in the Register,
2 October 1884, page 7a.
"Arrival of the Sommerfeld - Serious Charges by Passengers" is in the Register,
14 October 1891, page 5g.
Reminiscences of a voyage to South Australia in 1839 in the Ariadne appear in the Register,
11 November 1899, page 8d and
in the Tarquin in 1864 on
22 July 1904, page 4f.
"The Irishman's Immigrants - Busy Scenes at Outer Harbour" is in the Register,
4, 8, 9 and 11 November 1912, pages 9d, 3f-7a, 15c and 10d,
21 November 1912, page 8e,
15 February 1913, page 13e,
"The Irishman's Immigrants" in the Observer,
9 November 1912, page 46e,
18 January 1913, page 52a.
"An Emigrant Ships Peril" is in the Advertiser,
3 February 1913, page 17a.
"An Old Ship's Log" (Trafalgar), 1848-1860, including passenger lists, appears in the Register,
26 November 1923, page 11b.
An article on the wreck of the Nashwauk in 1855 is in the Advertiser,
13 May 1933, page 9c.
An article on immigrant ships is in The Mail,
26 January 1935, page 2.
Emigrant Ships - Obituaries
An obituary of Robert Bristow (Cygnet) is in the Register,13 May 1863, page 2d.
An obituary of Charlotte Hudson Stephens (Duke of York) is in the Register,
17 December 1875, page 5b.
An obituary of D.H. Schreyvogel (Duke of York) is in the Register,
14 December 1886, page 5b.
An obituary of Nicholas Stevens, a crew member of the Buffalo, is in the Observer,
26 September 1891, page 32e,
of Robert Russell, a passenger on the Duke of York, on 2 January 1891, page 39a,
of Luke Broadbent (Buffalo) on 23 April 1892, page 29e,
of Edmund Parsons (Cygnet) on 21 May 1892, page 37c,
of J. Hoare (Cygnet) on 14 January 1893, page 30a,
of James Miller(Buffalo) on 17 February 1894, page 30e,
of Israel Mazey (Duke of York) on 30 June 1894, page 30a,
Robert Wright (Cygnet) on 28 July 1894, page 30c.
An obituary of R.J. Horsell (Coromandel) is in the Observer,
1 September 1900, page 15d,
of Mrs Caroline Black (Coromandel) on 12 August 1905, page 38e,
of Mrs Caroline Kidner (Coromandel) on 31 August 1907, page 38e,
of Sarah Tilly (Buffalo) on 16 May 1908, page 40b,
of Mrs W.C. Johnson (Africaine) on 9 October 1909, page 40a,
of J.J. Breaker (Buffalo) on 30 November 1912, page 41a,
of S.J. Stuckey (Buffalo) on 21 December 1912, pages 17a-41a.
An obituary of a Mrs Barton, "who arrived in 1836", is in the Observer, 22 December 1894, page 29d,
of William Chittleborough (Buffalo) on 30 December 1911, page 32a.
An obituary of Mrs E. Collins (John Pirie) is in the Register,
8 October 1907, page 5b.
