HOW AND   WHEN THEY CAME

  1839

The Tomatin  departed from Greenock, ajoining Port Glasgow, Scotland, on October 25th bound for Adelaide.  It   arrived in that port on March 10th 1840 having been under the command of Captain Daniel Wingate.   Catherine Patterson was one of the 119 passengers on board. (The Register 17 March 1840)

  1850

The Stag  departed from London on   February 22nd for Adelaide and arrived there on June 11th.   The ship was uder the command of Captain J. Baker and the passengers included William and Susannah Willcock. (The Register 12 June 1850)

  1851

The Candahar  (642 tons, Master Goss) departed from London on 8th August via Plymouth for Adelaide and Port Phillip and arrived in Adelaide on Monday 1st December.   Passengers: Summerland Staniford, Lydia Staniford, Lydia Pitfield Staniford, Eliza Staniford. Mary Ann Staniford, Lucretia Staniford, Emma Staniford and Summerland Staniford. (The Register 2 December 1851)

  1852

The barque Colooney  (287 tons, Master D. Walters) departed from Leith on 24th July bound for Melbourne via Adelaide where it arrived on Tuesday 7th December. The sailing ship had journeyed around the Shetland Islands and the west coast of Scotland to avoid the storms in the English Channel, which were very severe about that time.   Cabin Passengers included William Crooks, Ann Crooks, Amelia Crooks, Agnes Crooks, Marianne Crooks, William Crooks, Jemima Crooks, Alexander Crooks, James Scott, Amelia Scott, Paul Scott, Alexander Scott, Elizabeth Thompson (the sister of Ann Crooks and Amelia Scott) and Elizabeth Crooks (the sister of William Crooks). (The Register 8 December 1852, The Chronicle 24 January 1914))

(A barque is a vessel with at least three masts, all of them fully square rigged except for the sternmost one, which is fore-and-aft rigged. The wooden three-masted barque was the most common type of deep-water cargo-carrier in the middle of the 19th century. However, only one such vessel has survived to our days - the Sigyn.  The typical cargo-carrier of the early 20th century was the four-masted steel barque. When four-masted barques started to appear in the 19th century, they were often called full-rigged ships since they had three square rigged masts, and a ship was more highly regarded than a barque. Pictured below is the Picton Castle  - a 20th century reproduction.)

    1855

The Bucephalus  departed Liverpool on 17th July and arrived in Adelaide on 13th October. The captain was J. Betts Thompson and the passengers included Mary Hyland from County Cavan in Ireland. (The Register 15 Oct 1855).

  1856

The Royal Albert  departed Plymouth on 21st December 1856 and arrived in Adelaide on 28th March 1857.  The captain was W. Punchard and the passengers included Patrick Donoghue, Charles Donoghue and Matthew Donoghue from County Cavan in Ireland.  (The Register 30 Mar 1857).

  1857

The Stamboul   departed Plymouth on 21st October 1857 and arrived in Adelaide on 1st February 1858. Passengers included Edmund Fitzgerald, Johanna Fitzgerald, John Fitzgerald and James Fitzgerald from County Tipperary.  (The Register 02 Feb 1858.)

  1858

The General Hewitt  departed Plymouth on 12th April 1858 and arrived in Adelaide on 11th September with Captain C.H. Loutitt.   The passengers included Patrick Hyland, Catherine Hyland, Bridget Hyland, Ann Teresa Hyland and Margaret F. Hyland.  (The Register 13 Sep 1858.)   The General Hewitt was a three masted fully rigged ship (see the note above under barque) of 973 tonnes built in Bengal in1812 because of the availability of good quality mahogany. This ship was once used for convict transportation to New South Wales and possibly Van Dieman's Land from 1814.  It usually had a crew of around 80 and had 14 guns. It made various journeys to Sydney via Port Adelaide and Port Phillip Bay in the 1850's.

The Confiance  departed Plymouth on 5th August 1858 and arrived in Adelaide on 27th November 1858.  The captain was James Twodale and the passengers included Patrick Daly and John Daly from County Cavan in Ireland.  (The Register 29 Nov 1858.)

  1873

The Sattara  departed London Docks on 30th December and arrived in Adelaide with Captain Harrison.  Passengers included Joseph Foureur, Maria Foureur, Bertha Foureur, Lucie Foureur, Lucie Foureur, Blanche Foureur and Louis Foureur.

  1879

The Trevelyan  departed from Plymouth on 5th January.  The passengers included Wyndham Bradley, Anne Bradley, George Rowland Bradley, Mary Bradley, John Bradley, William Bradley.

  1895

The Oruba  departed from London (Tilbury) on 28 Dec 1895 bound for Adelaide.   It arrived in Plymouth on 29 December, Gibraltar on 2 January 1896, Naples on the 6th, Port Said the 9th, Suez the 10th, Colombo the 21st, Albany on the 1st February and finally Adelaide on 4 Feb 1896, with Master Lindsay Hay, bound for Sydney.  Mr. J.H Sparks was the Purser and M.G. Anderson the City and Port Agent. There had been 152 passengers in all classes en route  including Miss Josephine Amelia Thompson and others in the saloon and 25 in second cabin.  This Oruba   of 3,096 tons belonged  to the Orient Line/Orient Steam Navigation Company which was founded in 1877. The P. & O. Line owned at different times at least two ships of this name - the names of many of their ships began with the letters 'Or'.  (The ship's manifest, The Observer 8 February 1896.)  

(The sails were only carried in case of engine failure - apparently a not unknown event at the turn of the last century - there is still a marked contrast however, between this vessel and the one which brought Josephine's great-aunts and uncles and their families to Australia 43 years earlier.)