Katherine Stewart Forbes (ship)

History
Great Britain
Name: Katherine Stewart Forbes
Owner: Chapman
Operator: Captain Alfred Fell
Launched: 1818, Kent
General characteristics
Type: Barque
Tons burthen: 457
Length: 117' 3"
Beam: 29' 4"
Draught: not recorded
Sail plan: Ship rig

Katherine Stewart Forbes was a barque built at Northfleet docks in Kent in 1818 to 'second description first class' for the Chapman company. She weighed 457 tons and was variously recorded as a ship and a barque.[1][2] She is recorded to have conveyed early settlers to New Zealand, and convicts to Australia in 1830 and 1832.[3] Her masters were Captain Alfred Fell and Captain James Berry, Chief officer was William Donovan, W B Willoughby was Second Officer and Duncan Donovan was Third officer.

She is recorded to have made several trips from England to Australia; however, she made several more voyages between Australian settlements. Whilst in Australian waters she was variously employed in the seagoing transport trade.[4]

Notable Voyages

1829: Plymouth to Port Jackson
She sailed from Plymouth on the 18th of October 1829 carrying 200 convicts and arrived at Port Jackson on the 18th of February 1830.

1832: Woolwich to Van Diemen's Land
The voyage began with a cholera outbreak on board the day she sailed from Woolwich. She anchored in Plymouth Soundbut was ordered to put to sea again after receiving medical supplies and the services of an assistant surgeon from the Royal Navy. She returned to the Thames Estuary and was laid up in Stangate Creek until the end of March before being allowed to resume her voyage. Of the 222 convicts aboard, 30 men developed cholera and 13 died before she finally set sail from Woolwich in February 1832 bound for Van Diemans Land (arriving on 16 July) carrying 222 male convicts under the command of Captain James Berry.[5]

1837: Gravesend to Adelaide
She sailed from Gravesend on 27 July 1837 and arrived at Holdfast Bay on October 17, 1837 under the command of Captain Alfred Fell. carried 177 passengers on its voyage to South Australia during 1837. The passengers came from England and Ireland. There were six aged over thirty, of whom five paid their own way. There were 129 aged between fifteen and thirty, of whom only four were required to pay, and there were forty-two aged under fifteen, all of whom were granted free passage.[6]

The voyage left England one month after King William IV died and Princess Victoria was ascended to the throne. On her arrival to Adelaide a public proclamation was made regarding the death of King William IV and the accession of Queen Victoria.[7]

1838: Launceston to Port Adelaide
Departed Launceston, arrived Port Adelaide on June 17, 1838. The only recorded passenger was Mr John Brown.

1839: London to Adelaide
She departed London on October 20, 1838 and after a stop at the Cape of Good Hope, she arrived in Adelaide on March 21, 1839.

1840: Adelaide to London
Departed Port Adelaide on 11 April 1840, carrying with her the former Governor of South Australia, George Gawler, his Aide-de-camp, James Collins Hawker and his gardener and Derbyshire botanist, Joseph Whittaker. The vessel was delayed for five days at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island in order to fill with wood and water for the journey. She then called in at Mauritius and St Helena and then stopped at Corvo in the Azores for just two hours to obtain provisions. The vessel reached England on 23 September 1840. The journey back to England was described in some detail in Hawker's 1899 book, Early Experiences in South Australia. Pressed plant specimens collected by Joseph Whittaker from the island stops that Katherine Steward Forbes made en route were subsequently supplied to Kew Gardens.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ State Records Authority of NSW 'Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters'
  2. ↑ Geni "New Zealand Settler Ships"
  3. ↑ State Records of South Australia. "Pioneers and Settlers Bound for South Australia; Katherine Steward Forbes 1837". Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  4. ↑ State Library of South Australia. "Katherine Steward Forbes". Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  5. ↑ University of Melbourne Research Data Registry "FAS Convict Ship 360.41 Katherine Stewart Forbes arrived 1832 at VDL Prosopography Index"
  6. ↑ The Pioneers Association of South Australia "Ship departure log"
  7. ↑ South Australia Archives. "Katherine Steward Forbes Passenger Lists". Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Hawker, J. C. (1899). Early Experiences in South Australia. Adelaide. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Kraehenbuehl, DN; Moyes, N (1999). "Joseph Whittaker: early English botanical visitor to South Australia". South Australian Naturalist. 73 (3–4): 44–60.
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