Admiral Gifford (ship)
| Career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Admiral Gifford | ||
| Owner: | Messrs Lord & Co | ||
| Ship registration number: | |||
| Ship official number: | |||
| Status: | Wrecked | ||
| General characteristics | |||
| Type: | Wood Schooner | ||
| Tonnage: | Gross tonnage (GT) of tons | ||
| Displacement: | Net tonnage (NT) of U tons | ||
| Length: | m | ||
| Beam: | m | ||
| Draught: | m | ||
| Installed power: | NA | ||
| Ship primary use: | Transport | ||
| Ship industry: | |||
| Ship passenger capacity: | 8 | ||
| Crew: | 2+ | ||
| Wreck Event | |||
| When lost: | 1834/10/08 | ||
| Where lost: | Port Macquarie to Sydney | ||
| Reason for loss: | Unknown, lost at sea | ||
| Cargo: | Grain, Hides, Tallow | ||
| Travelling from: | Port Macquarie | ||
| Travelling to: | Sydney | ||
| Master: | Capt Tregurtha | ||
| Deaths: | 10+ | ||
| Wreck Location | |||
| Discovered: | No | ||
| Position: |
| ||
Admiral Gifford (ship)
The Admiral Gifford was a wooden Schooner that was lost while travelling between Port Macquarie and Sydney New South Wales on the 8 October 1834.
Contents
Description of the vessel
Little detail is known about the Admiral Gifford she was variously described as a colonial schooner with Walker as the master [1] and 43 tons [2] coppered and copper fastened [3] She was similarly described whilst on a journey from Sydney to Hobart as
A wretched little schooner called the Admiral Gifford It was a long and tedious voyage. We were half starved when I landed—George Clarke jnr[4]
On the 1st November 1833 the Admiral Gifford left New Zealand for Sydney and her voyage back to Sydney which took 12 days [5]
Services History of the Vessel
The vessel made a number of journeys to and from New Zealand as well as Western Australia and Queensland
Trips included Departing Sydney Thursday 13 November 1828, [6] and returning Sunday 11 January 1829 with a general cargo of, pork and flax as well as Passengers, Mr. Love and 3 New Zealanders. [7]
March of 1829 the schooner Admiral Gifford arrived in Sydney and reported her cargo to be potatoes and flax from New Zealand. She remained in the New South Wales port until early May when she departed on another speculative voyage [8]
It was during this speculative voyage on the 24 June 1829 that she picked up the boats and crew of the Schooner HMS Mermaid (1816) which had struck a reef near Frankland Reef, Queensland and later transferred them to the brig Swiftshire. However, within a few hours the Swiftshire was also wrecked and both crews again forced to take to the boats. They were eventually picked up by the Resource and landed at Port Raffles on 20th July.[9]
The Mermaid had been used by Phillip Parker King on his circumnavigation charting trip of Australia
The ship was used in the settlement of the Swan River Colony on the west coast of Australia at the time of the founding of Perth in arriving October 31, 1829 carrying a cargo of spirits and corn[10]
In 1830 Admiral Gifford was working along the east coast of Australia between Sydney and Newcastle carrying coal. [11] Apparently under the command of Captain Taggart [12]
It was during January 1832 that the wretched little schooner Admiral Gifford made her trip to Hobart [13]
During 1832 she made another journey to New Zealand she arrived in Sydney with a cargo of 11 tons of flax from New Zealand, and having left an old captain from Sydney called William Kinnard accompanied by two whites and several New Zealander men to establish a sealing station on Rocky Point [14]
The barque Vittoria, 281 tons, S. Ashmore, belonging to R. Jones & Co., brought up 37 tons of flax, 50 pounds whalebone and 5 butts whale oil to Sydney on 12th November 1832. She also brought up very sad news of a sealing gang. The Vittoria, on this trip, went round to pick their bales of sealskins and them up, they could find no trace of them, when, to their horror, they learned that their party had been seized by a band of local Maori, their camp burned and that they had all been slaughtered and eaten.[15] [16]
On the 1st of November 1833 Admiral Gifford left again New Zealand for Sydney, her supercargo including Europeans Spyres, Battersy and Thomas Baker and three native New Zealanders. Her voyage back to Sydney took 12 days [17]
The master of the Admiral Gifford also had strong views on the local Aborigines
I was advised, by the master of the Admiral Gifford, not to trust the blacks who were (he said) a set of treacherous villains; as, not long ago, they had pointed their spears at him and his boat's crew, while peaceably proceeding up King's River.
But such expeditions being generally for the purpose of surprising and carrying off the native women, it cannot at all be wondered at, that the native men should endeavour to prevent the outrage. Indeed, it is quite notorious on many parts of the coast, that if a small vessel makes her appearance, the natives get out of the way as fast as possible; while if the ship be large, they come down to the beach, without mistrust or fear.
—T. B. Wilson [18]
Wreck Event
Little is know how the Admiral Gifford sank. Fears were being raised by late October 1834
Great fears are entertained for the safety of the Admiral Gifford. In order that the communication may, in the meantime, not be interrupted, Messrs. John Lord & Co. have advertised the Taree to sail on Saturday. [19]
By December no sign had been heard
There is no doubt of the melancholy loss of the schooner Admiral Gifford belonging to Mr. F. Mitchell, of Sydney, and of late employed as a trader to Port Macquarie, By a private letter from a person on that settlement, we are enabled to furnish the names of the unfortunate individuals who have, by this catastrophe, met a premature death, viz
- Mrs. Thompson, wife of the Clerk of Works, and two children
- A young female emigrant named Watts, who was proceeding to Sydney to be married,
- A young man from London named Marriott, who emigrated about two years ago,
- Mrs. Tregurtha, wife of the master,
- A carpenter, late in the employ of Major Innes
- with the master and four seamen,
making in all twelve human beings, who have met a premature grave. [20]
Further reading
Online Database's
Australian National Shipwreck Database[19]
Australian Shipping - Arrivals and Departures 1788-1968 including shipwrecks [20]
Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks - New South Wales Shipwrecks [21]
Books
- Wrecks on the New South Wales Coast. By Loney, J. K. (Jack Kenneth), 1925–1995 Oceans Enterprises. 1993 ISBN 978-0-646-11081-3.
- Australian Shipwrecks - vol1 1622-1850, Charles Bateson, AH and AW Reed, Sydney, 1972, ISBN 0 589 07112 2 910.4530994 BAT
- Australian shipwrecks Vol. 2 1851–1871 By Loney, J. K. (Jack Kenneth), 1925–1995. Sydney. Reed, 1980 910.4530994 LON
- Australian shipwrecks Vol. 3 1871–1900 By Loney, J. K. (Jack Kenneth), 1925–1995. Geelong Vic: List Publishing, 1982 910.4530994 LON
- Australian shipwrecks Vol. 4 1901–1986 By Loney, J. K. (Jack Kenneth), 1925–1995. Portarlington Vic. Marine History Publications, 1987 910.4530994 LON
- Australian shipwrecks Vol. 5 Update 1986 By Loney, J. K. (Jack Kenneth), 1925–1995. Portarlington Vic. Marine History Publications, 1991 910.4530994 LON
References
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Tuesday 13 January 1829 [1]
- ↑ Sea Grave Yard Newcastle [2]
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette Thursday 8 May 1834 [3]
- ↑ Clarke Family of Te Waimate Society - historical group [4]
- ↑ My Ancestor's Story - Tracing pre-colonial New Zealand Ancestry [5]
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Monday 17 November 1828 [6]
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Tuesday 13 January 1829 [7]
- ↑ My Ancestor's Story - Tracing pre-colonial New Zealand Ancestry [8]
- ↑ Australian Maritime Digest 1 February 2009 [9]
- ↑ History of West Australia s:Page:History of West Australia.djvu/67
- ↑ My Ancestor's Story - Tracing pre-colonial New Zealand Ancestry [10]
- ↑ Sea Grave Yard Newcastle [11]
- ↑ Clarke Family of Te Waimate Society - historical group [12]
- ↑ My Ancestor's Story - Tracing pre-colonial New Zealand Ancestry [13]
- ↑ Murihiku: A History of the South Island of New Zealand and the Islands Adjacent and Lying to the South, from 1642 to 1835 Author: Robert McNab Publisher Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1909, Wellington [14]
- ↑ Whaling In Early New Zealand by Anthony G. Flude [15]
- ↑ My Ancestor's Story - Tracing pre-colonial New Zealand Ancestry [16]
- ↑ T. B. Wilson, Narrative of a Voyage Round the World. London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, 1835, London: Dawson's of Pall Mall, 1968, page 236
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Thursday 30 October 1834 [17]
- ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Tuesday 16 December 1834 [18]
External links
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