| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Boyne |
| Builder | T.R. Oswald, Southampton |
| Launched | 1877 |
| Nickname(s) | The Hoodoo Ship |
| Fate | Wrecked 1886 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type |
|
| Tons burthen | 1,403 tons |
Boyne was a 1,403 ton, Nourse Line sailing ship that T.R. Oswald of Southampton built in 1877. She was referred to as the " Hoodoo Ship" for the number of mishaps that occurred to her. She wrecked in 1886.
Boyne initially carried migrants to New Zealand.
In 1882, while on a voyage from Liverpool to Barbados, Boyne was caught in a heavy gale in the Bay of Biscay, and as her cargo shifted, she listed dangerously. The captain was washed overboard and the ship was rudderless. The crew were saved by Orchid, whose master, Captain Cook, was satisfied that Boyne could not be saved and she was abandoned.
The derelict Boyne survived, however. A steamer towed her into Falmouth, Cornwall, England, and when she reached Liverpool she underwent a refit. She was re-rigged as a barque with an iron mast. It took a while to find a new master for the ship, but finally Captain N. G. Hatch took command and made his first passage to Calcutta, India, without incident. Under the command of Captain Hatch, Boyne made two voyages carrying indentured labourers from India to Demerara in South America and one voyage to Guadeloupe. She was used to transport Indian indentured labourers to Trinidad, arriving in Trinidad on 31 March 1883 carrying 517 passengers. There were eight deaths during the voyage.
On his next voyage to Demerara, Captain Hatch was taken ill and command of the ship was handed over to the chief officer. As Boyne left Demerara with coal for Calcutta, the hold became heated and the ship could only be saved by throwing the coal overboard.
Boyne embarked 537 Indian indentured labourers at Calcutta and carried them to Fiji, arriving at Suva on 26 April 1886. On the return journey to Calcutta, she stranded near False Point in India. The crew and passengers managed to reach shore safely, but attempts to re-float her failed and she was abandoned.
The Syria was a 1,010 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 207.7 feet, breadth of 34.1 feet and depth of 20.8 feet. She was built by William Pile of Sunderland for the Nourse Line, named after the Syria River in Karnataka, India and launched in 1868. She was primarily used for the transportation of Indian indentured labourers to the colonies.
Newnham was the first steamship to bring Indian indentured labourers to Fiji, arriving at Suva on 23 July 1884 carrying 575 passengers. The 1296 ton steamer took only 38 days to reach Fiji as it was able to take the shorter route through the Timor sea.
Ganges was the first of three Nourse Line ships named for the Ganges river in northern India.
Bruce was a 1,200-ton sailing ship built in 1866 by Aitken Mansell of Glasgow, Scotland. In 1880 the Nourse Line purchased her from the British Shipowners Company.
Hereford was a 1456-ton iron sailing ship with two decks and one cemented bulkhead which was built in 1869 by J. Elder & Company at Glasgow for the Merchant Shipping Company of London. She was chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company in the 1870s and made three voyages to Lyttelton, New Zealand with approximately three hundred emigrants each time. The first voyage in 1874 took 87 days, and the second took 80 days, arriving in Lyttelton on 19 January 1878. In 1881, she was stranded on Ingleby Reef near Port Phillip Heads, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and towed off on 12 March 1881 by a tug.
Bayard was a three masted, 67 metre long, 1,028 ton, sailing ship built by T. Vernon and Son, Liverpool for the Hall Line in 1864. In 1868 she was transferred to Sun Shipping Company and in 1881 sold to Foley and Company.
The Moy was a 1,697 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 257.6 feet (78.5 m), breadth of 38.3 feet (11.7 m) and depth of 23.2 feet (7.1 m). She was built by Russel & Company for the Nourse Line, named after the River Moy in northwest of Ireland and launched in May 1885. She was primarily used for the transportation of Indian indenture labourers to the colonies. Details of some of these voyages are as follows:
The Nourse Line was a shipping company formed by Captain James Nourse in 1861. After taking delivery of his first ship, the Ganges, in 1861, Nourse went on to build up one of the last great fleets of sailing ships.
The Rhone, formerly known as Gilroy, was a 1,768 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 259.2 feet, breadth of 39.9 feet and depth of 23.2 feet.
Allanshaw was a 1,589 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 80.1 metres (263 ft), beam of 12.3 metres (40 ft) and draught of 7.0 metres (23.0 ft). She was built by William Simons & Company of Renfrew for the J.G. Potter & Company of Liverpool and launched on 29 August 1874. She was bought by the Nourse Line on 26 November 1880. She was a fast ship, making the run from London to Sydney in 65 days. On 2 October 1882 she arrived in Australia with new immigrants.
Danube, a 1,459-ton sailing ship named after the second longest river in Europe, was built in 1890 for the Nourse Line.
Jumna was a 1,048 GRT iron-hulled full-rigged ship that was built in England in 1867 and went missing in the Atlantic Ocean in 1899. For most of her career she was in the fleet of James Nourse.
The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than one million Indians were transported to labour in European colonies, as a substitute for slave labor, following the abolition of the trade in the early 19th century. The system expanded after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, in the French colonies in 1848, and in the Dutch Empire in 1863. British Indian indentureship lasted till the 1920s. This resulted in the development of a large Indian diaspora in the Caribbean, Natal, East Africa, Réunion, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Myanmar, to Fiji, as well as the growth of Indo-Caribbean, Indo-African, Indo-Fijian, Indo-Malaysian, and Indo-Singaporean populations.
British Peer was a 1428-ton three-masted iron sailing ship built for the British Shipowners Company at the Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland, in 1865. She was 247.5 feet (75.4 m) long, 36.4 feet (11.1 m) wide and 22.5 feet (6.9 m) deep. She was bought by the Nourse Line in 1883, and was the fastest vessel in their fleet until British Ambassador was commissioned. In 1878, however, British Peer's sailing power was compromised when alterations were made to increase her tonnage by lengthening her hull by 32 feet (9.8 m), and she was never as fast again. She carried a crew of 23, including her master.
The Erne was a fully rigged sailing ship built in the late 19th century. The details surrounding the ship's abandonment and wreck have been debated off-and-on for over one hundred years.
The Ems was a 1,829 ton, iron sailing ship with a length of 270.7 feet (82.5 m), breadth of 39 feet (12 m) and depth of 22.5 feet (6.9 m).
Ganges was the second Nourse Line ship to be named Ganges. The first Ganges was built in 1861 and wrecked in 1881. Ganges was a 1,529-ton iron barque, built by Osbourne, Graham & Company of Sunderland and launched on 25 March 1882. She was 241 feet (73 m) long, with a beam of 37.2 feet (11.3 m) and a draught of 22.5 feet (6.9 m).
SS Ganges was a 3,475-ton steamship, built for the Nourse Line by Charles Connell and Company of Glasgow and launched on 9 March 1906. She made seven trips carrying Indian indentured labourers from Calcutta and Madras to Fiji, ten trips to Trinidad and also trips to Surinam.
Indian Oak was launched at Cochin, probably in 1813. She then traded between India and Britain. From circa 1824 she operated as a "country ship" trading primarily in the Indian Ocean. Notable events included arson by the crew, a dispute between her master and the government of Mauritius, transport of 200 labourers from Bengal to Mauritius, and mutiny that resulted in the cutting and maiming of her master. She was wrecked in August 1840 after having delivered troops to Chusan for the First Opium War.
Lubbock, Basil (1981). Coolie ships and oil sailors. Brown, Son & Ferguson. ISBN 0-85174-111-8.