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.
Pericles, named after the Athenian leader Pericles, was a 1,598 ton, iron hulled, three masted sailing ship, that was built by W. Hood & Co of Aberdeen, and launched in July 1877 to transport wool for the Aberdeen Line.
Ganges was the first of three Nourse Line ships named for the Ganges river in northern India.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
SS Mutlah was a 3,393-ton steamship built for the Nourse Line in 1907 by Charles Connell & Company Limited, Glasgow, Scotland. She had triple expansion, 425-nhp (317-Kw) steam engines driving a single screw.
SS Sutlej was a 3,549 ton steamship built for the Nourse Line in about 1907 by Charles Connell & Company Limited, Glasgow. She had single screw, triple expansion, 425 horsepower (317 kW) engines.
Between 1879 and 1916, tens of thousands of Indians moved to Fiji to work as indentured labourers, especially on sugarcane plantations. Repatriation of indentured Indians from Fiji began on 3 May 1892, when the British Peer brought 464 repatriated Indians to Calcutta. Various ships made similar journeys to Calcutta and Madras, concluding with Sirsa's 1951 voyage. In 1955 and 1956, three ships brought Indian labourers from Fiji to Sydney, from where the labourers flew to Bombay.
United Kingdom
