SS Akaroa was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1914 in Ireland as Euripides for Aberdeen Line. When new, she was the largest ship in the Aberdeen Line fleet.
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.
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.
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.
HMAS Tingira was a training ship operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1911 and 1927. Alexander Hall & Co. built the ship in Scotland in 1866 as the passenger clipper Sobraon; she was the largest composite-hull sailing vessel ever built. She sailed on an annual migration run between England and Australia until 1891, when she was sold to the colonial government of New South Wales for use as a reformatory ship. The vessel was then sold to the federal government in 1911, and entered RAN service. Tingira was paid off in 1927, but despite efforts to preserve the ship, was broken up in 1941.
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.
Asia was a merchant ship built by A. Hall & Company at Aberdeen in 1818. She made eight voyages between 1820 and 1836 transporting convicts from Britain to Australia. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1826 and 1827. At the same time she served in private trade to India as a licensed ship. She also carried assisted emigrants to Australia. She was last listed in 1845.
SS Pericles was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1907 in Ireland for the Aberdeen Line service between Great Britain and Australia via South Africa. When new, she was the largest ship on the route.
SS Themistocles was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1910 in Ireland and scrapped in 1947 in Scotland. She was built for Aberdeen Line, White Star Line managed her for a few years, and she spent the latter part of her career with Shaw, Savill & Albion Line.
SS Aberdeen was a British cargo liner launched in 1882. She was designed for service from London to Australia. She was the first ship to be successfully powered by a triple expansion steam engine. The triple expansion engine then became the standard type of steam engine to be installed in seagoing vessels. The fuel economy achieved meant that steam could now outcompete sail on all major commercial routes.
Castle Forbes was a merchant ship built by Robert Gibbon & Sons at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1818. She made several voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. She sustained damage in 1826 on a voyage to India and was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope. However, she was repaired. She was last listed in 1832, and in 1838 in Lloyd's Register (LR).
Hooghly was a full-rigged merchant ship built on the Thames, England, and launched in 1819. She made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), four voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia, as well as voyages transporting emigrants to South Australia between 1839 and 1856. Around 1858 she was re-rigged as a barque. She sank off Algiers in 1863.
The Murray was a three-masted clipper ship that was built in Scotland in 1861 and lost off the coast of Sweden in 1884. For nearly 20 years the Orient Line sailed her between London and South Australia. In 1880 Norwegian owners bought her and renamed her Freia.
The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.
SS Demosthenes was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1911 in Ireland for Aberdeen Line and scrapped in 1931 in England. In the First World War she was an Allied troop ship.
United Kingdom
Norway