Australian Society of the

 Home
About
History
Ships
Publications
Join
References
Contact Us

Passenger List for the 1848 Voyage to Port Adelaide, South Australia

The following is an extract from Richard Lander's family history, A History of the Lander Family 1811-1994.

The Harpley had been built by Paterson[1] and Co. for James Raven, a merchant of Launceston.  She was built on Gravelly Beach, east-nor-east of Exeter, County of Devon, on the Tamar River in Tasmania in an area sometimes known as Blackwall at a cost of £14,000[2].  The Harpley was 547 and 201/700 tons[3] new register, had two decks, a square stern and three masts on which she was "ship rigged" (sometimes known as 'full rigged' or 'square rigged') which meant that each of her three masts carried square sails which were rigged across the width of her hull.  Her hull was built entirely of "colonial timbers"[4], she had a "splendid poop; and the panels of her spacious cuddy (were) entirely of Huon Pine, French polished."[5]  Her overall length was one hundred and twenty two and four tenths feet, and she was twenty six and three tenths feet broad.  The depth of her hold from the main deck to her keel, measured amidships, was eighteen and six tenths feet.  The Cabin of the Harpley was 24 feet by 12 feet and was fitted out with a sideboard made of Tasmanian blackwood with panels of Huon Pine made by John Brown, a "cabinetmaker, upholsterer and undertaker" who later exhibited items of furniture at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851[6].  She had a standing bowsprit without a figurehead and "carved, sham-quarter-galleries".  The Harpley was "fitted in the 'tween decks right fore and aft, with well-ventilated cabins for fours and sixes.  Her ample poop aft possesses an elegant saloon, into which the superior cabins open.  Near the rudder there is a very convenient entrance to the saloon from the poop deck, by which this part of the ship is most conveniently separated from the main deck.  The Harpley has all the other fitments for emigration, including one of Thompson's life boats, the lockers of which are fitted with cork"[7].   Her keel was 113 feet 7 inches long, and she was the only Australian built ship employed in the transportation of emigrants to South Australia before 1850[8].

 The Harpley was launched at Spring Bay on the Tamar on Tuesday, 2 February 1847 and was advertised as "loading for London" in the 'Shipping Intelligence' section of the Launceston Examiner from 17 March until 3 April of that year.  Another advertisement in this same paper advised that the Harpley, under the command of Thomas Buckland and other engagement to H.M. Government would leave Launceston on Monday, 5 April, and Hobart Town on Tuesday, 13 April (1847). She subsequently sailed from Launceston on 6 April 1847 and arrived in Hobart on the 17th laden with “2000 trenails[9], 250 planks, 748 pieces of kentledge[10], bags of wheat and wool, etc.”  At Hobart she took up  fifty soldiers, twenty women and forty children - all from the garrison and who were returning to London, and sailed on her maiden voyage at noon on Thursday, 29 April 1847.  They enjoyed fair sailing until 8 May when they were constantly "amongst rain, squalls and gales".  On 18 May, after ten days of poor shipping conditions, a wave filled and broke down the larboard quarter.  The Harpley began taking water at "one inch a minute"[11] (i.e. five feet or more than one and a half metres per hour) and the soldiers from the 96th Regiment manned the pumps around the clock to keep her afloat.  The weather continued to get  worse and worse, and during one horrific storm the ship was laid "on her beam ends" and lay "right down on her larboard side, all her quarter-deck (on that side) under water, and also a great part of the poop, and a mountainous sea washing right over her.  The soldiers, unable to stand, or work the pumps, were holding on as they best might to anything within their reach.  Captain Buckland told the carpenter to fetch his axe to cut away the masts, but by the time all was ready the wind lulled a moment, and the ship righted a little".  The atrocious weather continued for another five weeks and Captain Buckland was forced to put into Tahiti for repairs.  She sailed from Tahiti on 12 September 1847 and reached England on 8 February 1848[12].  Here she was given a very thorough going over by the Surveyor for Lloyds of London, and was classed as A1 for ten years[13].

In emigrant vessels, the married couples and their young children occupied separate berths in the middle of the vessel, families being kept together.  The cabins in this area were normally six feet by six feet and seven feet high, and opened into a central space equipped with a long table and whale oil lamps.  Single men, and single women were placed in distinct compartments set apart for them at opposite ends of the ship, although still on the same level as the family cabins.  At the stern was the quarter-deck, raised above the main deck, and covering four stern cabins, the dining room for the Cabin passengers (the cuddy), and the navigation arrangements.  The crew had their quarters up in the bow (the fo'c'sle).  The lack of privacy that these arrangements imply; the noise of the wind, the water, the creaking of the ship, the multitude of conversations of adults and noisy children; the smells, and the dark when the hatches were closed during storms, all challenge ones imagination!

 All intending emigrants for South Australia were encouraged to read everything they could not only about the relatively new colony, but also about the intended voyage itself.  A recommended text was "A Handbook of Practical Information for use of Passengers on a Long Sea Voyage" by P.B. Chadfield.  This handbook, which at the time cost two pence, detailed the usual practice of dividing the occupants of each portion of the ship "into messes of about eight adults for the purpose of cooking, eating their meals and drawing their rations; these little communities having each a captain or managing man selected from among themselves by the purser for looking after the interests of the mess."  Most 'helpful hint' books gave some weight to the condition of water on board the emigrant ships as poor quality water appears to have been the rule rather than the exception.  "Our water is in the most undrinkable state; the bungs of the cask being kept in, prevents the escape of the engendered gases, and consequently it is in a state of putrefaction."  Many passengers found cold brandy or wine and water better to drink than straight ships water.  Water filters, consisting of earthenware jars with a tap at the bottom and with perforated sheet supporting charcoal in an upper compartment, found some favour.  Water was poured in the top and seeped through the charcoal to the lower compartment. Raspberry vinegar was often mixed with less than perfect water in an attempt to make it taste fresher, whilst others added a teaspoon of magnesia to a quart of water, shook it and then let it stand for an hour or two to allow impurities to settle out.  Yet others stirred a large container of water with a piece of chloride of lime.

 Finally, the Harpley, with its valuable human cargo of 257 emigrants plus an able crew of ten officers and twenty-four seamen[1] and fine Captain; stores for the trip (including live animals); and a payload consisting of a case for Elder and Co., a cask, 78 iron moulds, a box and 17 bundles of steel for Blythe Bros., 2 cases for Miller and Bryden, a parcel for the Lord Bishop of Adelaide and another for the Collector of Customs, was ready to depart on its first return trip to Australia.  She departed from Deptford, on the south bank of the Thames where it makes a large U-turn between the Tower of London and the new Millennium Dome, on Friday, 12 May 1848, and either drifted down the river on the receding tide or, more likely, was assisted by one of the many steam tugs operating on the Thames at the time.  After clearing the mouth of the Thames, the Harpley travelled east until it could round the North Foreland at Ramsgate where it is probable that it anchored for the night.

After 113 days at sea, Harpley and her passengers finally reached the relatively new wharf at Port Adelaide on Saturday, 2 September 1848.

Passenger List for the 1848 Voyage to Port Adelaide, South Australia

SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO HARPLEY & HER PASSENGERS