Blenheim was built in 1834 at Jarrow, England. She made three voyages transporting convicts to Australia. She also carried emigrants to New Zealand. She otherwise carried ordinary valuable cargo and in one of such voyages came across what has since been named Blenheim Reef, in the Indian Ocean. She disappeared without a trace, presumed foundered, after August 1846.

History
United Kingdom
NameBlenheim
BuilderJarrow,[1] England
Launched1834
FateLost 1846
General characteristics
Tons burthen375[1] (bm)
PropulsionSail

Convict ship

edit

Blenheim first appeared in the 1835 volume of Lloyd's Register (LR).[1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1835 Brown Brown & Co. London LR

First convict voyage (1834): Under the command of Jasper Brown, Blenheim sailed from Cork, Ireland on 27 July 1834 and arrived at Port Jackson on 14 November 1834.[2] She had embarked 200 male convicts, of whom two died on the voyage.[3] Blenheim left Port Jackson in December 1834 bound for Batavia.[4] Bound commercially for Bombay, she came across a reef, henceforth Blenheim Reef, an outlying part of the Chagos Archipelago, on 5 May 1836.

Second convict voyage (1837): Sailing from Woolwich on 15 March 1837, under the command of Josiah Spence, she arrived at Hobart Town on 16 July 1837.[5] She had embarked 210 male convicts; six convicts died on the voyage.[6] She departed Hobart Town and sailed to Port Jackson, before heading to Mauritius on 4 September.[7] She obtained a cargo of sugar and returned to Port Jackson on 20 February 1838. She left for Sourabaya in April 1838.

Third convict voyage (1839): Under the command of John Gray, she left Dublin, Ireland on 19 May 1839, and arrived at Port Jackson on 27 September.[8] She had embarked 200 male convicts; four convicts died on the voyage.[9] Blenheim departed Port Jackson in October for India.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1839 Grey Brown & Co. London–Sydney LR; damages repaired 1839
1841 Grey Brown & Co. London
London–India
LR; damages repaired 1839 & 1841

New Zealand Company

edit

Captain Gray sailed Blenheim under charter by the New Zealand Company, from London to Wellington in 1840 with 197 settlers.

Captain Gray sailed from Plymouth on 2 July 1842 to New Plymouth with 159 settlers, arriving on 19 November 1842, having called in at Wellington.[10][11]

Final voyages

edit

From 1841 to 1843 Blenheim travelled from England to India under Captain Gray. Ownership changed in 1844 from Brown and Co. to H. Barrick of Whitby. From 1844 to 1845 sailed from London to St Petersburg.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1846 J.Grey
Jackson
H.Barrick London
London–Petersburg
London–Quebec
LR; damages repaired 1839 & 1841

Fate

edit

Blenheim was last reported as having cleared outward bound from London, in ballast, on 25 August 1846. bound or Dalhousie.[12] The 1846 volume of Lloyd's Register carried the annotation "missing" by Blenheim's name.[13]

Citations

edit
  1. ^ a b c LR (1835), Supple.pages "B".
  2. ^ Bateson (1959), pp. 302–303.
  3. ^ Bateson (1959), p. 334.
  4. ^ "Exports". The Sydney Monitor, Wednesday 10 December 1834, p.2. 10 December 1834. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  5. ^ Bateson (1959), pp. 312–313.
  6. ^ Bateson (1959), p. 335.
  7. ^ "Vessels Entered Outwards". The Sydney Herald, Monday 4 September 1837, p.2. 4 September 1837. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  8. ^ Bateson (1959), pp. 304–305.
  9. ^ Bateson (1959), p. 336.
  10. ^ Log of Logs, Ian Nicholson, Sunstrip Printers, Australia, ISBN 0 7316 6534 1
  11. ^ "Shipping intelligence", New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, 12 November 1842.
  12. ^ "SHIP NEWS. 26 August 1846, Morning Post (London), issue 22692.
  13. ^ (1846), LR Seq.№B244.

References

edit