History
United Kingdom
NameMersey
NamesakeRiver Mersey
BuilderChittagong
Launched1801
FateWrecked 1804
General characteristics
TypeShip
Tons burthen300,[1] or 350[2] (bm)
PropulsionSail
Complement73[2]
Armament10 guns[2]
NotesTeak built.

Mersey was a ship launched at Chittagong in 1801 and wrecked in the Torres Strait, Australia, about mid-June 1804.[3] She was the first merchantman lost in the Strait.[4]

Mersey was built in Chittagong in 1801 and registered at Fort William, India. At the time of her loss her captain and owner was James Wilson.

Mersey, Captain Wilson, arrived at Sydney on 10 April 1804 with a cargo chiefly consisting of sugar, port and Madeira wine, cordage, and some piece goods. An advertisement on 22 April announced the sale on Monday 23 April of Mersey's cargo. The advertisement provided a rich, detailed listing of the cargo.[5]

Philip Gidley King, governor of New South Wales, on 15 May 1804 announced that Mersey would return to India via an "hithertoo unfrequented passage to Torres Strait in the track of Captain Flinders."[4] King had chartered Mersey to purchase 250 cows from Bengal and deliver them to Hobart, Tasmania.

Mersey left Port Jackson on 24 May 1804 for Bengal with a cargo of 1632 feet of timber.[2] While passing through the Torres Strait, Mersey was totally wrecked. The whaler Policy brought the news on 17 November 1804 from Timor.[4]

Only 17 crew and the captain were saved by sailing in a longboat to Timor; 56 others had perished. After refitting the longboat at Dili the survivors reached Bencoolen from where they sailed to Madras on an Acehen vessel. Captain Wilson arrived in Calcutta 20 September 1804 on board Margaret, from Madras.[6][7][8][9][10]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ Phipps (1840), pp. 176 & 189.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bladen (1897), p. 535.
  3. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Sunday 25 November 1804 p.3.
  4. 1 2 3 Nicholson (1996), p. 34 & App.1.
  5. ↑ Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 22 April 1804, p.4, "Ship Mersey from Calcutta".
  6. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Sunday 27 May 1804 p.4.
  7. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Sunday 14 April 1805 p.2.
  8. ↑ Bateson (1972), p. 40.
  9. ↑ Shipping arrivals and departures, Sydney, 1788–1825, J.S. Cumpston
  10. ↑ National Shipwrecks database "Search the National Shipwrecks database". Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2009.

References

  • Bateson, Charles (1972). Australian Shipwrecks. Vol. 1: 1622–1850. Sydney: AH and AW Reed. ISBN 0-589-07112-2.
  • Bladen, Frank Murcot, ed. (1897). Historical Records of New South Wales. Vol. 5. C. Potter.
  • Nicholson, Ian Hawkins (1996). Via Torres Strait: a maritime history of the Torres Strait Route and the ship's post office at Booby Island. Yaroomba, Qld.: Ian Nicholson [on behalf of the Roebuck Society].
  • Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.


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