Duke of York (1817 ship)


Duke of York was a three-masted brig launched in 1817 at Bideford as a Falmouth packet, sailing between Falmouth, Cornwall, and Jamaica. In 1836 she brought settlers to South Australia for the South Australia Company. She was wrecked in 1837.

Career

Duke of York first appeared in Lloyd's Register with "Price", master and owner, and trade Falmouth–Jamaica. She was a Falmouth packet.

Packet voyages

The list of voyages below is not complete. In addition to the voyages to North and South America, Duke of York may have sailed to the Mediterranean and other destinations. For instance, on 17 November 1819 Duke of York was at Gibraltar on her way to Malta. Also, on the voyages to South America, Duke of York would have stopped at Madeira.
YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1830SnellBull & Co.Falmouth PacketLR
1833SnellCaptain & Co.Falmouth PacketRegister of Shipping
1836MorganAngus & Co.London–AustraliaLR

Immigrant voyage

Under the command of Captain Robert Clark Morgan, and chartered by the South Australia Company, Duke of York left London on 24 February 1836 as part of the "First Fleet of South Australia", and arrived at Kangaroo Island on 27 July 1836 after 154 days. The ship dropped anchor at Nepean Bay. She carried 42 passengers, 38 adults and four children.
The settlers established Kingscote, the first free settlement in Australia. Duke of York was the first pioneer ship to reach South Australia with European settlers, as the start of the British colonisation of South Australia.

Whaling

Leaving the passengers on Kangaroo Island, Duke of York sailed on 20 September 1836 to hunt whales, without ever continuing to Holdfast Bay. She called at Hobart Town from 27 September 1836 to 18 October to refresh and to proceed to the South Sea whaling grounds. On 10 February 1837 Morgan heard of the wreck of the schooner Active in the Fiji Islands. At Lakeba they took on board her master, Captain Dixon, her mate, Willings, and the supercargo, Wilkey.

Shipwreck

Duke of York was whaling up the coast of Queensland when she was shipwrecked off Port Curtis on 14 July 1837. Port Curtis is near current day Gladstone, Queensland. The whole ship's company was saved and got into three boats. They rowed and sailed 300 miles Moreton Bay, 14 miles from Brisbane, where they arrived Saturday 26 August 1837 after a most uncomfortable time. On the way down Aboriginals killed an English crewman, George Glansford, of Barking Essex, and a Rotumah native boy, named Bob, when the boats put in for water. The steamer James Watt took Morgan, the mate, and nineteen survivors on to Sydney, leaving the remainder to follow in another vessel.

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