New Zealand Company ships
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.
[5] On 25 April 1836 the Amelia Thompson sailed from London for Launceston, Tasmania with 172 immigrants, a large number of which were single females.
Her 187 passengers were taken ashore by Dicky Barrett and his men over the course of two weeks, each small boatload taking five hours to row from the vessel to the shore.
The ship's precious food cargo, including flour and salted meat, was finally brought ashore for New Plymouth's starving [why?]
she arrived at Tasman Bay in October 1841 with the Whitby and Will Watch as part of the expedition to survey a second settlement for the Company at Nelson.
[30] There was a 1000-ton clipper ship named Bella Marina under Captain Henry Elliot that sailed in New Zealand and Australian waters in the 1860s.
[56][49] Wakefield used the Brougham to sail to the Bay of Islands to try to persuade Governor Hobson to relocate New Zealand's capital from Russell to Wellington.
Clifford was a 528-ton (originally 461 ton) sailing ship built at Maryport in 1840 and copper sheathed owned by Sharp & Co of Liverpool.
[29] She sailed under Captain James A Cox from Gravesend on 2 October 1841, calling at the Isle of Wight, on 3 to Port Nicholson, arriving 17 February 1842.
[93] On 6 December 1845 there was a report from the ship Queen that she had sighted and spoken to a barque named Gertrude at 31°08′S 87°18′E / 31.133°S 87.300°E / -31.133; 87.300 in the Indian Ocean almost midway between Australia and Africa.
Wakefield sailed Guide from the Bay of Islands to meet the New Zealand Company ships rendezvousing at Port Hardy on 10 January 1840.
[95] The Katherine Stewart Forbes, a 457-ton sailing ship under Captain John Hobbs, left Gravesend on 5 February 1841 and arrived at Port Nicholson on 24 June with 176 emigrants.
On 5 March 1826 the ships reached Stewart Island, which Herd explored and then dismissed as a possible settlement, before sailing north to inspect land around Otago Harbour.
Apart from the doctor and his wife, the Lloyds was a women-and-children-only vessel, the husbands, fathers, and other males having emigrated over 4 months earlier on the Whitby, to prepare the settlement.
[57] In January 1847 under Captain Robert Brown Lord Auckland sailed from Sydney to found a new settlement at Port Curtis in Queensland.
On her last voyage she was under Captain George Thompson and carried 248 male convicts from Cork, Ireland on 29 September 1852 and to Hobart, arriving on 29 January 1853.
[117] A passenger was John Bede Polding, first Catholic bishop and archbishop of Sydney, and the voyage is recorded in detail by a priest accompanying him, Lewis Harding.
Aurora, Adelaide, Duke of Roxburgh, and Bengal Merchant, plus a freight vessel, the Glenbervie, followed, all sailing with instructions to rendezvous on 10 January 1840 at Port Hardy on D'Urville Island where they would be told of their final destination.
[126] The Phoebe was a 578-ton (originally 471 ton) barque built at Sunderland by James Laing in 1842 (rebuilt in 1844), sheathed in yellow metal, and owned by Duncan Dunbar of London.
John R Merewether of the Bucephalus with three of his crew and Mr Frood, a passenger from the Prince Rupert, perished in the surf among the rocks when their boat was overturned.
On 5 March 1826 the expedition reached Stewart Island, which Herd explored and then dismissed as a possible settlement, before sailing north to inspect land around Otago Harbour.
[144][145] Four men from the Rosanna returned to New Zealand: Thomas McLean, Benjamin Nesbit, George Nimmo and Colin Gillies.
Originally the ship was meant to have gone to the Chatham Islands but the British Government squashed a proposal in September 1841 to sell them to the German Colonisation Company—yet to be formed—for £10,000.
[146] On 26 April 1847 the Saint Pauli took German settlers from Hamburg to the United States, arriving at Galveston, Texas on 4 July.
[147] Sir Charles Forbes was a 364-ton barque built at Aberdeen in 1824 that sailed under Captain Thomas Bacon from Gravesend on 1 May 1842 and arrived at Nelson on 22 August with 187 settlers.
[153] The Tory was a 382-ton barque built at Yarmouth in 1834 and acquired by the New Zealand Company for £5250 from Joseph Somes, a wealthy shipowner and member of the committee.
[1][2] The New Zealand Company fitted out for sailing to Wellington under Captain Edward Chaffers and conducting land acquisitions and surveys.
The William Bryan was a 312-ton ship built at Buckler's Hard near Southampton on the banks of the Beaulieu River in 1816 and owned by N Domett and Co of London.
On 16 June she sailed from the Thames under Captain Roman, arriving at Hobart, Tasmania on 23 October with 130 female convicts on board.
