Mersey (1894 ship)

She was built by Charles Connell and Company of Glasgow, named after the River Mersey in north-western England and launched on 18 May 1894 for the Nourse Line.

Nourse Line used her primarily to transport of Indian indentured labourers to the British colonies, a so called, Coolie ship.

[1][2] Details of some of these voyages are as follows: In 1908 the Mersey was sold to the White Star Line for use as a training ship for 60 cadets, making six voyages to Australia as a White Star training ship, traveling around the Cape of Good Hope outbound and Cape Horn inbound.

She was also the first sailing ship aboard which an operation for appendicitis was performed on a cadet.

In 1915 the White Star Line gave up their training scheme due to the war and sold the Mersey to Norwegian owners.