Voyage of the Lancastrian
The Lancastrian sailed for Australia on the 1st January 1851. She was commanded by R.T. Langley and was 503 tons registered. The Lancastrian was built in Liverpool in 1848. The Lancastrian was towed to Gravesend complete with pigs, sheep, poultry, spars, and boxes. They got the pilot on board and sailed from the Nore. On March 15th 1851 they doubled the Cape of Good Hope on strong breezes. At 43 degrees 6' South and 27d 53' West all the topgallant masts were blown away by a gale and the mainsail blew out of the bolt ropes. There was a large swell and they saw a school of whales.
On March 21st they passed the barque David Clark and at 36d North, 14d West they again dismasted the topmasts and jib boom. The weather was bad the whole passage. On May 1st they passed the Port Phillip heads and dropped anchor the next morning off Williamstown and began discharging the cargo of stores, beer, spirits, and iron.
The Lancastrian left Melbourne for China and had bad weather the whole voyage with heavy squalls and thunderstorms. A gale in the Torres Strait forced them to scud along under bare poles or close reefed topsails for three days. The topsail was split into ribands in one gale and were hit by a thunderbolt.
The weather remained bad until sighting New Guinea, and then became becalmed. On August 14th 1851, at 19d 30' North, 114d South they are in the Chinese Sea. They spotted several Chinese junks and on the 16th the pilot came on board and dropped anchor off Green Island. The next day, they sailed into Tai Tam Bay and dropped anchor at Hong Kong. They stayed there a week and then sailed to Wampoa, an island in the Canton River, and took in cargo. On 12th September they set sail and steered North-North-East for Macao.
They cross the equator at 107 d West and arrived in Java on October 8th. Next they rounded the Cape of Good Hope on November 30th, then anchored at St Helena to take on water. They carry on past the island of Ascension and cross the line of Christmas Day. After 8 days of severe gale they sight Scilly and soon are anchored in the Downs, and then get towed up the Thames to St Katherine's Docks.
The Lancastrian was lost the next voyage by a typhoon in the China Sea.
Lancastrian Resources
HMS Bounty Sailing Ship Model Fully Assembled  - The H.M.S. Bounty, a coal carrying merchant ship operating on the coast of England, named the Bethia, was purchased by the Admiralty, renamed the Bounty, and re-commissioned in 1787 for a special mission. She was to sail halfway around the world to Tahiti, collect sapling breadfruit trees and transport them to the West Indies.
Historic Sail: The Glory of the Sailing Ship from the 13th to the 19th Century -
Howarth and Wheatley's spectacular collaboration isn't exactly a history of sailing ships. It's a beautiful and informative picture book aimed at nautically minded grownups--a set of splendid, full-page, high-contrast illustrations depicting 91 ships, from the medieval Danish vessel called a "cog" to a Scottish tea-carrying ship of 1869. Obscure striped flags dangle from looming diagonal spars, and intricate webs of rigging give space and position to sails actual and potential, as each of Wheatley's meticulously drawn crafts catches the wind from off the page. British naval historian Howarth (Nelson) provides a fact-filled paragraph to accompany each plate, and also supplies a long glossary at the end, defining such terms as "galleass" ("hybrid between an oar-powered galley and a sailing ship") and "jib-boom" ("extension to the bowsprit for mounting a flying jib").
.
|
Home
Australia Index
James Craig
The Duyfken
Sloop Norfolk
Baudin & Flinders
Newcastle Maritime
Lady Julian
HMS Guardian
Sir Robert Seppings
Tasmanian Coasters
Chicora
Red Jacket
Aubrey/Maturin Books
|
