Lalla Rookh (1848 ship)

For other ships of the same name, see List of ships named Lalla Rookh.

Lalla Rookh (1848 ship)
History
NameLalla Rookh
Port of registry?, Sydney
RouteAustralasia, East Indies, Pacific
BuilderPeterhead, Aberdeenshire
Launched1848
FateBroken up 1898 in Sydney.
General characteristics
Class and typeBrig
Tonnage147 net register tons (NRT)
Length98 feet (30 m)
Draft12.2 feet (3.7 m)

Lalla Rookh was a clipper/brig variously recorded as 184 tons[1] and 147 tons,[2] built in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1848. She was described as one of the "new Aberdeen clippers".[3]

She took settlers to the colony of Natal (now part of South Africa) in 65 days, the fastest passage thus far achieved.[3] She was used for trading among the Australian colonies, including several journeys between Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, New South Wales.[4]

She left Deal, Kent under Captain Henderson for Port Natal on 24 February 1849.[5]

Lalla Rookh, described as a 155/6-ton brig, was recorded under Captain P. Milner arriving from Mauritius in January 1850,[6] is subsequently mentioned in several shipping reports in New South Wales and Victoria until late 1852[7][8][9] and in 1853 under Captain Twomey (one to Wellington, New Zealand).[10][11] A few passengers are listed for all of these voyages.

In October 1856 she sailed from Sydney in ballast (empty of cargo) to Calcutta under Captain Orr,[12] and is shown arriving from Calcutta on 2 March 1857,[13] with goods including patna rice.[14] She traded the East Indies, Mauritius and West Coast(?) for a period, the ship was advertised for sale in the Geelong Advertiser in May 1859, after having been overhauled, refitted and recoppered. Her tonnage at this time was "184 tons register, 270 burden".[1]

She departed for Fiji in October 1859,[15] and is recorded as arriving in Hobson's Bay, Melbourne, in April 1860.[16] On 19 November 1860 the brig, sailing under a New Zealand flag, was driven ashore and damaged at Port Albert, Victoria, on a voyage from Wellington to Melbourne, but was able to be refloated.[17][a]

In May 1865 she left Sydney for the South Sea Islands,[18] and in December 1868 for New Caledonia.[19]

According to the Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database (AUCHD), after catching fire on 30 November 1897, Lalla Rookh (then registered in Sydney) was broken up in 1898 at Kerosene Bay (now Balls Head Bay) in Sydney Harbour. The AUCHD record describes her as a 147-ton brig, 29.9 metres (98 ft) long.[2] However, in April 1898 Lalla Rookh was reported as having sunk in 25 feet (7.6 m) of water after striking a dolphin near the head of Darling Harbour. Before this she had been used as a lighter in the coal trade up and down the coast, owned by a Mr Byrnes. Her tonnage was reported as 220 tons in this report.[20]

  1. ^ a b "Advertising". Geelong Advertiser. No. 3, 955. Victoria, Australia. 25 May 1859. p. 4. Retrieved 23 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ a b "View Shipwreck - Lalla Rookh". Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database. Australian Government. Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 25 January 2021. (Creative Commons 4.0 International licence.)
  3. ^ a b Hattersley, Alan F. (2009). The British Settlement of Natal: A Study in Imperial Migration. Cambridge University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-521-05232-0. Retrieved 23 January 2021 – via University of Adelaide's Adelaide Research & Scholarship website. {{cite book}}: External link in |via= (help)
  4. ^ "Lalla Rookh". Passengers in History. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Shipping Intelligence: East India shipping". Caledonian Mercury. No. 19863. Edinburgh, Scotland. 1 March 1849.
  6. ^ "Shipping Intelligence". The Argus (Melbourne). Vol. II, no. 269. 17 January 1850. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Shipping intelligence". Empire. No. 272. 27 November 1851. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Newcastle shipping". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. X, no. 840. New South Wales, Australia. 21 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Departures". Empire. No. 552. 19 October 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Clearance". Empire. No. 705. 15 April 1853. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Clearances". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXIV, no. 5137. 7 November 1853. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Clearances". Empire. No. 1798. New South Wales, Australia. 11 October 1856. p. 4. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Shipping intelligence". Ovens and Murray Advertiser. No. 209. Victoria, Australia. 17 March 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Mercantile and money article". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 5879. New South Wales, Australia. 9 April 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 27 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Departures—October 22". Empire. No. 2, 520. New South Wales, Australia. 24 October 1859. p. 4. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "Hobson's Bay". Geelong Advertiser. No. 4, 218. Victoria, Australia. 4 April 1860. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Shipping Intelligence". Morning Chronicle. No. 29341. London. 23 January 1861.
  18. ^ "Projected departures—May 18". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LI, no. 8420. New South Wales, Australia. 18 May 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "Departures—December 14". Empire. No. 5325. New South Wales, Australia. 16 December 1868. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "Sinking of the brig Lalla Rookh". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 5866. 7 April 1898. p. 9. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.


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