Atlas (June 1801)

For other ships of the same name, see Atlas (ship).
Career (United Kingdom)
Name: Atlas
Owner: Temple, South Shields[1]
Builder: Temple, South Shields[1]
Launched: 18 June 1801[1]
General characteristics
Tons burthen:435 (bm)
Propulsion:Sail
Complement:34[2]
Armament:12 x 6-pounder guns[2]

Atlas was a 435 ton sailing ship and convict ship that was dispatched in 1801 from Ireland to Australia. She was built in Souths Shields by Temple and launched in 1801 for Temple.

Under the command of Richard Brooks, between 1801 and 1803 she sailed for the East India Company, on a voyage that first had her carrying convicts from Ireland to Port Jackson, and then going on to China, before returning to England. She sailed under a letter of marque issued to Brooks on 17 August 1801.[2]

Atlas left Deptford on 16 July 1801, and Blackwall on 20 August. She reached Waterford on 19 September and Cork four days later.[3]

She sailed from Ireland on 29 November 1801, with 151 male and 28 female convicts. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 2 February 1802.[3]

Atlas arrived at Port Jackson on 7 July 1802.[4] Sixty-six male and two female convicts died on the voyage, or just after disembarkation. Governor Philip Gidley King censured Brooks for this high death rate, which was the result of his negligence and the overcrowding that his transport of his personal cargo caused. Thomas Jamison, Atlas‍ '​s surgeon, charged Brooks with assault in a civil action, and the transport commissioners threatened to prosecute him, but Brooks escaped punishment.[5]

Atlas left Port Jackson on 7 October 1802 bound for China.[4] She reached Whampoa on 14 December. By 18 April 1803 she was at St Helena, and on 18 June she was finally back at Deptford.[3]

She sailed from Gravesend, England on 10 June 1819, under the command of Joseph Short, with 156 male convicts. She arrived at Port Jackson on 19 October. One male convict died on the voyage. Atlas left Port Jackson on 10 January 1820 bound for Calcutta.

Fate

Atlas grounded on a shoal outside Poulicat, India on 9 May 1820 and was wrecked after splitting in two on the sands.[6]

Citations and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Atlas". East India Company Ships. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Letter of Marque, 1793–1815, p.51;
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 National Archives: Atlas (2), - accessed 9 November 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure". Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 3 January 1891, p.16. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Parsons (1966).
  6. ↑ "Wreck of the Atlas". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 23 December 1820, p.3. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
References