Emu (ship)

Career (United Kingdom)
Name: Emu
Captured: November 1812
General characteristics
Class and type:Brig
Tons burthen:220 ton
Propulsion:Sail
Armament:10 guns

Emu was a 220 ton merchant ship and convict ship that transported convicts to Australia. She was captured by an American privateer in 1812.

Under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Bisset, Emu left England in October 1812 with 49 female convicts. While en route to Hobart Town, she was captured on 30 November 1812 in the Atlantic by the American 18-gun privateer Holkar, captained by J. Rolland.[1] The captain, twenty two crew, and the forty-nine female convicts were put ashore at Porto Grande on the island of St Vincent (now São Vicente) in the Cape Verde Islands on 17 January 1813.[1] Emu was subsequently taken to Newport, Rhode Island as a prize and sold there.[1]

The captain, crew and convicts were eventually picked up after 12 months by the Isabella and returned to England. The female convicts were placed on a hulk in Portsmouth harbour and subsequently sent aboard the transport Broxbornebury to Port Jackson.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bateson, p.192.

References