Borrowdale (1785 ship)

Borrowdale from three angles
History
Name: Borrowdale
Builder: Sunderland
Launched: 1785
Fate: Sunk, 31 October 1789
General characteristics [1]
Type: Storeship
Tons burthen: 272, or 340[2] (bm)
Length: 75 ft (23 m)
Beam: 22 ft (6.7 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 22
Armament: 4 guns

Borrowdale was a three-masted, square rigged merchant ship, launched in 1785, that served as a storeship of the First Fleet, a convoy of ships taking settlers and convicts to establish the first European colony in Australia. She was wrecked in 1789.

Career

Borrowdale was built in Sunderland in 1785, perhaps for the British East India Company (EIC). However, the British government immediately chartered her to participate in the First Fleet.[3]

She left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, and arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia on 20 January 1788.[1]

She left Port Jackson on 14 July 1788 to return to England via Cape Horn. The crew was so badly affected by scurvy that the master, (Readthorn) Hobson Reed, took her to Rio de Janeiro, where the harbour master and his men had to bring the ship to its berth. Five of the crew died on the homeward voyage.[4] Borrowdale arrived at Plymouth from Botany Bay on 25 March 1789.[5]

Fate

After returning to England Borrowdale served as a collier. A violent storm developed of the coast of Norfolk on 30 October 1789 that damaged many vessels, and sank some. On 31 October 1789 Borrowdale sank off Great Yarmouth, taking Reed and all but one man of his crew with her.[6]

Lloyd's Register

Unfortunately, information is only as correct and up-to-date as the information vessel owners provided.

Year Master Owner Trade Notes
1786 H. Reed Leighton London - Botany Bay 340 tons (bm)
1787 H. Reed Leighton London - Botany Bay 340 tons (bm)
1788 Not available on line
1789 H. Reed Leighton London - Botany Bay 340 tons (bm)

Post-script

An Urban Transit Authority First Fleet ferry was named after Borrowdale in 1985.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Ships of the First Fleet". Fellowship of First Fleeters. 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  2. ↑ Lloyd's Register1786).
  3. ↑ "Storeship Borrowdale". National Library of Australia. 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Borrowdale". First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc. 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  5. ↑ Lloyd's List, n° 2076.
  6. ↑ Lloyd's List, n° 2139.
  7. ↑ Sydney Ferries Fleet Facts Transport for NSW

External links

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