Hougoumont (ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
malformed flag image Australia
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| Name: | Hougoumont |
| Owner: | Duncan Dunbar |
| Launched: | 1852 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 165.5 feet |
| Beam: | 34 feet |
Hougoumont was the last convict ship to transport convicts to Australia.
A three-masted full rigged ship of the type commonly known as a Blackwall Frigate of 875 tons gross on dimensions of 165.5 feet long, 34 ft beam and 23 ft depth of hold, Hougoumont was constructed at Moulmein, Burma in 1852 and named after the Château d'Hougomont where the Battle of Waterloo was fought. The ship's original owner was Duncan Dunbar, a highly successful ship owner who entered the convict transport trade in the 1840s, providing nearly a third of the ships that transported convicts to Western Australia.
The nineteenth century author W. Clark Russell claimed to have served on the Hougoumont for three years.
Hougoumont was chartered by the French as a troop carrier during the Crimean War, during which time it was renamed Baraguey d'Hilliers after the French general Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, as its original name would have been offensive to the French. After the Crimean War ended in 1856, it was renamed Hougoumont.
In the 1860s, Hougoumont's tender was accepted by the Emigration Commission. On 9 June 1866 it began a voyage from Plymouth to Port Adelaide, carrying 335 government-assisted emigrants. It arrived on 16 September.
Hougoumont's most famous voyage occurred in 1867, after it was chartered to transport convicts to Western Australia. By this time, it was owned by Luscombe of London. A number of convicts boarded the ship at Sheerness, London on 30 September. It then sailed along the south coast of Britain to Portland, where more convicts were boarded. It departed Portsmouth on 12 October 1867 with 280 convicts and 108 passengers on board. Most of the passengers were pensioner guards and their families. The ship captain was William Cozens and the surgeon-superintendent was Dr William Smith. After a largely uneventful voyage of 89 days, during which time one convict died, Hougoumont docked at Fremantle, Western Australia on 9 January 1868.
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