Surry (1811 ship)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	Surry or Surrey
Owner:	Mangles, London
Port of registry:	London
Launched:	1811, Harwich
Fate:	Broken up in 1857
General characteristics Fully square rigged, 3-mast
Class and type:	A1 (1814), Æ1 (1844), Æ1 (1845…1846); barque class Æ1 (1848)
Tons burthen:	443, or 445; 461 after refit (bm)
Length:	117 ft 6 in (35.8 m)
Beam:	29 ft 6 in (9.0 m)
Draught:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	25-30
Armament:	14 x 18&9-pounder guns
Notes:	copper-sheathed

Surry, also known as Surrey, had an especially long career transporting convicts to Australia. In 11 voyages, the most of any convict transport, she brought 2,177 convicts, male and female, and so became one of the best-known of the vessels that visited Australia. In all, she lost 51 men and one woman during her various passages, 46 of the men dying during her first and most notorious voyage in 1814 when she was under the command of James Patterson.

The high death toll on her first voyage led to a Board of Enquiry, which blamed neglect by the Master and Surgeon. Surry also served as a cargo vessel, particularly after her last convict trip, which ended when she reached Hobart on 11 August 1842.

Surry was a square-rigged transport ship of 443 tons burthen. She had an overall length of 117 ft. 6 ins., a breadth above the gunwales of 29 ft. 6 ins, and a draught, when loaded, of 18 ft. She was copper-sheathed, and had quarter galleries, with a bust of Minerva for a figurehead. When carrying prisoners and stores in 1816 she drew 16 ft. 3 ins. forward and 17 ft. 2 ins. aft, being down by the stern eleven inches. She carried a crew of thirty and was armed with fourteen cannons.

When Surry was originally built at Harwich in 1811 she had two decks with a height between decks of 5 ft. 8 ins. However, about 1818, she must have received a major refit - the Shipping Registers after 1819 record her as having three decks. She was owned by the well-known London firm of F. & C.F. Mangles. She was described for many years as a first-class ship built of first-class materials.

Surry was launched for Mangles & Co., and initially served as a West Indiaman in the Jamaica - London trade. She had two masters, both of whom received letters of marque. Captain David Talbert received a letter of marque on 12 June 1811, and Captain James Smith received one on 11 July 1812.

James Patterson was Master of Surry on her first convict voyage to Australia in 1814. He died of typhus after the ship arrived in Sydney. Thomas Raine was a junior officer on board Surry on this voyage but the epidemic of typhus that killed Paterson and a large number of the people aboard the vessel left him the only surviving officer. He sailed her back to England and subsequently commanded her for the next three voyages (1816, 1819, 1823).

Charles Kemp succeeded Raine for four voyages (1829, 1831, 1833, 1834). His successor, on the ninth and tenth voyages (1836, 1840), was George Sinclair. On the last voyage (1842) Henry Innott was Master.

On her first voyage transporting convicts from England, Surry sailed on 22 February 1814. She had embarked 200 male convicts, transported under the Plymouth Court's instruction dated 7 February 1814. After a stop in Rio de Janeiro, she arrived in Sydney on 27 July 1814, accompanied by Broxbornebury, which berthed next day. The voyage had taken 156 days.

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