Victory (1847 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: |
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| Builder: | Fenwick & Co |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 578 or 579 tons |
| Sail plan: | Barque |
Victory was built by Fenwick & Co, Sunderland in 1847 and owned by Willis, Gunn and Co (the company advertised as H H Willis and Co) and later owned by Wilson and Cook. She was 578 or 579 ton barque that brought some of the first immigrants from England to Dunedin in July 1848. She also called at Wellington, New Zealand in August 1848. There was an advertisement that gave her weight as 700 tons, but given that her Captain in 1851 was Mullens it was unlikely to be another ship.
Among the Wellington bound passengers was Charles Borlase, one of Wellington's early mayors. The ship's captain was William Lennox Mullens and had sailed from Deal on 6 March 1848. She first arrived in Port Chalmers on 8 July 1848 and then sailed to Wellington, arriving on 16 August 1848. A journey of 163 days. The ship then sailed to Sydney in September/October.
This journey to New Zealand was eventful. Mr L Langland, a passenger, had kept a diary of the journey. The ship left Gravesend on 3 March and had run into bad weather in the English Channel, sheltering at Cowes for ten days. The captain's treatment of the crew was poor and the relationship between both deteriorated. A seaman named Robinson, respected by the crew, kept matters under control. He was a good sailor and popular with the passengers. The captain was described as very reserved man who kept to himself and was aloof from the crew. Just before the ship reached the Bay of Biscay the crew, with Robinson's help, refused to obey an unreasonable order from the captain. The captain was unable to obtain the support of the passengers and relented. Robinson took charge from then on whenever the weather was rough, with the captain having little to do with the running of the ship. On arriving in Dunedin, Robinson was arrested and charged with assault. He and three crew members were imprisoned for a short period, eventually being released to join the crew of a visiting whaler.
Captain Mullens met a tragic end. The ship was chartered to carry Chinese coolies from Cumsingmoon (maybe Jiangmen) to Callao, Peru. She sailed from China on 6 December 1851, with more than 350 on board and a general cargo. The ship normally carried just over 100 migrants so the conditions would have been poor. Mistreatment of coolie migrants was common and mutinies by them were becoming more frequent at the time of this voyage.
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Wikipedia