Phoenix (1798 ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Phoenix.
History
United Kingdom
Name: Phoenix
Namesake: Phoenix
Owner: Hibbert & Co.[1][Note 1]
Builder: Randall & Brent, Rotherhithe[2]
Launched: 27 September 1798[2]
Fate: Broken up, 1837
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 589,[1] or 589 89⁄94[2] (bm)

Phoenix was a three-decker merchant ship built on the Thames in 1798. On a voyage in 1824 on which she transported convicts to New South Wales she was damaged on the Sow and Pigs Reef inside Port Jackson Heads, New South Wales, Australia. She was then condemned and turned into a prison hulk. She was broken up in 1837.

Career

Phoenix was launched in 1798 for Hibbert & Co., who were replacing an earlier Phoenix that they had just sold. Lloyd's Register for 1799 gives the name of the new Phoenix as "Stimpson", and her trade as London-Jamaica, like that of her predecessor.[1]

Final voyage

Phoenix, under the command of Captain Robert White and with surgeon Charles Quaede, left England on 29 March 1824, and arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, on 21 July 1824.[3] with a load of convicts from England. She was transporting 204 convicts, and landed 202, two having died during the voyage.[4] From Hobart Phoenix sailed to Sydney.

Phoenix picked up a pilot just outside Sydney Heads but on entering the harbour struck the Sow and Pigs Reef.[5] HMS Tamar helped refloat Phoenix, but inspection determined that Phoenix's keel was so damaged that she could not be repaired in New South Wales.[6]

Prison hulk

The New South Wales Colonial Government bought Phoenix for ₤1000 and converted her to a prison hulk for convicts awaiting transportation to Norfolk Island and Moreton Bay. She thereby became Australia's first prison hulk.[7]

She was moored in Hulk Bay (now Lavender Bay).[5] She considered a much better place to be imprisoned than on shore; contemporary reports described her as cleanly wholesome and ...spacious. She could hold up to 200 prisoners.[8] However, by 1837 Phoenix was in a "sinking state"; the government therefore grounded and auctioned her off.[9] for ₤145.[10] Her prisoners were temporarily housed on Goat Island.[11]

Fate

Thomas Hyndes broke her up in Cockle Bay in December 1837.[12]

Notes, citations and references

Notes
  1. ↑ Hackman states Randall & Brent built Phoenix for J. Dawson & Co.[2] However, entries in Lloyd's Register for 1799 and 1800 confirm Hibbert & Co.
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register (1799).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hackman (2001), p. 305.
  3. ↑ Bateson (1974), pp.308-9.
  4. ↑ Bateson (1974), p. 329.
  5. 1 2 Bateson (1972), Vol. 1, p.66.
  6. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 16 Sep 1824, p.2.
  7. ↑ Bateson (1974), pp.210-11.
  8. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 20 July 1827, p2
  9. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 7 November 1837, p.2.
  10. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 23 November 1837, p.2.
  11. ↑ The Sydney Herald, 9 Nov 1837, p.3.
  12. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 21 December 1837, p.2.
References
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