''Randolph'' was a 664-ton

ship-rigged A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three seg ...

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

constructed in 1849 in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. She was one of the

First Four Ships The First Four Ships refers to the four sailing vessels chartered by the Canterbury Association which left Plymouth, England, in September 1850 to transport the first English settlers to new homes in Canterbury, New Zealand. The colonists or se ...

that brought settlers to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand (the other three were '' Cressy'', and '' Charlotte Jane''). The

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchur ...

chartered ''Randolph'', with Captain William Dale serving as the ship's captain. ''Randolph'' left

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on 4 September 1850, and

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

on the night of 7 September 1850. She arrived at Lyttelton 99 days later on 16 December 1850, with 34 cabin passengers, 15 intermediate and 161 steerage passengers. She departed Port Victoria (Lyttelton) on 10 January 1851, bound for the "''Straights of Lombock''". She was lost on 25 June 1851, on a reef off Amber Island,

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. She had on board a cargo of sugar for

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, a large amount of money, and 254

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n emigrants for

Port Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's e ...

. Nothing belonging to the vessel could be saved. Mr. Scott, an officer of the Madras Army, swam on shore, but died a moment after reaching it from exhaustion. Two European sailors, nine men (immigrants), ten women and three children were drowned. ''Randolph''s entry in ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...

'' for 1851 carries the annotation "Wrecked". The ship is remembered in the name of a road, Randolph Terrace, in the port of Lyttelton.

References

Shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in June 1851 Canterbury Association History of Christchurch 1849 ships Ships built on the River Wear 1850s in Christchurch Migrant ships to New Zealand {{Merchantship-stub