''Darra'' was a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

-rigged

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...

, built at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

and launched in 1865. Darra anchored in an unidentified port

Construction

''Darra's'' hull was of a composite construction, wooden planking on a wrought iron frame. It was built by Hall and Company,

. Its

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was 999 tons, length 190 feet, beam 33 feet, and draft 21 feet.

Voyages and notable incidents

Early voyages

''Darra'' was built for the

Orient Line The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% sharehold ...

. Its maiden voyage was between Aberdeen and India in 1866. ''Darra'' seems to have made only one voyage to India. As early as October 1866, one year after being launched, ''Darra'' was reported in London loading passengers for Australia. This was the first of many voyages between London and Adelaide, with passengers being taken to Australia, and goods from the colony being carried on the return voyage to London. In 1887, ''Darra'' broke the record for a passage between London and Adelaide, completing the voyage in 70 days.

'The ''Darra'' Outrage'

On 26 November 1887, ''Darra,'' returning to London carrying a cargo of coal from

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Australia, put in to port in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The captain hired three seamen from the dock informally, to help trim

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...

before sailing. That night, approximately 20 men from the Coast Seamen's Union boarded the vessel and forcibly removed the hired seamen, objecting to their having been hired. The boarders found the hired men, and carried them back to shore in their boats despite the captain having confronted the boarders with a revolver. The

San Diego Union ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' a ...

newspaper reported on the incident on 28 November, under the headline It Smacks of Piracy'.''

New Zealand

In 1899, ''Darra'' was extensively damaged by fire while in Sydney Harbour. The remains of the vessel were purchased by the Westport Coal Company for use in New Zealand. ''Darra'' was towed to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

where it was refitted, before being towed to Lyttelton. The dismasted hull was used as a

coal hulk A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment ...

for the next fifty years, serving steam vessels in the Port of Lyttelton.

Beaching

In December 1950, ''Darra'' was temporarily rigged and painted to resemble the

Charlotte Jane ''Charlotte Jane'' was one of the First Four Ships in 1850 to carry emigrants from England to the new colony of Canterbury in New Zealand. Maiden voyage The ''Charlotte Jane'' departed from England in 1848, bound for Sydney. Captain Alexander L ...

, as part of the Christchurch centenary celebrations. As soon as the celebrations were over, the rigging and fittings were dismantled, the hull was cut down and the vessel sold as scrap. Quail Island 066

In 1951, ''Darra'' was beached in the ships graveyard on Quail Island, beside the Mullogh and other wrecks, including the wrecks of two other former coal hulks. In April 1953, the army attempted to destroy the remains of ''Darra'' with explosives, but the explosion only blew a hole in the side of the hull. The wreck is still visible on the island.

References

{{Reflist Shipwrecks of Banks Peninsula Lyttelton, New Zealand Clippers Aberdeen