Whitby was a three-masted, square-rigger launched in 1837 and later re-rigged as a

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

. She was registered in London, and made voyages to India, British Guiana, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1841 ''Whitby'', ''Arrow'', and ''Will Watch'' carried surveyors and labourers for the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...

to prepare plots for the first settlers (scheduled to follow five months later). ''Whitby'' was wrecked at

Kaipara Harbour Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auck ...

in April 1853.

Career

''Whitby'' was originally built for the London-Calcutta route, and sailed there in May 1837. She arrived at

Kedgeree Kedgeree (or occasionally ) is a dish consisting of cooked, flaked fish (traditionally smoked haddock), boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, lemon juice, salt, butter or cream, and occasionally sultanas. The dish can be eat ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, on 12 November. In May 1838, she brought the first 270 apprenticed East Indian hill coolie migrants from

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

Berbice Berbice () is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

and

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

in British Guiana for Gillanders, Abuthnot and Co. In 1839 ''Whitby'' transported 133 female

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

s to Sydney. Under the command of Captain Thomas Wellbank, she left

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 18 February and arrived at Sydney on 23 June. On 20 June 1840 she left

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for New Zealand. On 19 December she was reported landing three rescued crew members from the ''Esperance'' and ''Hesperia'' at

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

. However, this may have been another ship, as she was reported sailing from Table Bay to Mauritius on 15 December. She was reported as being at Cork on 16 February 1841 having passed the ''Olympus'', which was sailing to New Zealand. She arrived at Gravesend on 3 or 4 March, being noted as having sailed from Lombock. Her first voyage to New Zealand was to Wellington under Captain Lacey. She arrived on 18 September 1841 at Port Nicholson. Her cargo included 20,000 bricks. On 3 November, while under the command of Captain James Swinton, ''Whitby'' arrived at

Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

, with the ''Will Watch'' and ''Arrow''. In October she had participated in the

's exploration of Golden Bay. In 1842 seamen on board her were paid £3 5 s per month. Ownership changed in 1843 when she sold to Thomas Hawson in

Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; ; , ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' southeast of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancien ...

, Burma, then part of British India. In 1844 she was sold to Phillip Richardson of London and 1848 to Thomas Radcliff of London. On 3 February 1849 she left London with 165 immigrants to Melbourne, Australia. She arrived at Port Phillip on 28 June. On 31 July 1851 she had arrived from Port Phillip in Sydney. In 1851 or 1852 ''Whitby'' underwent major repairs, including a new deck. She sailed from Sydney on 30 September 1852 under the command of Captain Bruce, and arrived at Kaipara on 16 October to load a cargo of timber for Melbourne or Sydney. She had been earlier purchased by Mr Wright of Sydney for use by Wright and Grahame's line on the trans-Tasman trade. She sailed from Kaipara on the 19 December and arrived back in Sydney on 2 December. In March 1853 she again sailed from Sydney to Kaipara under Captain Bruce, arriving at Kaipara on 16 March. On this voyage one of the crew, Benjamin Leeland, fell into the Kaipara river and drowned.

Loss

She was sailing under Captain Bruce with a full cargo of timber when she was lost on Tory Shoal at Kaipara on 24 April 1853. Fortunately all the crew survived.

Monument

On 5 May 1988, a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

of the ''Whitby'' was presented to the people of

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

by the Indian government. It is located in the Guyana National Park in Georgetown.

References

{{coord, 36, 25, 18, S, 174, 4, 12, E, name=Tory Shoal, display=title 1837 ships Shipwrecks of the Northland Region Maritime incidents in April 1853 1841 in New Zealand 1853 in New Zealand Barques Migrant ships to New Zealand