Some tiny ships connecting Australia with Asia and the Pacific in the gold rush years

Abstract

This article deals with four sailing vessels ranging from 37 to 148 tons launched between 1842 and 1867 by the prominent early colonial ship-builder, William Paterson. It concentrates on their contacts with Australia’s Pacific and Asian neighbours. Each was built at a different site and was intended to operate in coastal waters and river estuaries linking Launceston, Melbourne and Adelaide. However, strong local competition in the gold-rush years was greatly exacerbated by the abolition of Britain’s restrictive Navigation Laws in 1849 and an increased use of steamers in Bass Strait, causing their skippers to venture as far as California, Guam, the Chatham Islands or Java.This article is based on voyages into the Pacific and Indian Oceans by four little ships built in Australia by William Paterson between 1842 and 1867. The smallest, the cutter Alpha, was all of 37 tons. The largest was the packet-brig Swan of 148 tons. Why these craft? William Paterson was my mother’s great-grandfather, hence the effort to track his ships’ movements over many years and on many seas. The Paterson brothers (William and John) did launch larger vessels (to 547 tons), but these were normally involved in longer-distance service and did not usually link Australia with its Pacific and Asian neighbours. Vessels treated here were Paterson’s small creations.A brief reference to the types of vessels on the shipping register of the Port of Sydney in 1849 will provide important context. There were 235 ships on that register, 189 built in New South Wales and the remainder in Britain or other British colonies. Not one fully square-rigged ‘ship’ was on the register and the two largest barques were the London (386 tons) and the Statesman (345 tons). Only 24 sailing vessels were of 200 tons or more, most of these being British built. The great majority of smaller craft (under 100 tons) were Australian built, and the 98 schooners and 55 cutters taken together represented well over half the total. The largest steamer registered was the Juno of 362 tons.2