''Cressy'' 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 s ...

" in 1850 to carry

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to the new

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in New Zealand. ''Cressy'' was the last to arrive on 27 December. The other ships were ''

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 ...

'', , and '' Randolph''. The passengers aboard these four ships were referred to as the "Canterbury Pilgrims" of

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 ...

. Their names are inscribed on a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

plaque in Cathedral Square in the centre of Christchurch. The ship is remembered in the name of a road, Cressy Terrace, in the port town of Lyttelton.

Voyage from England to New Zealand

On the morning of 4 September 1850. the barque ''Cressy'', J. D. Bell, master, left Gravesend, and was towed down the river. After sailing down the Channel and nearly becalmed off the Isle of Wight, she did not drop anchor in Plymouth Sound until after 3 AM on 7 September. At midnight she left Plymouth, and initially had a run in light air until the end of the month but then encountered breezes from the south and east for almost a month forcing the ship to sail more westward before commenced a good run. From 9 November to 5 December the ship sailed 100 degrees of longitude east between parallels of 37. 30 and 40 S. On 21 December she was in lat. 47. 30 S., 162.48 E. but experienced bad weather. Land was sighted land on the evening of 23 December and the next day she turned to the north for Banks' Peninsula, and at last dropping anchor in Port Victoria before noon on 27 December. Her passage was 110 days from Plymouth Sound. The long passage was put down to fore-topsail being reefed whenever the breeze freshened, as the fore-top-mast had been badly sprung South of the Cape of Good Hope and no confidence could be placed in it taking a heavy load. There was one birth and two deaths, both sickly children. The captain consulted the passengers about their ''health and comfort'' and did not run further south, where a shorter passage might have been made, but in colder latitudes.

Notable passengers

* Harry Allwright (1836/1837 – 1892), Member of Parliament for the Lyttelton electorate 1879–1887 * Frances Caverhill (1834–1897), diarist and homemaker * Arthur Dudley Dobson (1841–1934), pioneer surveyor and engineer, son of Edward Dobson * Edward Dobson (1816–1908), Provincial Engineer * George Dobson (1840–1866), surveyor and murder victim (son of Edward Dobson) * Benjamin Dudley (1805–1892), Anglican priest * Michael Hart (1814? – 1878), Mayor of Christchurch 1874–1875 * James Townsend (1788–1866), pioneer settler * Mary Townsend (1822–1869), artist (daughter of James Townsend)

References

External links

Electronic version of a Lyttelton Times article describing the voyage of Cressy
{{First Four Ships Canterbury Association History of Christchurch Barques 1843 ships Ships built on the River Wear 1850s in Christchurch Migrant ships to New Zealand