The Mosquito Fleet was the fleet of small

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

es and

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

s operating in the shallow coastal and gulf waters of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, from the colony's establishment in 1836 until 1982. From the State's main port of

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

they supplied goods to many isolated regional settlements, returning with cargoes of agricultural products (particularly wheat and wool) and minerals. They also played a role in

lightering Lightering (also called lighterage) is the process of transferring cargo between vessels of different sizes, usually between a barge (lighter) and a bulker or oil tanker. Lightering is undertaken to reduce a vessel's draft so it can enter port facil ...

grain to load larger vessels offshore in deeper waters, the most famous example being to

windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

s off Port Victoria,

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

, which until 1949 marked the start of the Great Grain Race. Among the last surviving ketches are the 1883 ''Nelcebee'' (owned by the

South Australian Maritime Museum The South Australian Maritime Museum is a state government museum, part of the History Trust of South Australia. The Museum opened in 1986 in a collection of historic buildings in the heart of Port Adelaide, South Australia's first heritage prec ...

) and the 1919-built ''

Falie ''Falie'' is a ketch that traded for many years in Australian waters. Originally built in 1919/1920 as a speculation by her builder, rigged as a schooner and named ''Hollands Trouw'' after the shipyard where she was built, she was purchased by ...

''.South Australian Maritime Museum > The Mosquito Fleet - South Australia's Ketches
Accessed 29 January 2014.

References

{{Reflist Ketches of Australia Ships of South Australia