''Parramatta'' was a sailing ship launched at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in 1866 that operated between

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and America from 1866 to 1898. She was the second fastest Blackwall frigate. She originally carried wool from Australia to the United Kingdom. She foundered in 1898.

History

''Parramatta'' was launched in May 1866 for

Devitt and Moore Devitt and Moore was a British shipping company formed by Thomas Henry Devitt and Joseph Moore in 1836. They became shipowners and entered the passenger and cargo trade to Australia managing and owning many clipper ships such as the ''City of Ad ...

, in the United Kingdom. The ship was named after the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in Australia. The style of ship was known as a Blackwall frigate. These three-masted ships had been designed to supersede the British

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

that carried goods from India to the United Kingdom. The clipper ships were actually used for carrying wool from Australia to the United Kingdom and passengers in both directions. ''Parramatta'' was the second fastest of this type after ''Tweed''. Apart from a brief spell in 1873–4, ''Parramatta'' was under the command of Captain John Williams until she was sold to Norwegian owners.Parramatta
Bruzelius.info, retrieved 5 March 2014 In 1887 the ship was sold to J. Simonsen, Mandal, Norway. When ''Parramatta'' undertook its three-month journeys from London to Sydney it would issue a fortnightly amusing magazine to the passengers on board. Some of these were subsequently issued in book form after the journey. The magazine's name changed each time. The ''Parramatta Sun'' was issued on the outward journey to Sydney from London from 9 September 1879 to 8 December 1879 and a copy is available on-line.Parramatta Sun
Library of NSW, retrieved 6 March 2014 In 1890 ''Parramatta'' left England for Moscow. The ship travelled via Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Constantinople. Explorer and nurse

Kate Marsden Kate Marsden (13 May 1859 – 26 May 1931) was a British missionary, explorer, writer and nurse. Supported by Queen Victoria and Empress Maria Feodorovna she investigated a cure for leprosy. She set out on a round trip from Moscow to Siberia to ...

was on board visiting leper hospitals en route to her trip to Siberia.

Fate

On 12 January 1898 ''Parramatta'' sailed from Galveston, Texas, laden with pitch-pine, bound for King's Lynn in Norfolk. She was never heard of again.

References

{{commons category, Parramatta (ship, 1866) Sailing ships Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Maritime history of Australia Merchant ships of Australia Ships built on the River Clyde 1866 ships 1866 in Scotland Ships of Scotland Sailing in Scotland Missing ships Ships lost with all hands