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 vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

. 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, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

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 Auckla ...

in April 1853.

Career

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

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

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

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

to Berbice and

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) 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 ...

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 conv ...

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

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

on 18 February and arrived at Sydney on 23 June. On 20 June 1840 she left Sydney 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 and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

. 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, 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; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...

, 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 by the Indian government. It is located in the

Guyana National Park Guyana National Park (normally simply the National Park) is an urban park in Georgetown, Guyana and was opened with Queen Elizabeth II. in attendance and was formerly named Queen Elizabeth II National Park in honour of her state visit. Despi ...

in Georgetown.

References

{{coord missing, New Zealand 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