Duke of Roxburgh (ship)

Duke of Roxburgh was launched in 1828 at Newcastle upon Tyne. Initially she traded with India, but later she often sailed between Great Britain and her Australasian colonies carrying emigrants. She was wrecked in 1864.

Career
Initially, Duke of Roxburgh traded with India. The Register of Shipping (1829) gives her master as Brown, her owner as Pirie and Co., and her trade as London – Madras.

Duke of Roxburgh was one of the earliest immigrant ships to Port Phillip, South Australia, and New Zealand.. Her owner in 1840 was J. Somes, changing to Collard, and her master was Drainer..

She left London on 12 April 1838 and arrived at Kingscote on 24 July and Holdfast Bay, South Australia on 28 July. She was carrying 84 passengers (65 adults and 19 children).

Then on 5 October 1839 she sailed from Plymouth  to Wellington under James Thomson, master. She arrived at Wellington on 7 February 1840. This voyage to Wellington made her the third migrant ship to arrive there. On board were 80 male migrants, including George Hunter, Samuel Duncan Parnell, and William Lyon, and 87 female migrants.

On 1 August 1841, she again left London, stopping at Cork on 1 September and then arriving at Sydney on 10 January 1842. On board were 105 male and 142 female passengers, predominantly migrants.

On 7 May 1843, Duke, as she was affectionately known to crew and passengers, sailed under Captain Collard from England with Francis Russell Nixon, the first Bishop of Tasmania, his wife and family, and Archdeacon Fitzherbert Marriott, together with six other cabin passenger including John Helder Wedge and the future squatter Henry Godfrey. Sailing via Trinidade, Ascension Island, and Cape Colony, Duke reached Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, on 21 July 1843.  

She left Hobart Town the following January and arrived at Gravesend on 5 June 1844.

Duke of Roxburgh sailed again from Gravesend on 31 October 1846 and arrived at Port Phillip on 7 March 1847.

Under the command of Capt E. Kirsopp, she left Amoy on 16 August 1851 and arrived at Moreton Bay on 8 November 1851,  having touched at Ascension Island. Her passengers were 227 Chinese labourers. She departed again on 26 November 1851 for Sydney with passengers Mrs Swift, Miss Douglass, Mrs Gray, Mr Coxen, Mr Issac, Mr McDonald, and Mr R. Moore.

Fate
Duke of Roxburgh was wrecked in 1864.

Citations and references
Citations

References
Brett, Henry (1928) The Amelia Thompson, White Wings Vol II. Founding Of The Provinces And Old-Time Shipping. Passenger Ships From 1840 To 1885.  (Auckland: Brett Printing).
Hackman, Rowan (2001) Ships of the East India Company. (Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society). 
Lubbock, Basil (1922) The Blackwall Frigates. (Boston: Charles E Lauriat Co.)

Category:Barques
Category:1828 ships
Category:Maritime incidents in 1864
Category:Migrant ships to Australia
Category:Migrant ships to New Zealand