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[E]
ship
Earl St Vincent
Eliza
Elizabeth-Henrietta
Emu
HMS Emu
Estramina
Exeter

E

Earl St. Vincent
Convict transport: 412 tons. Built at Topsham and registered in London; carried a crew of approximately 32 men. Sailed from Cork, Ireland under the command of Samuel Simpson on 8 August 1818, and arrived in Sydney on 16 December 1818, with 160 male convicts and a detachment of the 48th. Regiment. (There were three deaths on the voyage).

Eliza
Transport: 511 tons. Built in Calcutta and registered in London; carried a crew of approximately 40 men. Sailed from England under the command of Frederick Hunt on 15/16 October 1819, and arrived in Sydney on 21 January 1820, with 160 male convicts. (There was one death during the voyage).

Elizabeth-Henrietta
Brig - employed on colonial service in Australia.
Launched 12 June 1816 at Sydney, NSW - named in honour of Governor Macquarie's wife. (Originally was to have been named Portland). Tonnage: 150 tons.
The vessel had originally been ordered in 1797 and the keel laid in 1800; however its completion was delayed due to a lack of shipwrights in the colony. Capsized at Newcastle at its Hunter River mooring during the early hours of 16 July 1816; the wife of the Master, Joseph Ross, and a crewman named Patrick Fitzgerald were trapped below deck and drowned. The Lady Nelson and the Nautilus were sent from Sydney to right the capsized vessel. She was found to have received little damage and arrived in Sydney on 30 August with a cargo of coal. Wrecked at Newcastle, NSW on 17 December 1825.

Emu (1)
Convict transport. Brig. 220 tons.
The first Emu under the command of Lieut. Alexander Bissett was captured on 30 November 1812 in the Atlantic by the American privateer Holkar during the British-American War of 1812-1814. The Emu was subsequently taken to New York as a 'prize' and sold there. The captain, crew (22), and forty-nine women convicts on board were put ashore at Porto Grande on the island of St Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands on 17 January 1813. The castaways were eventually rescued after 12 months by the Isabella and returned to Britain. However the convict women were not permitted to land but were placed on a hulk in Portsmouth harbour and subsequently placed on board the transport Broxbornebury which sailed for New South Wales on 22 February 1814, arriving on 27 July 1814.
[see: HRA 1:7 p. 700 and p. 830 Note 188; Hook, Elizabeth. Journey to a New Life: the story of the ships 'Emu' in 1812 and 'Broxbornebury' in 1814, including Crew, Female Convicts and Free Passengers on board. Minto, NSW: Privately Printed, 2000].

Emu (2)
Brig - employed on colonial service in Australia. 188 tons. Guns: 10.
The second Emu, under the command of Lieut. George Brooks Forster (1792-1874), departed from England on 1 September 1814 and sailed via Madeira and South America, and arrived in Hobart Town on 12 February 1815. The ship had remained in Rio de Janeiro for three weeks before sailing for Australia on 28 November 1814. After approximately 12 months service in Australian waters ferrying troops, convicts and provisions between Sydney and ports in Van Diemen's Land HMS Emu was despatched to England by Governor Macquarie after assessment in Sydney recommended that HMS Emu was unseaworthy and should be withdrawn from naval and colonial service. After departing from Hobart Town on 15 April 1816 the ship encountered a hurricane off the coast of southern Africa near Cape Agulhas, and after suffering damage to a topmast reached Simon's Bay where she struck a rock. The ship was refloated the following day and hove down for repairs. HMS Emu was reassessed at the Cape as seaworthy and retained at that port for several months performing local naval duties. However, on 11 February 1817, HMS Emu was wrecked on a submerged rock at Knysna (east of Simon's Bay in the Western Cape) and became the first recorded shipwreck there. Submerged rocks and two sandbars inside the grand sandstone cliffs of Knysna Heads make navigation of the entrance to the lagoon and anchorage difficult. The site was subsequently named 'Emu Rock'.
[Sources: The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter. 28 December 1816 [No.31] p.1b; HRA 1:8 p.462 'Macquarie to Bathurst' 24 March 1815; HRA 1:9 'Report to Sir Jahleel Brenton' 27 August, 1816 p.194; Stone, Peter. Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks. Yarram, Vic.: Oceans Enterprises, 2006 p.286].

Estramina
Colonial Schooner - Spanish prize: Estremina.
Built at Callao, Spain in 1803. 120 tons.
Captured off the coast of Peru on 1 October 1804 by the brig Harrington commanded by William Campbell. There were doubts regarding the legality of the seizure by Governor King who considered Campbell guilty of piracy, though no charges were laid. The vessel was purchased at public auction for Colonial service. In 1814 the Estramina was involved in the search for the ship Argo suspected to have been involved in smuggling convicts. Two years later, on 19 January 1816, she drifted ashore near the northern entrance to Newcastle harbour and soon became a total wreck.
[see: Stone, Peter. Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks. Yarram: Vic.: Oceans Enterprises, 2006 p.299].

Exeter - East Indiaman
Built by Wells, launched in 1792. Three decks; length 167 ft. [approx]; breadth: 42 ft. [approx]; 1265 tons.
Eight (8) voyages to India and China between 1793 and 1811. (1) April 1793 - September 1794 (Bombay & China); (2) May 1795 - July 1797 (Bombay & China); (3) February 1798 - August 1799 (Bombay & China); (4) May 1800 - December 1801 (China); (5) April 1803 - August 1804 (China); (6) April 1805 - September 1806 (China); (7) March 1808 - September 1809 (China); and May 1810 - August 1811.
The Exeter was commanded by Lestock Wilson on its first three (3) voyages to China and it was during the second voyage that he provided compassionate assistance to Lachlan Macquarie and his seriously ill wife, Jane, by offering a free passage to Macao.
[Source: Farrington, A. Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp. 237-238].

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