IFHAA Shipping Records

Royal Admiral 1792
THE VOYAGE TO PORT JACKSON

The 914 ton ship Royal Admiral was completed in 1777 on the Thames. She was 120'2" long with a beam of 37'10". She was capable of good sailing, in fact sailed from England to Port Jackson, via the Cape of Good Hope in 139 days. No sketch or drawing of the Royal Admiral has been located. The Australian National Maritime Museum Archives search came up with nothing, also a vast search in English and also came up with no success.

CREW OF THE ROYAL ADMIRAL 1792: Crew members including Captain 32.

There were already 49 sailors on board up to April 23 1792. Another 48 sailors joined the ship between April 24 and May 7 1792. Names of some of the Royal Admiral seaman:-

 NSW CORPS.
Whilst the Royal Admiral was docked at Gravesend, 20 soldiers from the NSW Corps joined her on May 14. However records on exact numbers do vary - Collins p.199 gives 1 Serg., 1 Corp., 19 privates, belonging to the NSW Corps as arriving on the Royal Admiral. This group consisted of:-

Donald Kennedy was a convict from Scotland, his wife Ann also was aboard the Royal Admiral. It seems he was assigned to the Corp before arriving in Australia.

CONVICTS AND PASSENGERS.
The first of the female convicts boarded at Gravesend. on 4/5/1792, with the last of the female convicts on the 13/5/1792. A total of 49 women convicts embarked on the Royal Admiral with 2 deaths - Sarah Thomas and Mary Springate - thus 47 disembarked at Sydney Cove (The Convict Ships 1787 - 1868 Charles Bateson). Whilst the log notes 51 female convicts embarking the ship at Gravesend from May 4 to May 13. The log records 297 male convicts embarking on the Ship all at Gravesend. Passengers on the Royal Admiral as noted in the log.
May 10 Gravesend 3 women along with 2 children.
May 14 Gravesend 1 woman.
May 24 St Helena 3 men, 3 women and 2 children.
Among them were -Mr and Mrs John Jamieson - Superintendent of Convicts. Mr and Mrs Peat - Master Carpenter. Thomas Allen - Master Miller. Both Peat and Allen had signed agreements to work in the Colonies, these been signed on 14/5/1792. Therefore I feel they joined the Royal Admiral at St Helena which was the Trading Depot/Station for the East India Company. The Captain did not record the number of exact children as research has shown that there were possible 5 children who boarded the Royal Admiral in England. Even the number of women (free, convict's wives and convicts) show inconsistency.

A busy day it was on the 14th May for the Royal Admiral - * Captain Bond along with owner Mr Larkin came on board and paid the Ship.* Also ousted the long boat and received 7 packages for private trade. * Received on board the live stock and sundry stores also 20 King Soldiers (NSW Corps) and 1 female Jackson. * PM - the ship was now in the channel. On May 15 Thomas Dargin (Seaman who would desert the ship at Sydney Cove) received 3 months pay which places him on board the ship whilst it was in Bernard Dock on the Thames undergoing an overhaul for the voyage.

The convicts - both male and female mixed together on the voyage, as there are many entries in the log referring to "The soldiers under arms and all convicts on deck". However there is no mention of the passengers onboard.

CAPTAIN ESSEX HENRY BOND.
Essex Henry Bond was born September 1762, the son of George Bond of Merton and Farnham Surrey by his wife Eleanor (daughter of Sir Thomas Chitty Kit, Lord Mayor London 1760). Essex Henry Bond entered the service of the East India Company and became a Commander of a company's ship after making several voyages as a Mate. Essex Henry Bond's first command appears to have been the Royal Admiral on its 5th voyage to China, leaving the "Downs" on 17/4/1790 and arriving home in England 29/6/1791. Whilst on the voyage back, the Ship made a routine call to East India's trading station at St Helena, whilst there Captain Bond married Mary Young (daughter of Stephen Young and his wife Penelope Issack) on 1/5/1791. Some of their sons also served with the East India Company.

The next voyage of the Royal Admiral was of course to NSW leaving 30/5/1792 returning home on 20/8/1793 via China. The object of this voyage was to transport both male and female convicts to Port Jackson and from there proceed to China to load tea for the voyage back home. Captain Bond made one more voyage in charge of the Royal Admiral sailing to Calcutta and India 1/5/1794 - April 1796. The Royal Admiral arrived on its maiden Australian voyage on Sunday October 7 1792, landing the first of her convicts on the following day. There a total of 47 or 49 female convict aboard when arriving at Sydney Cove.

 The ship arrived with fever and there many deaths during the voyage and also whilst docked in Sydney Cove. 2 female convicts died aboard ship and there 5 births during her journey. The births include Eleanor Springate who was born on board the Royal Admiral whilst she was docked in Port Jackson.

BIRTHS ON THE ROYAL ADMIRAL.

David Thomas died Sept 25 1792. Lat 43.54S Long 125.32E. Infant David would have been care for by other women convicts as his Mother died September 18, Lat 41.30S Long 92.12E. September 19 1792. All Children born on board were baptised by Captain Bond:- Charlotte Loveridge, Female Loveridge, David Thomas, Mathews Stillborn.

DEATHS ON THE ROYAL ADMIRAL.

Deaths:- Male Convicts 9 (log records 9, whilst Collins notes 10), Female Convicts 2, Children 2, Seamen 2.

PORT JACKSON.
On board the Royal Admiral all passengers (free and convict) experienced fever and sickness. Log of the Royal Admiral - Saturday July 28th 1792, Sick List - 9 seaman, 39 male convicts and 2 female convicts. Arriving at Port Jackson to be faced with the acclimatization to an Australian Summer. The Royal Admiral did bring with her to NSW fever, noting the large number of deaths both in women and children soon after arrival. Collins refers to the arrival of the Royal Admiral - The sick, to the number of 80, were all immediately disembarked. The remainder of her convicts were sent to be employed at Parramatta and adjoining settlements. The log gives details of disembarkment:-
October 8 - 182 convict men and women landed.
October 9 - Remainder of convicts landed
October 25 - 22 Convicts sent on shore
Noting that Samuel Sutherland (convict) died on board ship at Port Jackson on October 8. Also Mary Springate (convict) died October 12 1792 on ship docked in Port Jackson. Death resulting from childbirth. Mary was buried Sydney Cove 13/10/1792.
Of the Convicts embarked on that ship (Royal Admiral) ten men and two women died on passage, and four children were born, one of whom died. Seventy two men, eleven women and five children have landed sick (Phillip to Dundas HRNSW). Captain Bond in Command also brought goods to the Colonies to trade. His agent John Macarthur sold Porter and other goods at the trading stores at both Sydney Cove and Parramatta (Collins p.202/248). Porter is a heavy dark brown beer made with malt. The only addition made to weekly rations because of the Royal Admiral arrival was the allowance of 6 ounces of oil to each person. This oil was issued in lieu of butter. Major Grose directed the officers commanding companies of the NSW Corps to purchase for each company from the Royal Admiral a 25 gallon of spirits (Collins p.202).

When the Royal Admiral left Port Jackson she left behind Quarter Master - Hacking, who had been here before on the "Sirus" and six sailors (Collins p.205). These six sailors include:-
1. Thomas Dargin - who later married Mary Loveridge, convict of the Royal Admiral. He had received 6 lashes for quitting the ship without leave on 29/10/1792.
2. John Smith.
3. William Smith.
4. James Bradshaw.
5. George Thompson
They were replaced with 6 seamen from the "Atlantic".

Free men in the Colony (HRNSW Vol 2) as on 8/12/1792:-
Parramatta and Toonagabbie. 2. Norfolk Island 1. Sydney. 7.
Do these numbers include the Seamen who ran ship from the Royal Admiral?

George Thompson, a contemporary observer who sailed on the Royal Admiral (Gunner) used lime in the construction of his house. A quality of lime was brought out from England on the Royal Admiral - HRNSW Vol 2. p. 794.

WOMEN AND FEMALE CHILDREN OF THE ROYAL ADMIRAL 1792 - STATUS ON ARRIVAL

The ship indents included 6 convicts who actually arrived on the next sailing ship - Bellona. Also some women listed on bound indent were already in Australia, arriving on the Kitty. Also some women were missing on the indent but their names appear in Log Entries.

This information was kindly donated by Cathy Dunn. It consists of excerpts from her book titled Ladies of the Royal Admiral - 1792. ISBN 0 958786 0 3. Published January 1996 Milton NSW. http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/raladies.html

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Last modified: April 17, 2007