Queen of the Colonies

The Queen of the Colonies was a clipper ship built in East Boston Massachusetts at the shipyards of Samuel Hall in 1853. She was 1,336 tons, 64m long, 12.4m across and 7.85m from deck to keel. The ships original owner and first captain was Shungar H Slate who ran the shipping company Slate & Co of New York. The ship did 10 years service as a California Clipper, but during the American Civil War, Confederate Cruisers wrought much havoc among American clipper shipping and Slate & Co made a decision to sell the boat. At the same time, the Black Ball Line - a joint venture company of James Baines & Co Pty. Ltd and T.M. Mackay, Son & Co Pty. Ltd - was awarded a contract with the Queensland Government to convey immigrants to Moreton Bay. So in 1862, James Baines & Co purchased the boat to service the London Moreton Bay route. Over the next 8 years, the vessel, Queen of the Colonies made six trips from the United Kingdom and Ireland to the colony of Queensland during the 1860s on one occasion, setting a crossing record to Australia from England.

On its journey to London, the Wizard managed a narrow escape from the confederate steamer 'The Alabama' by slipping into the Thames. Once ownership was transferred, the ship - despite being in need of substantial repairs and an extensive refit to cope with a new role as a passenger liner - was quickly renamed Queen of the Colonies and scheduled for her first trip to Queensland.

92 passengers embarked at the Queen of the Colonies in London and the ship departed from London 13th Dec 1862. She picked up an additional 158 passengers - plus 28 stowaways at Queenstown (Cork) Ireland. Just after leaving Queenstown, the Queen of the Colonies had another run in with the Alabama. One passenger's described the event as follows:

"The air was full of snow and the cold very severe. On the run down channel and across to the Irish coast a succession of gales was met with, in consequence of which the crew were kept constantly at work, having few opportunities for sleep. One morning it was observed that a steamer - there were not many of them in those days - with a long line of smoke streaming from her single funnel, was heading for our ship, a manoeuvre which caused no little surprise to the people crowding excitedly on the deck.
"The stranger ran up to within a quarter of a mile of us, and fired a gun across our bows, which naturally occasioned further surprise, and from the poop to the cuddy, the cry went up, 'The Alabama!!' Our skipper, Captain Cairncross, steadfastly refused to heave to, and kept on his course, apparently ignoring the other ship...." A second gun was fired from the Alabama which came to within a hundred yards of the Queen of the Colonies, before Captain Semmes of the Alabama called out to Captain Cairncross, who identified the ship as the Queen of the Colonies, from London to Brisbane with two hundred and fifty souls aboard. Up went the Union Jack, and at that point the Alabama captain was satisfied and steamed away."

Measles appeared soon after sailing from Queenstown. There were 35 cases resulting in 6 infant fatalities. Two adults died in childbirth, one infant from convulsions, and one adult from injuries received in a fall. There were seven births, five of which were females.

One of the passengers, Henry John Ford, kept a diary of his passage from England to Australia. The voyage, apparently, made good time during the trip, and anchored off Moreton Island on 6th April.

On 7th April at 5 pm, 13 crew and volunteer passengers took the life-boat to the island to bury one of the passengers, Mrs Barnfield, who had died in childbirth. At 7 pm the life boat returned, but was unable to reach the ship due to a sudden and violent squall that erupted and the life-boat disappeared. Captain Cairncross decided to continue to Brisbane on the 8th of April, whereafter search crews were sent to look for the life-boat.

The men in the lifeboat attempted to row to Brisbane but the boat overturned on a sandbank, and Mr Barnfield was drowned. They returned to a beach near where Caloundra is today. Three of the men (Eldridge, Grant & Durant) then tried to reach settlement overland and were the last to be found - on April 26th. The remainder had already been found at Caloundra. All were in terrible condition - sunburnt and starving, and nearly naked, having lost clothing when the boat overturned.

Queen of the Colonies

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