Mimosa (ship)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	Mimosa
Owner:	Robert Vining, William Killey, Liverpool; Daniel Green
Builder:	Alexander Hall and Sons, Aberdeen
Cost:	£5,916
Launched:	21 June 1853 [1]
Fate:	Hulked; lost at New Calabar.[2]
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	447 tons NM, 540 tons OM
Length:	139.9 ft (42.6 m)
Beam:	25.5 ft (7.8 m)
Depth of hold:	15.6 ft (4.8 m)
Sail plan:	Ship rigged, 3 masts [1]

Mimosa was a clipper ship that gained fame for carrying the first Welsh emigrants to South America in 1865.

Voyage to Patagonia

Catherine Davies and her children, who emigrated to Patagonia on Mimosa

Mimosa had already seen many years of service by the time it transported Welsh emigrants to Patagonia, South America. The ship was built in 1853 at Hall's shipyard in Aberdeen. Although the ship wasn't designed to carry passengers, it was converted for that purpose before the voyage. The cost of fitting, provisioning and chartering the ship was £2,500 and the passengers paid £12 per adult or £6 per child for the journey.^[3] Before the voyage, the emigrants assembled at various points, not always their places of origin, to prepare for the journey, including Aberdare, Birkenhead and Mountain Ash.

Mimosa sailed from Liverpool, England on 28 May 1865 to Patagonia, South America with a group of about 153 passengers with Captain George Pepperell and a crew of 18. The ship's surgeon for the voyage was Thomas Greene, an Irishman from Kildare. They landed on 28 July 1865 and named their landing site Porth Madryn. They were met by Edwyn Cynrig Roberts and Lewis Jones who had already arrived in Patagonia in June 1865 to prepare for the arrival of the main body of settlers. Their aim was to establish a Welsh colony which would preserve the Welsh language and culture. The proposed site for the colony was in the Chubut River valley. On 15 September 1865 the first town in the Chubut colony was named Rawson, and the settlers went on to build the settlements at Gaiman and Trelew.

Welsh emigrants aboard Mimosa

The exact number of emigrants who sailed out to Patagonia on Mimosa remains uncertain. Although one of the original settlers, Richard Jones (Berwyn), maintained a register of births, marriages and deaths for many years, most of these original records were lost in the great flood in the Chubut Valley in 1899. In 1875, the Argentine government granted the Welsh settlers ownership of the land which encouraged hundreds of others from Wales to join the colony.

In the early 21st century, approximately 50,000 Patagonians are of Welsh descent, of whom around 5,000 are Welsh speakers.^[4] The Welsh-Argentine colony, which became known as Y Wladfa, remains centered on Gaiman, Trelew and Trevelin.^[5]

1865 settlers

See also

• Welsh Tract
• Welsh colonization of the Americas

References

Bibliography

• Susan Wilkinson - Mimosa: the life & times of the ship that sailed to Patagonia (Y Lolfa, 2007)
• Susan Wilkinson - Mimosa's Voyages: Official Logs, Crew List and Masters (Y Lolfa, 2007)
• Clare Dudman - A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees (Seren, 2010) - Novel based on the voyage and settlement.

External links

• Project-Hiraeth – Documents the stories of the Welsh colony in Patagonia, Argentina through film, text and illustration.
• Photograph of Mimosa passengers in 1890
• Ticket of Rev. Abraham Matthews for journey to Patagonia
• The Wales-Argentina Society website

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