Medway (1810 ship)

History
United Kingdom
Name| Medway
Namesake| River Medway
Builder| John King, Frindsbury, (or Upnor)
Launched| 23 June 1810[1]
Fate| Condemned 1840
General characteristics
Tons burthen| 435,[1] or 449[2] (bm)
Armament| 2 × 9-pounder guns + 8 × 12-pounder carronades[2]

Medway was launched at Frindsbury in 1810. She made two voyages between 1820 and 1825 transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land. Medway was ondemned at Calcutta in late 1840.

## Career

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Medway enters Lloyd's Register in 1810 with Peterson, master, Taylor & Co., owner, and trade London–Jamaica.[3]

Year  | Master  | Owner  | Trade  | Source

|
|
|
|

1815  | J. Mackie
W. Graves  | Irwin  | London–Tobago  | Lloyd's Register (LR)[2]
1820  | B. Wight  | Irwin  | London–Calcutta  | Register of Shipping (RS)

Convict voyage #1 (1820-1821): Captain Borthwick Wight sailed Medway from on 13 November 1820. She arrived at Hobart Town on 13 March 1821.[4] She had embarked 156 convicts, none of whom died en route.[5] The 53rd Regiment of Foot provided the guard. Medway sailed on to Sydney, arriving there on 27 March; she carried a number of prisoners being transferred from Hobart to Newcastle, New South Wales. Newcastle had become a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as punishment for their crimes.[6]

Convict voyage #2 (1825): Captain Wight sailed Medway from Land's End on 22 August 1825 and arrived in Hobart on 9 December 1825.[7] She had embarked 172 male convicts. One source states that she had no deaths en route;[8] another source states that she had four. The 57th Regiment of Foot provided the guard.

Year  | Master  | Owner  | Trade  | Source

|
|
|
|

1830  | B. Wright  | J. Pirie  | Cork–New South Wales  | LR
1835  | B. Weight  | Weight & Co.  | London  | LR
1840  | B. Weight  | Weight & Co.  | London  | LR

## Fate

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Medway, Griffith, master, from Sydney, was condemned at Calcutta in 1840. Her hull was sold at auction for Rupees 4,500.[9] Medway was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1841.

## Citations

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1. ^ a b Hackman (2001), p. 298.
2. ^ a b c Lloyd's Register (1815), Seq. №M236.
3. ^ Lloyd's Register (1810), Seq. №88.
4. ^ Bateson (1959), pp. 306–7.
5. ^ Bateson (1959), p. 328.
6. ^ "Newcastle". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
7. ^ Bateson (1959), pp. 308–9.
8. ^ Bateson (1959), p. 330.
9. ^ " MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES" Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies (London, England), 1 December 1840, Volume 33, Issue 132 p. 315.

## References

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* Bateson, Charles (1959). The Convict Ships, 1787-1868. Brown, Son & Ferguson. OCLC 3778075.
* Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.