Boyne (ship)
Encyclopedia
The Boyne was a 1,403 ton, Nourse Line
Nourse Line
The Nourse Line was a shipping company formed by Captain James Nourse in 1861. After taking delivery of his first ship, the Ganges, in 1861, Nourse went on to build up one of the last great fleets of sailing ships.- Early life of James Nourse:...
sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
built by T.R. Oswald of Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
in 1877. It was referred to as the "Hoodoo Ship" for the number of mishaps that occurred to it.
Voyages on the "hoodoo ship"
Boyne was initially used to carry migrants to New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
In 1882, while on a voyage from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, the Boyne was caught in a heavy gale in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
, and as her cargo shifted, she listed dangerously. The captain was washed overboard and the ship was rudderless. The crew were saved by the Orchid, whose master, Captain Cook was satisfied that the Boyne could not be saved and she was abandoned.
Incredibly, the Boyne was towed into Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
by a steamer and on reaching Liverpool underwent a refit. She was rigged as a barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
with an iron mast. It took a while to find a master for ship but finally Captain N.G. Hatch took command of the hoodoo ship and made the first passage to Calcutta without incident. Under the command of Captain Hatch, the Boyne made two voyages carrying indentured labourers from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to Demerara
Demerara
Demerara was a region in South America in what is now Guyana that was colonised by the Dutch in 1611. The British invaded and captured the area in 1796...
and one voyage to Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
. She was used to transport Indian indentured labourers to Trinidad, arriving in Trinidad on 31 March 1883 carrying 517 passengers. There were 8 deaths during the voyage.
On his next voyage to Demerara, Captain Hatch was taken ill and command of the ship was handed over to the Chief Officer. As the Boyne left Demerara with coal for Calcutta, the hold became heated and the ship could only be saved by throwing the coal overboard.
Loss of the ship
From Calcutta, she brought 537 Indian indentureIndenture
An indenture is a legal contract reflecting a debt or purchase obligation, specifically referring to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, an instrument used for commercial debt or real estate transaction.-Historical usage:An indenture is a...
d labourers to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
arriving at Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
on 26 April 1886. On the return journey to Calcutta, she was stranded near False Point
False Point
False Point is a low headland in the Bay of Bengal. It is located in the Kendrapara district of Orissa, India. The point derives its name from the circumstance that vessels proceeding up the Bay of Bengal frequently mistook it for Point Palmyras, less than a degree farther north.A lighthouse is...
. The crew and passengers managed to reach shore safely, but attempts to re-float her failed and she was abandoned.