Mariners-L Archives

Archiver > Mariners > 2003-03 > 1046988005


From: "David Asprey" <>
Subject: Re: [Mar] Fw: William Milburn's Tiverton
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 22:00:05 -0000
References: <002801c2e19f$ad4c3ea0$9e8efea9@l1e6n4>


on March 03, 2003 4:12 PM Kathy Wright wrote


I write from Melbourne Australia, in the hope that with your extensive
shipping knowledge you may be able to help clarify for us details of the
initial voyages of William Milburn's "Tiverton" (Anglo-Australasian Steam
Navigation Company). <snip> According to the two gentlemen, above [Duncan
Haws & Malcolm Pickhaver], the Tiverton after being built in 1883 by
Campbell, MacIntosh & Bowstead, at Newcastle, "appears to have" made a
journey or two to South America carrying Spanish emigrant labout embarked at
Vigo. The first "official" trip to Australia under the Anglo-Australasian
S.N. Co. banner was in April 1884.
HOWEVER, our ancestors (the Ockerby family) had already arrived in Australia
on the Tiverton a few months earlier - the ship left the Port of London in
the early hours of 21 October 1883 and arrived in Melbourne on 23 December
1883. We have the passenger list and further details from the Public
Records Office of Victoria (here in Melbourne), and several relevant
newspaper articles that were published at the time.
<snip> So was this 1883 trip to Melbourne really the Tiverton's maiden
voyage or not? It would help to know when precisely she was launched in
1883 at Newcastle, as details of this have so far escaped us.
>>>>

Do not know about her date of launch (I am copying this to Dr Ian Buxton,
who may be able to help). But I can confirm from examining the index to
ship movements reported in Lloyd's List for 1883-1884 that the TIVERTON did
most certainly not make any voyages between Spain and South America but made
her maiden voyageto Australia as noted above. The ports of call were:

London - Plymouth - Cape Verde - Adelaide - Sydney - Melbourne - Albany -
Suez - Gibraltar - London

arriving back about 20 March 1884, to prepare for the April voyage.

I cannot offer an explanation about the Haws error - there was not another
TIVERTON at that time.

David Asprey




This thread: