Lady Franklin was a 268-ton barque built at Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land, in 1841, and was named after Jane Franklin, the wife of the governor, Sir John Franklin. The barque was best known for being seized by convicts in a mutiny in 1853.[1][2]
 Painting of the Lady Franklin at Port Arthur, Tasmania by Haughton Forrest in 1860s. Photograph of painting by John Watt Beattie in 1899.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Lady Franklin |
| Launched | 1841 |
| Renamed | Emily Dowing, 1855 |
| Stricken | 23 February 1898 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1898 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Barque |
| Tons burthen | 268 tons |
| Length | 90 ft 0 in (27.43 m) |
| Beam | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Depth of hold | 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Three masted barque |
The vessel was used mainly for the conveyance of stores between Tasmania and Norfolk Island. In July 1846 the vessel brought John Price, a formerly Police Magistrate at Hobart Town, and his family to replace Major Joseph Childs as head of the convict prison settlement on Norfolk Island.[3] Also on board the Lady Franklin was Francis Burgess, a judge appointed to conduct the trials of nine convicts gaoled several months previously on stabbing, robbery and "unnatural offence" charges.[4][5] They arrived shortly after the Cooking Pot Uprising.
On 28 December 1853 the vessel was seized by convicts.[6] The mutineers were eventually captured in 1854.[7] The story was dramatised for Australian radio in 1950.[8]
In 1855 the Lady Franklin was put to public auction where it was sold to F. A. Downing for £2,049 and was renamed Emily Downing. The ship was refitted as a whaler. In 1864 the ship was sold again by auction for £350 to Alexander McGregor, a shipowner and merchant.[9][10]
References
edit- ^ "The Convict Pirates of Norfolk Island Seize the Barque Lady Franklin". Moreton Bay and More. 8 December 2020.
- ^ "THE NORFOLK ISLAND PIRATES". The Cornwall Chronicle. Vol. XX, no. 2028. Tasmania, Australia. 1 February 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 1 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Hazzard, page 204.
- ^ Norfolk Island, The Courier (Hobart), 4 July 1846, page 2.
- ^ Norfolk Island, The Courier (Hobart), 2 September 1846, page 2.
- ^ "SEIZURE OF THE LADY FRANKLIN". The Courier (Hobart). Vol. XXVIII, no. 2166. Tasmania, Australia. 27 January 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 1 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "HOBART TOWN SUPREME COURT". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXV, no. 5619. New South Wales, Australia. 21 June 1855. p. 3. Retrieved 1 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Radio Round & about", ABC Weekly, 12 (51 (23 December 1950)), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1527928944, retrieved 1 March 2024 – via Trove
- ^ Lawson, Will; The Shiplovers' Society of Tasmania (1949), Blue gum clippers and whale ships of Tasmania (1st ed.), Melbourne: Georgian House, pp. 68–69, retrieved 21 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia
- ^ "Alexander McGregor (1821–1896)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 5, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2024-07-21
- Sources
- Margaret Hazzard, Punishment Short of Death: a history of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island, Melbourne, Hyland, 1984. (ISBN 0-908090-64-1)