ROBERT HENDERSON 1862

522 gross tons, length 158 ft (48.15m) x beam 28.3 ft (8.62m), a three masted ship rigged vessel, wooden hull. Built at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1857, for P. Henderson’s Albion Line (hence the name). Slim and fast with excellent emigration accommodation. The saloon was 50 ft (15.24m) long between the fore and main masts Acquired by Shaw Saville in 1871 and sold to J. Hay & Co. London 1872. Condemned and scrapped in 1882.

[Merchant Fleets, by Duncan Haws, vol 10, Shaw. Saville & Albion]

This smart little ship was a contrast to the general run of vessels sent out to the colony in the early days. For her size, her tonnage was only 586 and she made a remarkable run out to Otago on her first voyage. She departed from Greenock on 12 November 1857, passed the Cape of Good Hope on 5 January, reached the Snares on 5 February and anchored at Port Chalmers on 9 February, one of the quickest passages to that date.

The Robert Henderson was an Aberdeen clipper, built in 1857 for J. Hay and Company upon the most approved plan, and she was fitted out with every convenience and comfort for her passengers. Her model excited much admiration among nautical men at the time. Her poop accommodation was exceedingly spacious for a vessel of her tonnage, the saloon being 50 ft long and 7 ft high, tastefully decorated, to carry twenty passengers. Her steering gear, which was on the principal of a reverse screw, was a novelty, and was efficient, simple and economical.

The above is an excerpt from White Wings

As yet I have had no luck finding a list for this voyage, I will keep looking. Here is an interesting link to an article about this particular journey, Shipboard Diary of Thomas Reid (Glasgow to Bluff 1862) on Corey Woodward's great site "New Zealand Yesteryears" Thank you Corey for letting me link to it.

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