The route                       Photos of Plymouth                             A timeline of the voyage                                         First- and second-hand accounts

The route

Below is a sketch of the approximate route that the Emigrant ​took.
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timeline of the voyage

  • 19 Mar     Emigrant at Deptford Naval dockyard, on southern bank of the Thames, being fitted out for the voyage  
  • 14 Apr     Emigrant received her passengers at Plymouth. The list of those granted a passage under the Bounty system was checked.  276 passengers were ferried out to the ship
  • 17 April:  sailed from Plymouth on 17 April 1850, bound for Moreton Bay, with 276 passengers. 
  • 23 April: A child born - son of Isaac Salisbury & Anne (nee Mudford)
  • 2 May: A  Baby died (William Frith, son of William and Emma) - 8 months old, of diarrhoea (was born 11 Aug 1849)
  • 3 May: Passed island of Madeira
  • 8 May:     Catherine Maunsell (of Ireland) fell ill with typhus - Kemp attributed sickness to a change in the weather
  • ? May:    2 more young women  and Mary O'Meara fell ill
  • 12 May:   Off Cape de Verde : typhus broke out
  • Mid-May - Hannah Hallett must have given birth to a son (he died on 18 June at age 1 month)
  • 24 May:    Mrs Hannah Hallett died (b. Somerset) of apoplexy
  • 25 May:    Mary Meara died at sea of typhus -  leaving three children to the care of the father. (b. Tipperary, died at 32 yrs at sea)
  • 10 July:     Mary Waterson, mother of three infant children, died of typhus(a 'violent cold caught was the forerunner of the  disease') 
  • 15 July:    (or 18 July according to  Mrs Kemp)  James Chapple, father of 3, died ('violent cold caught was the forerunner of the disease')
  • 22 July:   Ann Gleeson died at sea (mother of 2, b. Newmarket, Clare, 29 years) ('violent cold caught was the forerunner of the disease')
  • 24 July:     (97 days out) entered Bass Strait - so much sickness they had to enlarge hospital; Wind became 'light and foul' - wild weather in July
  • 26 July:    Ann Charlton (aged 20) & George Hayward died at sea, 
  • 28 July:    Sophia Brimble died at sea, age 17
  • 29 July:    (Mary) Ann Connor died at sea - wife of James Connor - Capt Kemp gives her name as Ann
  • 31 July:   James Lancaster died at sea - supernumerary. seaman, fever
  • 3 Aug:    Caroline Loder died (b. Salisbury, died at 16 yrs at sea) (sister of Maria Trowbridge and Martha Loder)
  • 5 Aug:    Fanny Bloxam died
  • 8 Aug:    Arrived in Moreton Bay - after variable winds and deaths 'almost daily'               
  • Boarded by Pilot; Ballow went down on customs boat Aurora to arrange quarantine
  • 8 Aug:   Mrs Euphemia Furphy (widow) died at anchor (b. Armagh, died at 67 yrs at sea)
  •  Dr George Mitchell fell ill  in the 'latter part of the voyage'
  • 10 Aug:  Henry Waterson died on board (died at 30 yrs at sea); Dr Ballow visited the Emigrant 'to enquire into the state of health of the passengers & crew'. He wrote in his report the following day, 11 Aug, that there had been 64 cases of disease and there were at the time 15 under treatment and 12 convalescent. 
  • 11 Aug:     Wickham wrote to Col Sec regarding arrival of the Emigrant and his decision to put it in quarantine; says he will proceed to the quarantine station tomorrow & try to get the sick off the boat asap; reports inadequacy of accommodation, discusses tents, sailings and awnings etc to be sent over; has appointed George Watson to act as superintendent of quarantine and 4 prisoners from the Bangalore to be guards - to keep 'natives' from the station to protect them from spread of illness; as chartered Aurora for communications and supplies; the Emigrant's mail was sent to Brisbane, with mail fumigated.
  • 12 Aug:    Entered Moreton Bay but could not reach quarantine station immediately due to strong 'contrary winds' 
  • 13 Aug:     Anchored at Dunwich. 
  • 13 Aug:   Daniel Gorman died on board while the vessel was anchored at the quarantine station.

PHOTOS OF PLYMOUTH TODAY

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The site where the 19th-century Emigration Depot stood in Plymouth is now a carpark. The white building in the background would have been there in 1850.
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A view of Plymouth Sound, looking out from Sutton Harbour where the Emigration Depot once stood. Photo taken 2017.
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Emigrants embarked from this site in 1850. A smaller vessel would have taken them out to the 'Emigrant', which waited out in Plymouth Sound. Note the Citadel in the background, which would have been there in 1850.
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A view of Plymouth Sound, showing the carpark which now stands on the site where the emigrants would have spent their last few days in England before departing.

first- and second-hand accounts

The most useful and reliable first-hand accounts of the voyage were provided by
Passenger Jane T. Cullen, wrote a brief letter that appears on page 110 of the Emigrant's Penny Magazine

Passenger Joseph Howe wrote a highly inaccurate account of the quarantine many years after the event.

Mary Rhodes, the daughter of passenger Anne Fogarty (who was a child on board the Emigrant) recounted her mother's story in 1916.