Commodore Perry (Ship 1854)

The Black Ball Liner Commodore Perry carried passengers and mail to the Australian Colonies in 1850s-1860s

Commodore Perry © 1996 Lars Bruzelius.

A medium clipper ship built in 1854 by Donald McKay, East Boston. Her dimensions were 202'×42'1"×28"5" and tonnage 1964 tons. A sister ship to the Great Tasmania.

1854 Launched at the shipyard of Donald McKay, East Boston, MA. Sold while still on the stocks to James Baines, Liverpool, for his Black Ball line of Australia clippers, for t£ 24.000.

1855 January 12 Made her first Australian voyage.

1856 Equipped with Clifford's patent boat-lowering apparatus.

1856 February Left for the second Australian voyage which was completed in 72½ days.

1859 June 28 - August 23 Sailed from the British Isles to Australia in 87 days.

1861 August - 1863 June Under command of Captain William Williams late of the Simla.

1861 August Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne.

1865 March 5 Sailed from London to Queensland in 107 days.

1866 December Sold to Thompson & Harper, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by Barned's Bank after the failure of Baines & Co. in April 1866.

1869 August 27 Caught fire with a cargo of coal from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and was beached the next day near Bombay and burned to the water's edge.

Select Bibliography:

Clipper ships, general references.

Clifford, Charles: How to Lower Ships' Boats. A treatise on the Dangers and Defects in the system at present in use, and their Remedy. To which is added A Description of new Improved Block, to be used for reducing and regulating strain, in lowering heavy bodies, and for other purposes. Simkin & Marshall, London, 1855. Other editions 1858 and 1859.

McKay, Richard: Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. C.P. Putnam, New York, 1928. pp 292-295.

Donald McLean: The New Packet Ship Commodore Perry Boston Daily Atlas, 1854. September 30.

Stammers: The Black Ball Line. Teredo Books, Brighton, 1978. pp 338-341.

• Commodore Perry from Lars Bruzelius' North American Built Clipper Ships website at: http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Commodore_Perry%281854%29.html

• Baines & MacKay / Black Ball Line, Liverpool from the Ships List website at: http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/blackball.shtml

• COMMODORE PERRY from the Immigrants to Australia - Ship Index at: http://graememoad.com/Family2/Ships/Commodore%20Perry.htm

• page 19 of IMMIGRATION AND THE IMMIGRANT SHIPS. (MORETON BAY.) (By A. G. Davies.) (Read at a meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland, March 26, 1935.) online at: [1]