Mersey (1894 ship)

The Mersey was a 1,829 ton iron-hulled sailing ship with a length of 270.7 feet (82.5 m), beam of 39 feet (12 m) and depth of 22.5 feet (6.9 m). She was built by Charles Connell and Company of Glasgow, named after the River Mersey in north-western England and launched on 18 May 1894 for the Nourse Line. Nourse Line used her primarily to transport of Indian indentured labourers to the British colonies, a so called, Coolie ship.[1][2] Details of some of these voyages are as follows:

Destination Date of arrival Number of passengers Deaths during voyage
Suriname10 April 1896n/an/a
Trinidad20 October 189766811
Suriname28 January 1902n/an/a
Fiji13 June 1903585n/a
Trinidad8 February 19066655
Mersey

In 1908 the Mersey was sold to the White Star Line for use as a training ship for 60 cadets, making six voyages to Australia as a White Star training ship, traveling around the Cape of Good Hope outbound and Cape Horn inbound. In 1910 she became the first sailing ship to be equipped with a radio. She was also the first sailing ship aboard which an operation for appendicitis was performed on a cadet. In 1915 the White Star Line gave up their training scheme due to the war and sold the Mersey to Norwegian owners. She changed hands a number of times and her name was changed to Transatlantic then to Dvergso. She was scrapped in 1923.

See also

References
  1. http://guyanachronicle.com/2009/05/05/the-coolie-ships Guyan Chronicle
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2013/nov/19/journey-coolie-women-history-british-empire-indentured-labourers The Guardian
  • Lubbock, Basil (1981). Coolie ships and oil sailors. Brown, Son & Ferguson. ISBN 0-85174-111-8.
  • Perry, F.W. (1991). Nourse Line. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-62-2.

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