Crishna

Official Number 32604

The Crishna was a barque built by John Winram at the Bath shipyard at Douglas, Isle of Man, launched on the 15th March 1843. She was owned by James Aikin, of Liverpool, who owned the Bath shipyard. The vessel was first registered at Liverpool and her first master was Capt.Ellis Fletcher.

The Crishna arrived in Australia from San Francisco and Honolulu in 1850, and never returned to the UK. She was owned in Sydney, then Hobart and worked in the coastal trade and to New Zealand. The registry of the Chrishna was transfered from Liverpool to Sydney, NSW, on the 13th December 1852.

The Crishna was bought by Sydney owners and in January 1873 was sent on a pearling expedition. She was seized and condemned off the Queensland coast by HMS Basilisk for having unauthorised crew aboard, natives, kidnapped to work in pearl diving. The barque was sold for £3,900 and spent the rest of her career in use as a lighter at Melbourne, until broken-up in 1918.

Sources :

1. BoT Transcript of the Liverpool Shipping Register (No.103 for 1843) at Merseyside Maritime Museum.
2. Refer to National Library of Australia or Papers Past for newspaper reports from Australia and New Zealand.
   
3. Mercantile Navy List 1868: Crishna, barque, 259 tons, official number 32604, signal letters QWSL, registered at Hobart Town, owned by Dowdell and Belbin, of Hobart Town.
   
4. Mercantile Navy List 1875: Crishna, barque, 254 tons, built at Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1843, official number 32604, registered at Melbourne, owned by Sidney Smith, of Warrnambool, Victoria.
5. Mercantile Navy List 1899: Crishna, barque, 254 tons, built at Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1843, official number 32604, registered at Melbourne, owned by Henry Moss, of Melbourne.
6. The Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 4th April 1932 gives a brief history of the vessel.
   

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