Parramatta (1866)

{{Short description|Former sail ship}} {{other ships|Parramatta (ship)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Parramatta (built in 1866).jpg |image_caption='''''Parramatta''''' }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United Kingdom |flag=50px |name=''Parramatta'' |owner= border|20px Devitt and Moore |ordered= |builder=James Laing, Sunderland England |original_cost= |laid_down= |launched=May 1866 |acquired= |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service=1866 |out_of_service= |renamed= |struck= |reinstated= |honours= |captured= |fate= Lost at sea 1898 |notes= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption=<ref name=LR1868>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015013729358?urlappend=%3Bseq=372 ''Lloyd's Register'' (1868), Seq. №79.]</ref> |type=Blackwall frigate |tons_burthen=1521 (bm) |length= {{cvt|231|ft|0|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |beam= {{cvt|38|ft|2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |draught= |draft= |depth= {{cvt|22|ft|8|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |sail_plan=Full-rigged ship |complement= |armament= |notes=Teak-built }} }}

'''''Parramatta''''' was a sailing ship launched at Sunderland in 1866 that operated between Great Britain and Australia and America from 1866 to 1898. She was the second fastest Blackwall frigate. She originally carried wool from Australia to the United Kingdom. She foundered in 1898.

==History== thumb|left|Parramatta Sun : a serio-comic magazine, issued fortnightly, during the voyage of the ship ''Parramatta''.<ref name=sun/> ''Parramatta'' was launched in May 1866 for Devitt and Moore, in the United Kingdom.<ref name=bruz/> The ship was named after the Parramatta River near Sydney in Australia. The style of ship was known as a Blackwall frigate. These three-masted ships had been designed to supersede the British East Indiaman that carried goods from India to the United Kingdom. The clipper ships were actually used for carrying wool from Australia to the United Kingdom and passengers in both directions. ''Parramatta'' was the second fastest of this type after ''Tweed''.<ref name=tudgay>{{cite web|last=Tudgay|first=Frederick|title=Painting, Wool Clipper Ship Parramatta|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1301955|publisher=National Museum of American History|access-date=9 March 2014}}</ref>

Apart from a brief spell in 1873–4, ''Parramatta'' was under the command of Captain John Williams until she was sold to Norwegian owners.<ref name=bruz>[http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Merchant/Sail/P/Parramatta(1866).html Parramatta], Bruzelius.info, retrieved 5 March 2014</ref> In 1887 the ship was sold to J. Simonsen, Mandal, Norway.

When ''Parramatta'' undertook its three-month journeys from London to Sydney it would issue a fortnightly amusing magazine to the passengers on board. Some of these were subsequently issued in book form after the journey. The magazine's name changed each time. The ''Parramatta Sun'' was issued on the outward journey to Sydney from London from 9 September 1879 to 8 December 1879 and a copy is available on-line.<ref name=sun>[http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?itemID=1071002&acmsid=0 Parramatta Sun], Library of NSW, retrieved 6 March 2014</ref>

In 1890 ''Parramatta'' left England for Moscow. The ship travelled via Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Constantinople. Explorer and nurse Kate Marsden was on board visiting leper hospitals en route to her trip to Siberia.<ref name=anderson160>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Monica|title=Women and the politics of travel: 1870-1914|date=2006|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press|location=Madison, NJ [u.a.]|isbn=0-8386-4091-5|page=160|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0838640915}}</ref>

==Fate== On 12 January 1898 ''Parramatta'' sailed from Galveston, Texas, laden with pitch-pine, bound for King's Lynn in Norfolk. She was never heard of again.<ref name=bruz/>

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Sailing ships Category:Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Category:Maritime history of Australia Category:Merchant ships of Australia Category:Ships built on the River Clyde Category:1866 ships Category:1866 in Scotland Category:Ships of Scotland Category:Sailing in Scotland Category:Missing ships Category:Ships lost with all hands