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Collier Legacy: 8 Ways This Humble Ship Shaped History

Collier Legacy: 8 Ways This Humble Ship Shaped History

The Humble Collier | HMS Bounty | Photo by Robin Nisbet

The Humble Collier: England’s unassuming coal ships in the South Seas

As unlikely as it may seem, the colonial history of Norfolk Island and Australia owe a great deal to the discovery of coal in the North of England as early as the twelfth century. Far from the industrial heartland the area was to become in later centuries, much of the coal mined there was shipped south to London and to trading partners across the North Sea. The port of Newcastle alone was exporting up to 15,000 tons of coal per year before the turn of the 15th century, and the rise of industry in Europe created a distribution network at sea that relied on a special type of ship: the collier.

The name ‘collier’ was also used to describe the men who mined coal in England’s Northeast, and collier ships were designed to be similarly steadfast and sturdy. They were proudly characterised by their blunt noses, flat bottoms and wide hulls – ideal for carrying bulks of coal. It would transpire that these elements were well suited for carrying years’ worth of stores over much larger expanses of ocean, and their flat bottoms made them easier to haul and repair on uncharted shores. 

Although hundreds of these ships were built to serve a modest purpose and spend their lifespans on short-leg voyages, select few from the late 18th century would find infamy in the South Seas and the colonial history of Australia and Norfolk Island.

The Admiralty of the Royal Navy became particularly attracted to this humble breed of vessel for their usefulness in long voyages of exploration, beginning with HMB Endeavour from James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific from 1768-1771. 

The English port of Whitby was where a collier-type known as the ‘Whitby Cat’ was built, and it was also Cook’s home port for his three-year apprenticeship to the Walker family. There he developed his skills of navigation and mathematics while sailing colliers between London, the Northeast, and Northern Europe. 

Cook enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1755, and took his first naval command aboard Endeavour. He selected this ship personally, opting for a Whitby Cat built in 1764 – a collier formerly named Earl of Pembroke. 

After the success of the voyage, the Royal Navy purchased more colliers throughout the following decades which were used to discover, chart and settle what was then known as New Holland. 

Cook used a total of four colliers on his three voyages to the Pacific. HMS Resolution was Cook’s primary ship on both his second and third voyages, built as a Whitby Cat named Marquis of Granby. It was aboard this ship during Cook’s second voyage that he discovered Norfolk Island, and during his third voyage that his Sailing Master was a young William Bligh.

Cook described Resolution as, “the fittest for service as any I have seen” and sailed her twice while accompanied by a support ship. Adventure and Discovery were purchased as former colliers of the Northeast, sailing with Resolution on the second and third Pacific voyages respectively. 

Botanist Joseph Banks had sailed onboard Endeavour with Cook on his first voyage. After returning to England he soon became the president of the Royal Society and an advisor to the Crown and the Admiralty. It was at his recommendation that the Navy embarked on two significant missions: the colonisation of New Holland, and William Bligh’s voyage to deliver breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. 

William Bligh was given command of the collier Bethia – reportedly built in Hull – which was purchased solely for the Breadfruit Voyage. The ship was refitted at Deptford and renamed HMAV Bounty. It seemed a natural choice for Bligh to sail a small yet versatile ship that could carry all the stores, plants and men required to circumnavigate the globe. Of the five ships considered by the Admiralty, Bethia was the only collier. 

At Deptford, the ship’s cabin was converted into a sizeable greenhouse for cultivating breadfruit saplings on the journey from Tahiti to the Caribbean, a luxury afforded by the flexibility of her small yet wide hull. 

A matter of months before Bligh departed Portsmouth, the First Fleet of 11 ships departed from the same port. The Fleet carried over 1,400 people, many of them convicted criminals, to establish a settlement in what would later become ‘Australia’. Among the Fleet  were three former colliers of the Leighton Company: Golden Grove, Barrowdale and Fishburn, all built between Whitby and Sunderland. While neither ship carried any convicts, their coal-hauling heritage allowed them to collectively carry many of the supplies needed to establish Port Jackson, including the prefabricated wooden frame of the colony’s first Government House. 

Golden Grove later visited Norfolk Island in October 1788 to deliver 24 men and 11 women from Sydney, becoming the first ship to visit since the island was settled eight months earlier. Before service in the Royal Navy she was tasked with trading between England and St. Petersburg, bearing the name Russian Merchant. 

Following the establishment of the colony, Banks sought a more comprehensive survey of the new continent’s coastline, and yet again the humble collier was the best ship for the job. It was after his recommendation that the Navy fitted HMS Investigator for the voyage, a former collier from Sunderland called Fram. With Captain Matthew Flinders at the helm, this small English workhorse would soon become the first ship to circumnavigate Australia between 1801-1803. Flinders had also sailed with William Bligh on his second breadfruit voyage, which was completed in 1793 – four years after being mutinied on Bounty.

Bounty is just one of many colliers that has become so important in Norfolk Island’s story, but it was a consequence that was entirely unforeseeable when she was built. While Bounty never visited Norfolk Island, nor did any of her crew, it was the decisions made in the depths of her once coal-filled hull on that fateful night in 1789 that have created the Norfolk we know today. She was not built to sail as far as Tahiti, in fact it may not have been intended that she ever leave European waters, but like many small merchant ships of her time, she did.

The same can be said of many colliers which found themselves instrumental in the founding of modern Australia and Norfolk Island, despite being designed for a wholly different purpose. The North Sea coal trade was a business of repetition, and early voyages to the southern hemisphere were certainly not straightforward. It may be said that the durability of these coal-haulers made European settlement in Australia a reality – a testament to the shipbuilders of Whitby, Newcastle, Sunderland and Hull who had crafted such reliable vessels over the course of centuries.

The humble collier has therefore made its mark on Norfolk Island in more ways than one; as part of the island’s discovery, its first penal settlement, and then as home to descendants of the Bounty mutineers. This is, in no small measure, a credit to the miners and shipbuilders of England’s Northeast who, in practicing monotony, created something extraordinary.

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Image Credit: Robin Nisbet
www.robinnisbet.com

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Article content disclaimer: Article first published in Discover Norfolk, Volume 07 Issue 02, 2024. Please note that details of specific travel, accommodation and touring options may be outdated. References to people, places and businesses, including operating days and times may be have changed. References to Government structure and Government businesses/entities may no longer be applicable. Please check directly with businesses and/or Government websites directly rather than relying on any information contained in this article before you make travel arrangements.

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