Rodney (clipper)
The Rodney was a full-rigged iron-hulled clipper built in 1874 by William Pile for Devitt and Moore of London. She was engaged in the Australian immigration trade, and could accommodate sixty passengers in first class and approximately five hundred in steerage.
In November 1895, Rodney lost her lion figurehead during a gale in the English Channel while en route from Gravesend, Kent to Sydney, Australia. The figurehead washed ashore at Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, six months later. In 1897, (Miramar states 1896), the ship was sold to F Boissière, of Nantes, France, and renamed Gipsy (the cross-over year, per Lloyd's, is 1896–97). She was re-rigged as a barque. On 7 December 1901, the vessel was wrecked and became a total loss at Downderry, near Looe, on the coast of Cornwall, while on voyage from Iquique, Chile to France with a cargo of nitrate.
The Rodney
The Rodney
Description
Rodney was one of the last sailing ships built for the Colonial passenger trade to Australia. She still could get first class passengers who wanted to have a restful sail to their new destination rather than putting up with the noise and mess of steam ships. She still had no trouble getting the emigrant and third class passenger traffic as was true of all sailing ships of this period.
