Mersey (1894 ship)


The Mersey was a 1,829 ton iron-hulled sailing ship with a length of, beam of and depth of. 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. Details of some of these voyages are as follows:
DestinationDate of arrivalNumber of passengersDeaths during voyage
Suriname10 April 1896n/an/a
Trinidad20 October 189766811
Suriname28 January 1902n/an/a
Fiji13 June 1903585n/a
Trinidad8 February 19066655

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.