Surry

Surry, also known as Surrey, was a square-rigged transport ship, which had an especially long career transporting convicts to Australia. In 11 voyages, the most of any convict transport, she brought 2,177 convicts, male and female, and so became one of the best-known of the vessels that visited Australia. In all, she lost 51 men and one woman during her various passages, 46 of the men dying during her first and most notorious voyage in 1814 when she was under the command of James Patterson. The high death toll on her first voyage led to a Board of Enquiry, which blamed neglect by the Master and Surgeon. Surry's last convict trip ended when she reached Hobart on 11 August 1842. Thereafter the ship was used as a cargo vessel. Description Surry was a square-rigged transport ship of 443 tons burthen. She had an overall length of 117 ft. 6 ins., a breadth above the gunwales of 29 ft. 6 ins, and a draught, when loaded, of 18 ft. She was copper-sheathed, and had quarter galleries, with a bust of Minerva for a figurehead. When carrying prisoners and stores in 1816 she drew 16 ft. 3 ins. forward and 17 ft. 2 ins. aft, being down by the stern eleven inches. She carried a crew of thirty and was armed with fourteen cannons. When Surry was originally built at Harwich in 1811 she had two decks with a height between decks of 5 ft. 8 ins. However, about 1818, she must have received a major refit – the Shipping Registers after 1819 record her as having three decks. She was owned by the well-known London firm of F. & C.F. Mangles. She was described for many years as a first-class ship built of first-class materials.