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'LONDON'

Built by:Money Wigram & Son's, at Blackwall.
Yard No.
Launched:20th July 1864
Tonnage:1,652
Length:276 . 6 feet.
Breadth:35 . 9 feet.
Depth:24 . 1 feet.
Machinery:9 knots. Compound engines. 200 nhp. Built by Humphreys & Tennant of Depford.
Decks:Two with three masts.
Built of:Iron
Type:Auxiliary screw steamer
Registered:
Off Number:50114
Built for:Money Wigram & Son's. (Owned by Messrs. Charles Hampden Wigram, Clifford Wigram, and Robert Wigram, of Blackwall, to the extent of fifty-six shares; Franklin Allport, shipbroker, two shares; Charles Morgan, shipbroker, two shares, and Edward Martin, of Thrurloe Place, Kensington, four shares.)
Other info:Crew 90 - Passengers 92 first, 225 second and third.
History:20th July 1864. Named by Miss. Wyndham, daughter of Colonel Wyndham, of Petersfield.
First auxiliary steamship for Money Wigram & Son's.
23rd September 1864. Sea trials.
23rd October 1864. Sailed from London, Captain J.B.Martin, for Melbourne.
24th October 1864. Arrived at Portsmouth at 10a.m.
24th October 1864. Sailed at 4p.m. for Plymouth.
25th October 1864. Arrived at Plymouth at 8a.m.
27th October 1864. Sailed from Plymouth.
14th November 1864. Crossed the equator.
21st November 1864. Man lost overboard. Boat crew sent to rescue but was lost.
21st November 1864. Boat’s crew picked up by the ‘Henry Tabar’.
22nd November 1864. Boat’s Crew transferred to ‘John Bunyan’.
5th December 1864. Arrived at Cape Town for fresh live stock.
7th December 1864. Sailed from Cape Town.
2nd January 1865. Arrived at Melbourne.
8th January 1865. Open Day for the public.
10th January 1865. Boat crew of ‘London’ arrive at Melbourne.
20th January 1865. Captain Martin fined 5s for not keeping a proper watch on board his vessel on the night of the 17th.
4th February 1865. Sailed from Melbourne for London with 260 passengers and 90,000 oz of gold.
28th February 1865. Rounded Cape Horn.
25th March 1865. Crossed the equator.
15th April 1865. Called and sailed from Fayal.
24th April 1865. Arrived at Plymouth from Melbourne to drop the mail and a few of the passengers off. She loaded coal to complete the voyage to London.
25th April 1865. Sailed from Plymouth for London.
26th April 1865. Arrived at Gravesend.
2nd June 1865. Arrived at Plymouth from London with passengers for Melbourne.
3rd June 1865. Sailed from Plymouth.
4th August 1865. Arrived at Melbourne and placed in quarantine.
8th August 1865. Out of quarantine.
9th September 1865. Sailed from Melbourne for London with 85,440oz of gold, plus 160 passengers.
5th October 1865. Rounded Cape Horn.
20th November 1865. Four miles west of Eddystone Light, Plymouth.
28th November 1865. Went into Wigram's Dry Dock at Blackwall.
28th December 1865. Sailed from the East India Docks.
29th December 1865. Anchored at Gravesend. Six of her crew deserted.
30th December 1865. Sailed from London, Captain J.B.Martin, for Melbourne.
1st January 1866. Weighed anchor and steamed down the Channel against a head wind and a heavy sea. While passing outside the Isle of Wight the wind increased to half a gale, so put back and lay to for the night in St. Helen's Roads.
2nd January 1866. Proceeded out through the Needles into the open Channel with the wind blowing a gale.
4th January 1844. Arrived at Plymouth. A pilot cutter puts off a small boat with the pilot and assistant in it to bring the ship inside the breakwater. When the boat was 100 yards away the sea capsizes her, both being thrown into the sea. A life boat was lowered and the assistant was saved, but the pilot drowned.
5th January 1866. Took on the rest of the passengers and signed on four new crew members.
6th January 1866. Sailed from Plymouth.
11th January 1866. Foundered in the Bay of Biscay, 221 lives lost. 19 men saved in open boat.
Estimated value of the ship, exclusive of cargo was £80,000.
12th January 1866. ‘Marianople’ picked up survivors.
16th January 1866. ‘Marianople’ lands survivors at Falmouth.
12th February 1866. Six notes were found in three bottles on the coast of France from the 'London'.
13th March 1866. Melbourne informed of the loss of the ship.
September 1866. Attempts were made to raise the ‘London’ with no luck.



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