Sea Park Convicts, Enrolled Pensioner Guards, Prison Warders and Other Passengers 1854

This 835-ton ship was built at Shields in 1845. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left London, England on January 1, 1854, bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the twelfth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 94 days and the Sea Park arrived in Fremantle on April 5, 1854, with 180 passengers and 304 convicts [Erickson]. Thomas Spedding and Josiah Caldwell were the captain and surgeon respectively. Of the 180 passengers, 96 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 30 pensioner guards, 23 wives, 21 sons and 22 daughters. The remaining 84 passengers have not been accounted for but were possibly cabin passengers or regular soldiers.