William Hammond Convicts, Enrolled Pensioner Guards, Prison Warders and Other Passengers 1856

This 683-ton ship was built in Sunderland in 1853. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Plymouth, England on January 5, 1856, bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the sixteenth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 84 days and the William Hammond arrived in Fremantle on March 29, 1856, with 89 passengers and 250 convicts [Erickson]. Horatio Edwards and George D. MacLaren were the captain and surgeon respectively. Of the 89 passengers, all 89 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 29 pensioner guards, 20 wives, 25 sons and 15 daughters.