York Convicts, Enrolled Pensioner Guards, Prison Warders and Other Passengers 1862

This 940-ton ship was built at Sunderland in 1854. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Portland, England on October 8, 1862, bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the twenty-sixth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 84 days and the York arrived in Fremantle on December 31, 1862, with 108 passengers and 299 convicts [Erickson]. C. Breacey and Mr. Babington were listed as the captain and surgeon respectively, although Ian Richardson’s Log of Logs queries the surname REDPATH for the captain as well. Of the 108 passengers, 104 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 49 pensioner guards, 24 wives, 16 sons and 15 daughters. The other 4 passengers have not been accounted for but were possibly cabin passengers or regular soldiers.