She had been built in Calcutta in 1832 from good quality teak wood and had a nominal displacement of 639-tons.  In 1847 the wooden hull had been sheathed with “Yellow Metal” (60% copper 40% zinc) to prevent build up of weeds, barnacles and other debris.  This upgrade resulted in Lloyds certifying her as A1 for the next 12 years.

The Adelaide was in fact a very seaworthy vessel, and as history records, made many significant trips across the open oceans. She was used in various capacities, as a convict ship, a “free settler” transporter, a troop ship and cargo carrier.

A Slightly different Picture of the Adelaide, may have been modified

That David Illingworth came across in his research

One of her early voyages was to Australia in 1833 when she had taken convicts to Hobart Town in Van Diemen’s Land.

The British Government then commissioned her to carry troops and cargo to China.

In 1839 Edward Wakefield, the instigator of the New Zealand Company and a prime mover in planned British settlement of New Zealand, commissioned the Adelaide to be part of the fist fleet to New Zealand And so in January 1840 the Adelaide proudly carried 176 of the first settlers from the London into Port Nicholson (now Wellington Harbour) in New Zealand.

By May 1846 she was again consigned to transport another 300 male convicts to Hobart, and on return to England she underwent major repairs and refit.

In March 1848 she made another trip to Port Phillip and Sydney. but this time with free settlers on board.

History also records that in latter voyagers The Adelaide reverted to being a convict ship.

In her next trip to Van Diemen’s Land and Sydney in 1849 she like “The Randolph” carried more than 300 infamous exiles (those supposedly well behaved convicts who were granted freedom on arrival in the new colony on the condition they do not return to England before their original sentence period had expired) which created such trouble for Governor La Trobe.

The original plan for the Adelaide 1849 trip was to disembark some of the convicts at Port Phillip, but Governor Latrobe, under immense pressure from the local population, wisely turned the vessel away and it continued on to Sydney where it discharged its load.  The “Adelaide," was the last convict ship into NSW, arriving on 24 Dec 1849

From Sydney the Adelaide returned to England with a cargo of wool, tallow and wheat  then returned  in 1852 to the city of Adelaide with another 200 free settlers.

Her final trip to Australian shores was in 1855 with yet another consignment of convicts, this time for Perth.

The Adelaide’s final fate remains a mystery.

My Thanks to David Illingworth who lives in Australia and whose ancestors came to Australia in 1848

A quote from David Illingworth's letter