The ORIENT which gave its name to the Orient Line, was built in December 1853 at the yard of Mr Bilbe, who also designed her, at Rotherhithe.
In the book 'Colonial Clippers' her dimensions are stated as 184.4ft. x 31.7ft. x 21.1ft., but in Lloyd's Register of 1874 they are stated to have been 190ft. x 35.5ft. x 21.4ft. She was 1033 net tons and was built as a full-rigged ship and was still so rigged in 1874, there is, however, a reference to her being barque-rigged at one period. Her first owners were H. Thompson and J. Anderson but after the former died the company's name was changed to Anderson & Co (in 1869). The ship was built of wood and in 1872 she was diagonally sheathed. She was registered in London. She was built expressly so that her owners could benefit from the increasing trade with Australia brought about by the discovery of gold in that country.
When the ORIENT was launched the Crimean War was in progress and the vessel was requisitioned by the government for use as a troopship. In September 1854 she was at ALMA as "transport No. 78". In the following year she saw service as a makeshift hospital ship in the same region.
She returned to London in 1856 and was prepared for a voyage to Adelaide, Australia. Finally, with a full number of passengers, she sailed from Plymouth for Adelaide on July 5th 1856. She was on the Adelaide run for about twenty years, her fastest outward passage was 72 days in 1866, and her slowest was 104 days in 1877 when she made her last voyage under the Orient flag.
In 1862 when homeward bound with a full cargo which was mainly 2,600 bales of wool, she caught fire in one of her holds. The women passengers that were on board were transferred to a Dutch ship in the South Atlantic. After this the men on board succeeded in smothering the fire and the day after this she arrived at Ascension Island (where, I presume, the Dutch ship took the women). After making temporary repairs at the island she continued her passage home. In 1879 the ORIENT was sold to Cox Brothers of Waterford and sometime afterwards she became a coal hulk at Gibraltar.
Log Book July 1984
Australia SG912