State Lib Qld 1 125723 Balclutha (ship)

The Balclutha was originally 433 gross tons (increased after a refit in 1868). An iron passenger steamship built by Caird & Co, Greenock Scotland for R Little (& possible partners) as well as part owner and skipper, Captain F H Trouton. The Balclutha worked the Port Adelaide to Albany run on a mail contract for the South Australian Government. Lost the mail contract in 1861 and transferred to the Adelaide-Melbourne-Sydney run and then the Sydney - Brisbane route when it was bought by the Australian Steamship Company. Captain Trouton continued his duty and rose through ASN Company ranks eventually attaining General Manager status. Meanwhile the Balclutha served all of this concerns coastal passenger routes including travel to Noumea on behalf of the Montifiore Company from 1873. The ship was sold in 1881 to C M Poole and was lost with a loss of 22 hands when travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, as a collier October 1881. She was last seen in the vicinity of Gabo Island, Victoria[1].