The Duke of York was a barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 under the command of Captain Robert Clark Morgan

Robert Clark Morgan

Captain Robert Clark Morgan was the captain of the ship that brought the first settlers to South Australia in the Duke of York in 1836. The diaries that he kept are held in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales...

 (1798–1864) and owned by the South Australia Company

South Australia Company

The South Australian Company was formed in London on 9 October 1835 by George Fife Angas and other wealthy British merchants to develop a new settlement in South Australia; its purpose was to build a new colony...

.

History

The ship was a three masted barque that was built in Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

 in 1817 as a two masted brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

. The ship left London on 24 February 1836 and arrived at Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is off Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is long...

 on 27 July 1836 after 154 days. The ship dropped anchor at Nepean Bay.

The settlers carried on board established Kingscote

Kingscote, South Australia

- Facilities :Kingscote has a school offering years 1 to 12, a hospital, supermarket, post office and Government offices. It is the administrative centre for the Kangaroo Island Council, whose offices have recently undergone a significant upgrade....

, the first free settlement in Australia. This was the first pioneer ship to reach South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 with European settlers as the start of the European settlement of South Australia.

The Duke of York was wrecked on its first whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

voyage in September 1837 north of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. SKHFDKTUSDFKISKGFVSDYISEKGFBSRVHASEGVU

Further reading

• Register of Emigrant Labourers Applying for a Free Passage to South Australia 1836-1841.
• R Parsons, Migrant Ships for South Australia 1836-1866, Gould Books, SA, 1999.
• Grave of Thomas Hudson BEARE.
• Grave of William Loose BEARE.
• South Australia - Immigration.
• Newsletter No. 15 "Before the Buffalo", The Story of South Australia 1800-1836 by H.J. Finnis, President, The Pioneers' Association of South Australia 1964.