Poonah (ship)
Encyclopedia
The Poonah, named after the city of Poonah in western India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, was a three masted sailing ship of 1199 tons, owned by Tyser & Haviside and was built in 1867 by William Pile
William Pile (shipbuilder)
William Pile was a renowned British shipbuilder. He was the first to introduce the Clipper class of ship to the river Wear, Sunderland.'his genius was displayed in the building of ships, wherein he was not excelled...
at Sunderland.
Trips to West Indies
She was used as an indenture ship in the West Indies, carrying 306 passengers to St. Lucia in 1885 and 387 passengers to Trinidad on 22 February 1869, of whom 5 died.Trips to Fiji
The Poonah made two trips from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. Its first arrival at Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
was on 17 September 1882 with 476 passengers on board, and the second was on 18 June 1883, with 515 passengers. During the first trip, the Lascar crew refused to go on deck during a severe storm and the ship was almost lost, and during the second trip there was an outbreak of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
and smallpox. There were 26 deaths during the trip from cholera and another death of one of the passengers in Fiji.
See also
- Indian Indenture Ships to FijiIndian indenture ships to FijiBetween 1879 and 1916, a total of 42 ships made 87 voyages, carrying Indian indentured labourers to Fiji. Initially the ships brought labourers from Calcutta, but from 1903 all ships except two also brought labourers from Madras. A total of 60,965 passengers left India but only 60,553 arrived in...
- Indian indenture systemIndian indenture systemThe Indian indenture system was an ongoing system of indenture by which thousands of Indians were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labour for the plantations...
- Indians in FijiIndians in FijiIndo-Fijians are Fijians whose ancestors came from India and various parts of South Asia, South-East Asia and Asia itself. They number 313,798 out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji...