This 473 ton barque was built in Calcutta in 1817. It was employed as a convict transport and left Portsmouth, England on January 9, 1851 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the third of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 123 days and the Mermaid arrived in Fremantle on May 13, 1851 with 91 passengers and 208 convicts [Erickson]. J.P. Anderson and Alex Kilroy were the captain and surgeon respectively.

There were no deaths recorded on the convict shipping and description lists and 208 convict numbers were assigned for the voyage ranging from (176 to 383).

Of the 91 passengers mentioned above, all 91 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 29 pensioner guards, 23 wives, 20 sons and 19 daughters.

Alex Kilroy's surgeon's journal for the voyage is preserved in the Public Record Office (PRO) in London. Researchers can view a copy on the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) microfilm reel 711 which is held in most major libraries and archives offices throughout Australia.