The "William Hammond"
 
William Hammond- arrived in WA in 1856

This 683 ton ship was built in Sunderland in 1853. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Plymouth, England on January 5, 1856 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the sixteenth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 84 days and the William Hammond arrived in Fremantle on March 29, 1856 with 89 passengers and 250 convicts [Erickson]. Horatio Edwards and George D. MacLaren were the captain and surgeon respectively.

There were no deaths recorded on the convict shipping and description lists and 250 convict numbers were assigned for the voyage ranging from (3722 to 3971). The [Bateson] claim that 250 convicts embarked and only 249 arrived does not agree with either [Erickson] or the convict lists mentioned above.

Of the 89 passengers mentioned above, all 89 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 29 pensioner guards, 20 wives, 25 sons and 15 daughters.

George D. MacLaren'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 3212 which is held in most major libraries and archives offices throughout Australia.

TROVE Articles

ARRIVAL OF THE "WILLIAM HAMMOND.". (1854, January 20). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48554000

"ARRIVAL OF THE 'WILLIAM HAMMOND.'
This beautiful ship, on her first voyage, arrived yesterday, as elsewhere announced, with 267 Government emigrants under the careful medical super intendence of Dr. Chambers, late of Kooringa. The William Hammond has been only 89 days out from Southampton, and the emigrants, in general, have arrived in a most healthy state, the only exceptions being a few cases of hooping-cough among the young children, of whom four have died during the voyage."

Domestic Sayings and Doings. (1856, April 11). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3176906

"We understand that the convict ship William Hammond was brought out to this colony in an unusually satisfactory state, and that the arrangements on board throughout the passage reflect the greatest credit on Dr MacLaren, the Surgeon in charge, and the master of the vessel."

Classified Advertising. (1856, April 18). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3176933

"Sale of Surplus Stores of the Convict Ship "William Hammond" at Fremantle !!!
MR. SAMSON.
(Government Auctioneer.)
HAS received instructions to sell at Auction at the, Commissariat Store, Fremantle, on Tuesday, the 22nd April, 1856, at 12 O'clock precisely, the surplus stores of the Convict ' Ship William Hammond, consisting of the following articles:
OATMEAL, Rice, Flour, Peas, Preserved Meats, Salt Beef, Pickles, Vinegar, Treacle, Chocolate, Biscuit, Wine, Raisins, Limejuice, Butter, Rum, Chloride of Zinc.
ALSO,
Coir Beds, Hammocks, Tinware, and empty packages.
ALSO,
A quantity of prime Mauritius Molasses, of recent importation, and no longer required for the Service.
ALSO,
English butt and Kip Leather of a very superior quality, which will be sold in small lots to meet the views of moderate buyers.
TERMS-Cash.
The Buyer to pay the accustomed Local Duties.
Fremantle and Perth, April 12,1856."

Classified Advertising. (1856, April 18). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 1. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3176931

"For Point de Galle direct.
THE fast sailing ship
William Hammond,
683 tons, Horatio Edwards, commander ; will leave for the above port about the 20th April. Has superior accomodation for passengers. For freight or passage apply to
C. A. MANNING, Fremantle, Or G. SHENTON, Perth."

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. (1856, April 24). Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), p. 3. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8783533

"Resumption of Transportation.-Orders have been issued for the convict ship William Hammond, to sail from Plymouth, on the 18th inst. with 400 male "convicts, to Fremantle, Western Australia (formerly Swan River). It seems the Government are about to resume the transmission of convicts to Western Australia, where they are gladly received, and all sentenced to ten years and upward will henceforth be expatriated, and not let loose again on ticket-of-leave. The majority of those going out in the William Hammond have been instructed in agricultural pursuits at the Dartmoor Convict Prison; they are nearly all for life or fourteen years. The only question between the Government and the West Australian Colonists, as to its being made a penal settlement, is, that the former should defray two-thirds of, the annual cost of the magistracy and police necessary to keep the convicts under surveillance. At present only £6000 is contributed.-British Banner, ' December 29."

Shipping Intelligence. (1856, April 25). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3176940

"The William Hammond was expected to sail yesterday. The Gwalior and the Guyon to sail tomorrow."

THE INDEPENDENT JOURNAL. (1856, April 25). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3176955

"PEOPLE are beginning to inquire what is being done with the Convict labor at disposal of the Government. The men arrived by the "William Hammond" made, it is true, an unimportant addition to the resources of the Convict Department, but their application has not apparently been at present of any service to the colony. With an unfinished road to this day be- tween Perth and Fremantle, and the main thoroughfare to the Eastern Districts in many places impassable, it is to be wondered at that the Local Government do not take advantage of such benefits as the presence of convicts confers upon them, even if there should be an uncertainty in an ill expended Revenue, and many works of minor importance should be left unfinished. With regard to the application of convict labour we are yet to learn whether an officer of the Royal Engineers is the right per son to have the disposal of it. Time will show." 
 

 
 
 
149.5*28.6*19.0 Thompson & Co., London. Arrived 19 January1854, from Southampton 21 October 1853, Capt. H. Edwards (Register 20 January 1854). WILLIAM HAMMOND. f.r.ship, 683t H. EDWARDS Southampton 21.10.1853-1854
 
Adelaide, 19.1,w. migrants+Papers *PRO S.Aust GRG35/48/1854 same, etc, as CT.Plymouth, 5.1-Fremantle,29.3, with 249 male prisoners, = Surgeons journal, 1855-556 * AJCP PRO reel 3212
 
This 683 ton ship was built in Sunderland in 1853. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Plymouth, England on January 5, 1856 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the sixteenth of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 84 days and the William Hammond arrived in Fremantle on March 29, 1856 with 89 passengers and 250 convicts [Erickson]. Horatio Edwards and George D. MacLaren were the captain and surgeon respectively.
 
There were no deaths recorded on the convict shipping and description lists and 250 convict numbers were assigned for the voyage ranging from (3722 to 3971). The [Bateson] claim that 250 convicts embarked and only 249 arrived does not agree with either [Erickson] or the convict lists mentioned above.
 
Of the 89 passengers mentioned above, all 89 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 29 pensioner guards, 20 wives, 25 sons and 15 daughters.
 
George D. MacLaren'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 3212 which is held in most major libraries and archives offices throughout Australia.

 
The William Hammond was a barque used to transport convicts to Western Australia.
 
Built in Sunderland in 1853 for Thomas and Co, the William Hammond was 149.5 feet long, 28.6 feet wide and 19 feet deep, and weighed 683 tons. In 30 September 1854, it sailed from Plymouth to Hobart with 261 emigrating passengers on board. It docked in Hobart on 25 December, after a journey of 83 days, during which three children died.
 
When appointed to transport convicts to Western Australia in 1855, the William Hammond was still considered a new ship, and had an A1 rating. With Horatio Edwards as captain and George MacLaren as surgeon-superintendent, the William Hammond embarked 35 convicts from the Woolwich prison hulk Defence on 6 December 1855, and another 32 convicts from the hulk Warrior shortly afterwards. On 8 December she was towed out of Woolwich dock and sailed down the River Thames. After clearing the Straits of Dover she encountered stormy weather in the English Channel. She sailed along the south coast of England, docking at Portsmouth. On 17 December she took on 59 more convicts, and the following day she anchored off the Isle of Portland, where it took on 80 convicts from Portland Prison. It left Portland on 24 December, but shortly afterwards a sailor named John Gollately fell overboard while trying to stow the jib. Another sailor, John Deady, attacked the Chief Mate, David Kid, saying it was his fault the man fell overboard. The William Hammond then set in at Plymouth, where Deady was tried before a magistrate and sentenced to 21 days imprisonment. Six sailors who due to various illness were deemed unfit to travel were also disembarked. After taking on 45 more convicts from Dartmoor Prison, the William Hammond sailed for Western Australia on 5 January 1856.
 
The William Hammond sailed with 32 crew, 250 convicts and 98 passengers, most of whom were pensioner guards and their families. She sailed directly to Fremantle, and the journey took 84 days. Only one person died on the journey, a corporal in the pensioner guard named Henry Fraser, probably of tuberculosis. No convicts died, although there were reported cases of dysentery, diarrhoea and nyctalopia. The only other incident occurred on 28 January, when Kid was found to be drunk on his watch, having accessed the stores of rum without permission.
 
At about 7 P.M. on 28 March, the William Hammond sighted the lighthouse on Rottnest Island. Anchor was dropped in the lee of Rottnest early the next morning, and at 7 A.M. the Fremantle harbourmaster boarded the ship. The passengers were disembarked by mid-afternoon, and the convicts were disembarked over the next two days.
 
Little is known of the William Hammond's subsequent service, except that there is a record of immigrants arriving in Melbourne on the William Hammond in 1862.
 
References
 Ã¯Â¿Â½Peachey, Brian (2000). Unbroken Spirit: The Life of William Boxhal Convict 3744. Victoria Park, Western Australia: Hesperian Press. ISBN 0-85905-275-3.

Links:

Convicts to Australia
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/con-wa17.html

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hammond_(ship)

Convict Records
http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/william-hammond/1856

List of convict ship voyages to Western Australia
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-convict-ship-voyages-to-western-australia