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The immigrant ship John Wickliffe and its 97 passengers sailed from Gravesend, England, on 24 November 1847.

John Wickliffe and Philip Laing. Port Chalmers, 1848.

New Zealand.New Zealand.

Three days later the Philip Laing left Greenock, Scotland, with 247 settlers. The first of the Otago Association’s immigrant ships, they carried Scottish settlers who were escaping from an economic depression and an acrimonious split between the Church of Scotland and the Free Church Presbyterians.

In 1831 Sydney’s Weller brothers had established a whaling station at the Ngāi Tahu fishing kāinga of Ōtākou on Otago Peninsula. In 1842 the Scottish architect and politician George Rennie started planning a New Zealand settlement for Scotland that would include a new Edinburgh.

Dunedin – the Gaelic form of Edinburgh – was the realisation of these plans, which became feasible once the large Otago block was purchased from Ngāi Tahu by the New Zealand Company in 1844. Dunedin is at the head of Otago Harbour on the South Island’s southeast coast. It's known for its Scottish and Maori heritage. The Otago Peninsula is home to colonies of albatrosses, sea lions and rare yellow-eyed penguins.

New Zealand.Building the New World. Erik Olssen.

Rennie was concerned that the first New Zealand Company settlements in New Zealand had been dominated by the English. His original plan for a Scottish settlement was turned into a Free Church enterprise by John McGlashan, Thomas Burns and William Cargill after a significant split within the Church of Scotland. In 1843, 400 clergy and about one-third of the lay people left the established church in protest against patronage and state control of church affairs.

Men like McGlashan, Burns and Cargill saw Otago as a home for the new ‘Free Church’. Burns and Cargill both came to Otago as settlers, and McGlashan followed them in 1853. Two-thirds of the original Otago settlers were Free Church Presbyterians. The remainder were referred to by Burns as "the little enemy."

In August 1848, over half of Otago’s United Kingdom-born population of 403 was Scottish.

PANAMA, NEW ZEALAND, AND AUSTRALIAN
Royal Mail Company (Limited)

Opening of Steam Communication Betwen California and Australia, via Panama.

The Service Of The above Company will be commenced from Panama to Wellington (New Zealand), on the 24th inst., by the steamship Rakaia, followed by theKaikura, on the 24th July. Passengers and goods will be forwarded from Wellington to Auckland, Otago, Nelson, Canterbury, Sydney, Melbourne, and other parts of New Zealand and Australia, by the Company's intercolonia steamers. In the construction of the Company's ships, especial attention has been paid to the comfort andconvenience of passengers, with due regard to the length of voyage.

Further particulars on application to 
Oliver Eldridge

Agent P.M.S.S. Co., San Francisco
or to Wm. Lane Booker, H.B.M., Consul, San Francisco

July 31, 1862, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

LATE FROM NEW ZEALAND.
Discovery of Gold Fields.

A friend has placed in our hands a file of New Zealand papers with dates up to April 8th. We extract from them the annexed intelligence:

The Lachlan Gold Fields. — A private letter from Forbes, dated the 27th March, states: "Several claims on the South lead have struck gold heavier than ever. New ground is opening daily. Our population bids fair to exceed Sydney."

Prospecting parties of skilled diggers are now engaged in exploring the Coromandel gold fields, the Provincial Government having undertaken to provide rations and mining tools for a limited number of men. A lot of gold in quartz, for which £9 was offered, was shown to us a few days since, as being the produce of two days washing in the Waiau Creek. The men who obtained it were seven in number. Dissatisfied, however, with their luck, they were about to leave the Province. The Provincial Council have proposed to offer a reward of £2,000 for the discovery of an available gold field in Auckland.

Five hundred pounds has been voted by the Provincial Council in aid of parties prospecting at Coromandel; and a further sum of two thousand pounds has been voted as a premium to those who may be able to discover a paying gold field. Prospecting parties are abroad at Karakat, the Drury Ranges and in other directions. The probabilities therefore are that the Province will be prospected by a class of practical men such as have never before been congregated in this quarter.

A Visit to the Lachlan Diggings. — A correspondent of the Bathurst Free Press, who signs himself James Doust, of the Fish River Creek, after some prefatory remarks as to the difficulties of his journey, thus writes about the Lachlan gold field: "Orange is persevering in the right direction; the buildings are good, though much scattered. I was shown a fine sample of gold of about half an ounce, said to have been picked up in one of the ruts in the streets. From this I should predict that sooner or later Orange will have an immediate gold field, when it may then appear as a rival to Bathurst."

SUCCESS OF THE DIGGINGS IN COROMANDEL. — The Southern Cross, published at Auckland, New Zealand, says, under date of April 8th: We have reason to believe that the question. Is there a paying gold field in the province of Auckland? has at length been solved. The influx of diggers from Otago, led to the north by private intelligence from their friends in Coromandel, has been marked for the past eight or ten days. There are now between two and three hundred men on the spot, many of whom landed from the vessels direct, without coming to Auck. land, others proceeded thenco from this cityThe success of the prospectors is a great fact. We will merely transcribe extracts from letters we have seen and report the oral testimony of gentlemen who inspected the operations of the diggers in Coromandel, and leave the public to judge of the matter for themselves.

Beeson writes to a mercantile firm in this city on the 31st of March: There was a find of twenty ounces of gold on Friday last at one place, and seven ounces at another. These places are four miles apart, with every prospect of a good field being opened in a week or two. "One nugget weighed nine ounces anil fifteen dwt."

In relation to the facts detailed in this letter, we may add that since perusing it we have talked with gentlemen who saw the gold referred to, aud they say that the weight of the nugget was nine ounces and eighteen dwt. — about seven ounces pure gold and the balance quartz.

Writing on the 28th of March, from Coromandel, a gentleman for whose veracity we will unhesitatingly vouch, states:

"The diggers are coming here from Otago direct one hundred have landed, and one hundred and fifty are on their way, while more are to follow. These men bring money but no provisions nor tools. Gold is being found in two places, five miles apart, and I believe the whole of them are going to work at once with a good heart.

"I have seen the specimens of gold and quartz lodged with Turton, the Resident Magistrate, by two parties who thus put in their claim for the reward. One specimen weighs one pound and a half, the other six ounces.

"All the Victorian diggers want is supplies to last three weeks, and they are satisfied that they will do for the future. Their experience loads them to this conclusion."

A gentleman who was one of the party recently in Coromandel, stated to us that the party of miners under the leading of Lawrence Murphy, consisting, in all, of .six men— Lawrence Murphy, Jas. Jones, Robt. Wynn, John Fleming, Wm. Alcock and Thomas Nash— have struck upon a promising quartz leader, in a drive in the center spur at Kapanga, near to the spot where Coolahan and party made £205 worth of gold in 1854. There are three spurs converging at this point, and Murphy's party have driven sixty-four yards into the central and largest spur, making previsions for drainage. The men are most sanguine of a rich find from the heavy quartz of the leader.

Below, and at some distance from this party, in the gully, another party of man are working — Germans — and they showed our informant and his friend several pounds weight of black auriferous sand, largely intermixed with gold. The richness of this sand can only be appreciated by those who have seen it. These men are in high spirits and are daily accumulating the precious earth.

Near the residence of Preece a party of four men are engaged on the hill side, and have sunk a shaft a considerable depth. They also displayed specimens of quartz of considerable value and left the impression on the minds of the gentlemen to whom they exhibited a pretty considerable pile that they had more behind which they did not deem it prudent to exhibit.

The diggings are now approaching towards Cape Colville, and the nearer they approach this point the richer the finds become.

August 30, 1873, Daily Alta California, San Francisco.

New Zealand.

There are 3,309,287 sheet in the Province Of Otago.

March 20, 1887, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

American White Fish in New Zealand

A private letter from Otago, New Zealand, written by Sir Julius Vogel, Postmaster-Gsneral of New Zealand, announces that the 1,500,000 white fish eggs sent over from Northville, Mich., by Spencer F. Baird, United States Fish Commissioner, on the steamer Alameda arrived in the very best condition. There was so little loss that it is scarcely worth noting. The eggs have been planted in the lakes around Otago, and there is a good prospect of the waters of New Zealand being well stocked in a few years with white fish.

October 31, 1897, San Francisco, Call, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

In view of the rapid turning of attention to mining the beds of streams with dredges and the successful experiments whicn have already been made in this State the following from the New Zealand Mines Record will interest many: "Dredging is becoming a very important factor in the product ol gold from this colony, and in Otago especially it has lately attracted a great deal of attention and led to the pegging out of a large number of claims in the vicinity of the Clutha, Kawarau and other rivers. The Roxburgh correspondent of the Otago Witness publishes a series of articles, extending over a period of nearly three months, on "The Rise and Development of Dredging in Otago." In concluding (on August 19) the writer stated tnat there are fifty-seven dredges working in Otago, thirteen dredges building and seventy-five dredging claims taken up with the view of placing dredges upon them."

 


1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States 3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway 2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany 1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden 1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy1,150 vessels
France 1,182 vessels
   

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

  Country # of Vessels

Gross

Tonnage

(m)

Total

Value

(USDbn)

1 Greece 4,453 206.47 $88.0
2 Japan 4,317 150.26 $79.8
3 China 4,938 159.71 $71.7
4 USA 2,399 55.92 $46.5
5 Singapore 2,662 64.03 $41.7
6 Norway 1,668 39.68 $41.1
7 Germany 2,923 81.17 $30.3
8 UK 883 28.78 $24.3
9 Denmark 1,040 36.17 $23.4
10 South Korea 1,484 49.88 $20.1
Total 26,767 87.21 $466.9

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Sources: As noted on entries and through research centers including National Archives, San Bruno, California; CDNC: California Digital Newspaper Collection; San Francisco Main Library History Collection; and Maritime Museums and Collections in Australia, China, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, etc.

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