Polly Woodside

A three-masted iron barque built in 1885 by Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd, Belfast, Ireland. Her dimensions are 56,85×9,19×4,77(d) m [186'6×30'3×14'(d)] and with a tonnage of 678 GRT and 647 NRT.

1885 November 7: Launched from Slip No. 2 at the North Ship Building Yard of Workman Clark and Co. Ltd., Belfast, for William J. Woodside and Co., Belfast. Assigned the Official British Reg. No. 90129 and signal KDCN.
1891 September - 1893 May: Captain William McMaster.
1904: Sold to A.H. Turnbull & Co., Lyttleton, and was renamed Rona.
1912: Registerd in Auckland.
1915 August - 1921 October: Captain William Airey.
1921 June 26: Stranded on Barrett's Reef, near Steeple Rock at Port Nicholsen Harbour, Weillington, during a SW gale.
1923: Registered as a hulk by the Adelaide Steamship Co. Ltd., Sydney.
1925: Registerd in Melbourne.
1943 August: Requisitioned by the Australian Navy to be used in the waters of New Guinea.
1946 September: Returned to the owners.
1968 January 18: Sold by the Howard Smith Inudstries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, to the National Trust for one cent.

Presently preserved as a museum ship in Melbourne.

References:

Square-rigged ships, general references.
Darroch, Vin: Barque Polly Woodside.
Kilmore, Australia, 1978.
Shewan, Kenneth: Knot Before Time. Factors affecting the mooring of the Barque Polly Woodside.
Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels, San Francisco, CA, 1997.

Updated 1999-10-25 by Lars Bruzelius.

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