# Crusader (1865 ship)

Crusader was 1,058-ton iron clipper ship. She built for John Lidgett & Sons, Indian traders of London, by Charles Connell and Co of Glasgow and launched in March 1865 (yard number 26).

## Dimensions

The clipper had a length of 210 feet (64 m), a beam of 35.1 feet (10.7 m), and a draft of 21.4 feet (6.5 m).

## Ownership

In 1869 Lidgett's sold her to the Albion Line. At this time she was painted black with a yellow streak. The Albion Line merged with Shaw Savill in 1883 and by then her portholes were painted. Having completed her final voyage from New Zealand in May 1898 she was sold to a Norwegian company, Daniel Steen, of Kristiania Oslo for £2,950 on or before 8 June 1898.

## Use

From 1865 to 1869 she was used by Lidgetts on the London to India route from London to Calcutta and Madras under Captain A M Gronsund,
After her sale to Shaw Saville she was used on the London – New Zealand route to bring migrants to New Zealand. In total she made 28 voyages from Great Britain to New Zealand. Her average sailing time was 91 days. From 1874 to 1876 she was chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company to take wool and grain to the United Kingdom. She was noted as having made the fastest journey from Lyttleton to London by sail around Cape Horn. The journey was in 1873 and took 65 days.
In late August 1886 the Crusader sailed from Wellington to Auckland to pick up more cargo before returning to London. While sailing past Taranaki she was caught in a northerly gale which nearly drove her onto the shore near New Plymouth. After losing a mizzen gallant mast and a complete set of sails, and having one of her anchors driven through her bow she managed to sail away from the land.
On 17 July 1889, while sailing from London to Lyttleton she was caught in a heavy storm which damaged her forecastle, smashed two boats and the foreward deckhouse, and carried 80 feet of top-gallant bulwarks.
Her final voyage from New Zealand was with a shipment of cargo from Port Chalmers on 11 February 1898. She arrived in London on 31 May 1898.
Her new owner, Steen or Stein, sailed her to Fremantle in January 1899 via Algoa Bay to collect a load of timber. Her weight was given variously as 686 tons or 996 tons. She returned to London on 27 June 1899. Then sailed for Pensacola on 5 August and arrived about 29 September. In 1901 she sailed to Bunbury under Captain Lawson and later Captain Aanonsen to collect a cargo of timber. While there, the ship's cook and one of the seamen got into an argument which resulted in the cook stabbing and injuring the seaman. The cook was arrested, tried, and sentenced to one month's hard labour. The Crusader sailed for London on 26 January 1902, arriving in London mid-May. She returned to Bunbury again in 1903.

## Voyages to New Zealand

| No. | Departed | Arrived | Days | Captain | Destinations in New Zealand |
| | 05/02/1870 | 06/05/1870 | - | Robert Kerr | Melbourne (only sailed to Australia) |
| 01 | 17/12/1870 | 13/03/1871 | 82 | Robert Kerr | Lyttleton |
| 02 | 22/12/1871 | 31/03/1872 | 99 | Isaac Sutherland | Lyttleton |
| 03 | 11/10/1872 | 05/01/1873 | 81 | Isaac Sutherland | Lyttleton |
| 04 | 03/11/1873 | 01/02/1874 | 90 | Isaac Sutherland | Lyttleton |
| 05 | 26/09/1874 | 31/12/1874 | 96 | Charles H Renaut | Lyttleton |
| 06 | 31/10/1875 | 08/02/1876 | 99 | Charles H Renaut | Lyttleton |
| 07 | 18/10/1876 | 13/01/1877 | 87 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 08 | 21/07/1877 | 21/10/1877 | 83 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 09 | 12/07/1878 | 11/10/1878 | 91 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 10 | 24/06/1879 | 24/09/1879 | 92 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 11 | 04/07/1880 | 07/10/1880 | 95 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 12 | 06/04/1881 | 04/07/1881 | | Llewellyn Davies | Port Chalmers |
| 13 | 17/02/1882 | 22/05/1882 | | Llewellyn Davies | Wellington |
| 14 | 15/12/1882 | 23/03/1883 | 98 | Llewellyn Davies | Lyttleton |
| 15 | 06/02/1884 | 20/05/1884 | 102 | William Scotland | Auckland |
| 16 | 01/03/1885 | 26/05/1885 | 83 | William Scotland | Auckland |
| 17 | 28/03/1886 | 22/06/1886 | 87 | William Scotland | Wellington, Auckland, Napier |
| 18 | 27/05/1887 | 04/09/1887 | 99 | George Perriam | Auckland, Napier |
| 19 | 02/06/1888 | 25/08/1888 | 84 | George Perriam | Auckland |
| 20 | 11/05/1889 | 16/08/1889 | 96 | George Perriam | Lyttleton, Auckland |
| 21 | 25/04/1890 | 19/07/1890 | 85 | George Perriam | Port Chalmers, Lyttleton |
| 22 | 25/02/1891 | 29/05/1891 | 91 | George Perriam | Port Chalmers (from Glasgow), Timaru |
| 23 | 26/09/1891 | 30/11/1891 | | George Perriam | Wellington (from Callao), Bluff |
| 24 | 29/07/1892 | 27/10/1892 | | George Perriam | Port Chalmers, Wellington |
| 25 | 30/06/1893 | 23/09/1893 | 84 | D G Fullarton | Port Chalmers, Bluff |
| 26 | 04/07/1894 | 06/10/1894 | 95 | T Burton | Wellington (from Liverpool), Port Chalmers |
| 27 | 22/06/1895 | 01/10/1895 | 97 | T Burton | Port Chalmers (from Glasgow), Auckland |
| 28 | 11/06/1896 | 10/09/1896 | 90 | T Burton | Bluff |
| 29 | 04/09/1897 | 09/12/1897 | 91 | T Burton | Port Chalmers |

## Fate

The Crusader rigged down to a barque in 1905 and sold for scrap April 1910 in Dordrecht, Netherlands. It is possible that she grounded prior to this. There was mention in some sources that she was still sailing after 1910, but she was struck of Lloyds register as broken up in the 1911 edition.

## Crusader Association

On the 50th anniversary of the 1874 voyage of the Crusader in 1925, The ship Crusader Association was formed for those who had migrated to New Zealand on her.