Crusader was 1,058-ton ironclipper ship. She built for John Lidgett & Sons, Indian traders of London, by Charles Connell and Co ofGlasgow andlaunched in March 1865 (yard number 26).[1][2]
In 1869 Lidgett's sold her to theAlbion Line. At this time she was painted black with a yellow streak. The Albion Line merged with Shaw Savill in 1883 and by then herportholes were painted. Having completed her final voyage from New Zealand in May 1898 she was sold to a Norwegian company, Daniel Steen, of KristianiaOslo for £2,950 on or before 8 June 1898.[3][4]
From 1865 to 1869 she was used by Lidgetts on theLondon to India route from London to Calcutta and Madras under Captain A M Gronsund,[5]
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 theNew Zealand Shipping Company to take wool and grain to the United Kingdom.[6] She was noted as having made the fastest journey from Lyttleton to London by sail aroundCape Horn. The journey was in 1873 and took 65 days.[7]
In late August 1886 theCrusader sailed fromWellington toAuckland to pick up more cargo before returning to London. While sailing pastTaranaki she was caught in a northerly gale which nearly drove her onto the shore nearNew 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.[8]
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 forward deckhouse, and carried away 80 feet of top-gallant bulwarks.[9]
Her final voyage from New Zealand was with a shipment of cargo fromPort Chalmers on 11 February 1898. She arrived in London on 31 May 1898.[10][11]
Her new owner, Steen or Stein, sailed her toFremantle in January 1899 viaAlgoa Bay to collect a load of timber.[12] Her weight was given variously as 686 tons or 996 tons.[13][12] She returned to London on 27 June 1899. Then sailed forPensacola on 5 August and arrived about 29 September. In 1901 she sailed toBunbury under Captain Lawson and later Captain Aanonsen to collect a cargo of timber.[14] 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.[15][16] TheCrusader sailed for London on 26 January 1902, arriving in London mid-May.[17] She returned to Bunbury again in 1903.[18]
TheCrusader rigged down to abarque in 1905 and sold for scrap April 1910 inDordrecht,Netherlands. It is possible that she grounded prior to this.[2][49] 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.[50]
On the 50th anniversary of the 1874 voyage of theCrusader in 1925,The ship Crusader Association was formed for those who had migrated to New Zealand on her.[51][52][53]
The Clipper Ship Crusader, Built 1865, Broken Up 1910: Memories and Records of Over Fifty Years' Pioneering : with Special Reference to Voyages 1874-1879 by various authors. Published by Cadsonbury Publishers, New Zealand on 1 November 2002.ISBN9781877151675
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