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History
United Kingdom
Name	Parmelia
Builder	Sheppard & Campbell–J.Jeffrey,[1]Wolfe's Cove[2]
Launched	3 May 1825[2]
Fate	Burnt May 1839 and sold for breaking up.
General characteristics
Tons burthen	443,[1] or 44333⁄94[2] (bm)
Length	117 ft 8 in (35.9 m)[2]
Beam	29 ft 1 in (8.9 m)[2]
Depth of hold	20 ft (6.1 m)[1]
Sail plan	Barque

Parmelia was abarque built inQuebec, Canada, in 1825. Originally registered on 31 May in Quebec, she sailed to Great Britain and assumed British registry. She made one voyage for the BritishEast India Company (EIC), in 1827–1828. In 1829 she transported the first civilian officials and settlers of theSwan River Colony toWestern Australia. She then made two voyagestransportingconvicts toNew South Wales, Australia. A fire damaged her irreparably in May 1839.

Parmelia "was more of a plain working girl than the great and beautiful lady of the sea".^[3]Parmelia sailed to London and on 17 November she was transferred from the Quebec to the London register. In 1826 she was used as a troop carrier.

Some time in the first half of 1827,Parmelia was sold toJoseph Somes, who was also a director of the EIC. For the next year, she operated under charter to the British East India Company, carrying goods and passengers between London andBengal.

Captain John Wimble sailed fromthe Downs on 19 June 1827, bound for Bengal andMadras.Parmelia arrived atCalcutta on 3 December. Homeward bound, she was at Fultahm, on theHooghly River, on 18 January 1828. She was atVizagapatam on 30 January, and Madras on 9 February. She reachedSaint Helena on 30 April and arrived at the Downs on 3 July.^[4]

In 1828 the British government, at the urging of CaptainJames Stirling, decided to establish acolony at theSwan River inWestern Australia.HMS Challenger was despatched underCharles Fremantle to annex the colony, and it was arranged that a contingent of soldiers, officials and settlers would follow onHMS Sulphur. Stirling, whom the government had appointed the civil superintendent of the colony,^[5] however argued that the passengers and goods to be carried exceeded the capacity ofSulphur, and asked that an additional ship to be chartered. The government reluctantly agreed to the extra cost, charteringParmelia in December 1828. It was then arranged thatSulphur would carry a detachment of the63rd Regiment,^[5] withParmelia carrying the civilian officials and settlers.

Sulphur andParmelia sailed fromSpithead offPortsmouth, England on 3^[6] or 6^[7] February 1829, sighting their destination on 1 June. Contrary to popular belief, Stirling did not captainParmelia (J. H. Luscombe did^[7]); on arrival, however, he assumed the duties ofpilot. He initially tried to enterCockburn Sound through a passage that he had discovered in 1827, but was prevented by strong winds and a heavy swell. Instead he chose to remain offRottnest Island for the night. The following day, he tried to bringParmelia into the Sound from the north, against the advice of Fremantle, and ran aground on a sand bank, later to be namedParmelia Bank. Despite the best efforts of the crews to dislodge her,Parmelia remained on the bank for over 18 hours, finally coming off the bank by herself early the following morning. By that time, she had lost herforeyard,rudder,windlass, sparespars,longboat andskiff, and was leaking at a rate of 4 inches (10 cm) per hour.Parmelia then rode out a storm at anchor for three days before finally being brought to a safe anchorage. The passengers were able to disembark on 8 June.

Challenger was due to depart onceSulphur andParmelia had arrived, butParmelia needed repairs that it could not get without access to the skilled labour amongstChallenger crew. Fremantle therefore took the decision to remain and assist with the repairs, which were completed many weeks later. Later that year, Stirling charteredParmelia to bring food supplies fromJava. In 1830, she returned to England via Singapore. She carried to Singapore members of the crew ofCumberland, which had wrecked on 4 March.^[8]

Captain James Gilbert sailed from Sheerness on 28 July 1832.Parmelia arrived at Sydney on 16 November.^[9] She had embarked 200 male convicts and she landed 196, four having died en route.^[10]Parmelia sailed from Sydney late in December 1832 and arrived inBatavia on 29 January 1833. She left Batavia on 5 March, reachedSaint Helena on 17 May, and arrived back at Portsmouth on 8 August.

Captain James Gilbert sailed from Cork on 27 October 1833.Parmelia arrived at Sydney on 2 March 1834.^[11] She embarked 220 male convicts and she landed 218, two convicts having died en route.^[12] On 12 AprilParmelia sailed for Manila.

In 1837Parmelia andPrince Regent transported troops for the British government. On 19 January they carried the82 Regiment of Foot from Dublin to Gibraltar. They then carried the59th regiment of Foot from Gibraltar to Malta. On 14 March they carried the5th Regiment of Foot from Malta to theIonian Islands. Once they had completed the task, the British government hired the two vessels for£1,281 7s 9d to carry the remnants of theBritish Auxiliary Legion back from Spain to England.^[a]

Parmelia then continued to sail as a London-based transport. She was last listed in 1838 with J. Spence, master, J. Somes, owner, and trade London-transport.^[13]In 1839Parmelia was refitted to carry migrants to theAmericas. She was intended to run between Britain and Quebec, but on 1 May 1839,^[2] as her refit was almost complete, a fire in Bank's Yard, at Frank's Queery,Cremyll, destroyed her. Eight days later she was surveyed and declared a constructive total loss. She was then sold for breaking up.^[2]

TheKwinana suburb ofParmelia is named in honour ofParmelia, as isParmelia Bank.

The following people embarkedParmelia when she left Portsmouth in February 1829.^[6][14]

• Appleyard, Reginald; Manford, Toby (1979).The beginning. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press.ISBN 0-85564-146-0.
• Bateson, Charles (1959).The Convict Ships. Brown, Son & Ferguson.OCLC 3778075.
• Hackman, Rowan (2001).Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society.ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
• Henderson, Graeme (1980),Unfinished Voyages: Western Australian Shipwrecks 1622–1850, University of Western Australia,ISBN 0855641762
• Johnson, G. L. (Les) (1987). "The Parmelia Barque".Early Days.9 (5).
• Marcil, Eileen Reed (1995).The Charley-Man: a history of wooden shipbuilding at Quebec 1763-1893. Kingston, Ontario: Quarry.ISBN 1-55082-093-1.
• Marshall, John (1830)."Stirling, James" .Royal Naval Biography. Vol. sup, part 4. London: Longman and Company. p. 200–201.

• 1825 ships
• Ships built in Quebec City
• Age of Sail merchant ships
• Convict ships to New South Wales
• History of Western Australia
• Migrant ships to Australia
• Merchant ships of the United Kingdom
• Maritime incidents in May 1839

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