descriptions entered the port--for the whaling was then _the_ trade.
But the steamer was beginning to count, and the beginning of the Sydney
steam trade is not without a peculiar interest--for Londoners at any
rate.

The _Sophia Jane_ was the first steamer in Australasian waters. She
arrived in Sydney from London, _via_ the Cape of Good Hope, with cargo
and passengers, on the 14th of May. This vessel was built on the Thames
by a well-known shipbuilder of the time, William Evans, who was the
builder of many other notable early steamers. She was running for a
summer or two as a passenger steamer between Gravesend and London;
then between different ports in the south of England; and then, under
a Lieutenant Biddulph, of the Royal Navy, she was sent to Sydney. The
little vessel was 126 feet long by 20 feet beam, drew 6 feet of water,
was of 256 tons burden, and had accommodation for fifty-four passengers;
her engines were of 50 horse-power, and her speed eight knots an hour.
This was the first steamer in the Southern Seas--the forerunner of a
fleet of mighty leviathans.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Beginning Of The Sea Story Of
Australia, by Louis Becke

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