Colonial Despatches

According to this despatch, from Douglas to Newcastle on 28 May, 1862, the True Briton sailed for Vancouver Island from London in August 1860. Douglas notes that the Ship however met with a series of disasters and did not reach Vancouver's Island until more than Twelve months afterwards.

Further drama found the ship after it arrived. According to the British Colonist for Tuesday morning on September 17, 1861, three men were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the extensive robbery of goods from the bark True Briton at Esquimalt.1

Two days later, the Colonist reports details on the case,2 and notes that a spar, 185 feet long, is to be sent to England by the True Briton for display in the Worlds' Fair of 1862, in London.3 This article provides the length, at least, of the True Briton, as it reports the spar to be 40 feet longer than the vessel.4

So, this True Briton is not to be mistaken for two others. The first of which was built as a passenger frigate, of three masts, in 1861 in Blackwall Yard, London.5 The second was built in Quebec in 1865; it was a sailing ship, 62 m long, which was lost on the Marquesas Shoal, Florida Reefs in January of 1889.6

• 1. The 'True Briton' Robbery Case, British Colonist, September 17, 1861.
• 2. The True Briton Robberies, British Colonist, September 19, 1861.
• 3. Return of the Mutine, British Colonist, September 19, 1861.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. David R. MacGregor, Merchant Sailing Ships, 1850-1875 (London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd., 1984), 67-69.
• 6. Board of Trade, Wreck Report for 'True Briton,' 1889, PortCities Southampton.