RAJASTHAN 1838

arrived Port Adelaide on Febuary 6th, 1840 A letter published in the S.A. Gazette and Colonial REGISTER on December 15, 1838
and a second letter the following week, December 22, 1838.
The cabin passengers of the Rajasthan present their compliments to Messrs. Beck and Co., and request the favour of their forwarding the accompanying document to Messrs. Waddell & Co. by the earliest opportunity. Messrs. Beck & Co. are also requested to make any public use of this letter at Adelaide that they please.

The first letter, published in the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register 15 December 1838, p. 3c, and signed by ten of the cabin passengers, was written on their arrival at Holdfast Bay. From this letter we gather that these passengers at least were quite happy with conditions during the voyage.
[ADVERTISEMENT]
MESSRS. WADDELL & CO., LONDON.
Ship Rajasthan, Holdfast Bay, November, 1838
GENTLEMEN, - We, the undersigned, cabin passengers of the Rajasthan on arrival at our destination, have great pleasure in tendering to you our best thanks for the liberal manner in which you provided for our wants during our voyage to South Australia. The ruddy stores and supplies of every kind, as also the wines, were abundantly laid in, and have all proved of the best description and quality; and we consider it but a fair act of justice towards you thus publicly to express our satisfaction and acknowledgments.
We remain, Gentlemen, Your sincere well-wishers, DANIEL HENRY WILSONE, M.D.
ROBERT CRAIGIE
JOHN CAMPBELL
J.B. HARVEY
 EBEN. W. PAUL, H.C.S.
JOHN B. PHIPSON
WILLIAM PINKERTON 		DANIEL MACKENZIE
T. S. O'HALLORAN, late Captain 97th Regiment
BENJAMIN SHAW

The second letter was inserted in the Register of December 22, p. 3c by Captain Ritchie, following a dispute about water, along with an advertisement:
[ADVERTISEMENT]
To the Editors of the South Australian Gazette.
GENTLEMEN - Will you allow me to request the favor of your inserting the following letter in your next paper.
I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant,
DUNCAN RITCHIE.
Master Ship Rajasthan. Adelaide, December 20, 1838.
P. S. - Rumour has got afloat that I have unwarrantably stopped the supply of water on board that ship. I think this will shew to the contrary. - D.R.

TO CAPTAIN RITCHIE. Rajasthan. September 13, 1838.
SIR - We, the undersigned, second cabin and steerage passengers, respectfully intreat that, having sufficient water on board to afford each person two quarts per day, and all being exceedingly anxious (the season getting late) to arive at our port of destination as early as possible, you will not retard the voyage by touching at any other port. We have the honor to remain, Your most obedient humble servants,
Mr Back and wife [Francis]
Robert Barley and wife [Burley]
John Belton and wife
G. Bishop
M. Blagbro and son
Elizabeth Blyth
Margaret Blyth
Mary Blyth
Hallerton Blyth
Jem. Blyth
Sarah Brooks
Peter Bunnfield and wife [? Bum field]
G. Burt
Sarah Butterfill [? Butterfield]
G. Clisley, wife and 4 children [Clisby]
Jas. Cock, wife, and 4 children
Wm. Cocker, wife, and 2 children [? Coker]
Wm. Cook
Alexander Cross and wife
E. W. Cross
Mr Dean and wife [Henry Dean(e)]
Hannah Dowbull [? Dowdall ? Dundall]
William Dunn and wife
Benjamin Edger
A. Elliot, wife, and 3 children
Mary Ann Gilbert
John Goodall, wife, and child
William Hill
William Hoare and wife
Holde, wife, and 2 children [? E. Holder]
C. Holman and wife
George Jameson [? Jamieson]
Kenith Kell, wife, and 7 children
James B. Kelly and wife
James Lee and wife
Wm. Miles and wife
Thos. Mount, wife, and 3 children
Wm. Owen and wife
John Palmer and wife
J. Partridge
Charles Patter, wife, and child[? Potter]
Sarah Phillips J. Rantaul, wife, and 2 children [? Rentaul ? Rintaul]
Margaret Rantaul [? Rentaul]
E. Sanders
Mary Sleigh
George Skey and wife
William W. Smith
[? T. Smith Kell, wife, and 7 children]
Henry Stanford
Thomas Stanford and wife
William Stoneham
W. Sucker
T. Tapley, wife, and 9 children
John Henry Theakston
James Tozer
Sarah Walley [? Woolley]
Mary Wolley [? Woolley]
Jas. Warland, wife, and 3 children
George Warlan [Warland]
James Watt, wife and 2 children
John White and wife
Thomas White G. White
Willison Wilson and wife (? William Wilson]
Mary Ann Wilson
Sarah White
Wm. Wright, wife, and 1 child
J. Wright
Ann Wright


An article published in the S.A. Gazette and Colonial REGISTER on December 15, 1838 may also be of interest:

LINE OF PACKET SHIPS TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Most of our readers are aware that the province is indebted to the enterprise of Messrs. Waddell, Beck, and Co. for the establishment of a regular line of packet ships from London to Port Adelaide; and we are confident that we speak the sentiments of every respectable and influential colonist when we say that they are determined to support these ships by every means in their power. It is scarcely possible to over-rate the importance of maintaining a communication with England at fixed periods; and we should deeply regret were the experiment to fail or even to prove less successful than its originators anticipated.

Several reports, apparently as malicious as we are glad to know they are unfounded, in reference to this undertaking, have been circulated both here and in London, but by parties too much interested to admit of the supposition that their endeavours to create a prejudice against the packet ships are founded in any desire to promote either the comforts of the passengers or to ensure a moderate rate of freight.

In the face of facts, however, it is not very probable that such reports will obtain much credit. The testimony borne by so numerous and respectable a body as the cabin passengers of the RAJASTHAN places the liberality of Messrs. Waddell, Beck, and Co., beyond all doubt; and we can add, from documents before us, that the stores laid in for the passengers of that ship, nearly the whole of which were consumed, exceeded by £600 the amount of the passage money.

Knowing this fact, our readers will not be surprised when they read the very encomiastic document, inserted in another place, which was forwarded by the cabin passengers of the RAJASTHAN to Messrs. Charles Beck and Co., the South Australian branch of the London firm ...
Source: The RAJASTHAN 1838 and 1839-1840 by Helen Scarborough