1847: The HARPLEY - her Maiden voyage
She was built on the River Tamar, in Tasmania, in 1847 and was described as a ship of 547 tons, owned by J. Raven,
and registered in Launceston, Tasmania. She sailed from Hobart Town on Thursday, 29th April, 1847. She reached England
on February 8th, 1848. Here she must have been given a very thorough going over by the Surveyor for Lloyds of London,
and was classed as Al for ten years (reported in a Launceston newspaper 26th August, 1848).

1848: Under her three topsails and jib, with a stiff breeze from the north east, and strong ebb tide, the smart ship HARPLEY appeared off Plymouth on Monday morning, the 17th instant, and not-with-standing the opposition of both elements, she, cutter-like, gracefully entered the sound, and with a conscious pride took up her anchorage at the appointed station. ComparativeIy a few years since no one would have imagined that the far distant colonists of Van Diemen's Land would have sent to the mother country a fine specimen of naval architecture, so well qualified to mingle in one of her noblest ports, with the merchant shipping of the parent state.

In 1848 the French lacemaking factories were all closed and the English owners went home to Nottingham and the English in Calais fell further and further into destitution. The "Papers Relative to Emigration" reported that, thanks to Lord Ashley's intervention, there was quite a favourable response from the Colonial Office. SOURCE: Australian Society of the Lacemakers of Calais. CLICK HERE for additional information.

The HARPLEY was commissioned to carry the Lacemakers out of England to South Australia and in due time the English lacemakers in Calais
joined other English workers on board the HARPLEY bound for South Australia, and she departed Deptford on May 12, 1848 with Captain Thomas Buckland. She berthed at the Port of Adelaide on September 6, 1848, bearing the second group of Lacemakers. She was under the care of Captain Thomas Buckland. Unfortunately, for the descendants of the Lacemakers, there has been no trace of documentation of that voyage ... not even a shipping list! We are eternally grateful that the SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER Newspaper's Shipping Reporter recorded the list of passengers which was subsequently published a day or two later. The HARPLEY 1848 - PASSENGER LIST

    the HARPLEY then visited Launceston.
1849: She arrived Adelaide on December 26th.The HARPLEY 1849 - PASSENGER LIST

1851: She arrived Adelaide on January 15th.The HARPLEY 1852 - PASSENGER LIST
To read curious reports published in the THE TIMES newspaper in early October, 1850
entitled "The Ship HARPLEY and Courtenay Fowell" CLICK HERE.

1852: Visited Launceston
1853: She made a further voyage to Melbourne.
In 1862 The HARPLEY broke up on the bar of Realejo harbour, Canary Islands.