Caduceus (ship)

{{Short description|Merchant ship}}

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File:The ship Caduceus off Hong Kong RMG BHC3763.tiff

Caduceus (1854–1874) was a 1106 ton merchant ship, built in 1854 at Union Dock,https://islandhistory.wordpress.com/2021/07/13/union-dock/ Limehouse, London by shipwrights Fletcher Son & Fearnall, which also transported settlers to New Zealand and Australia.

During the Crimean War Caduceus served as a hospital ship. In the Great Storm of 1854, on 14 November, the ship was badly damaged on the Black Sea, losing all three masts. The hull of the Caduceus was relatively intact and was towed by the steamer Melbourne, which had lost two masts, down the Bosporus and up the Golden Horn for repair.Illustrated London News 23 December 1854 Caduceus was captained during the Crimean War by John Cass (1813–1889), master mariner and brother of the pioneer surveyor of New Zealand Thomas Cass.

In 1858 Caduceus undertook a voyage as a convict ship, transporting a single convict from Bombay, India to Fremantle, Western Australia. It arrived in Fremantle on 5 February 1858. The convict, Patrick Devlin, was a 31-year-old soldier who had been convicted of a breach of articles of war by court-martial in Hyderabad State in December 1855, and sentenced to 14 years' transportation. In addition to Devlin, there were three other passengers on board.

Between 1859 and 1872 Caduceus made five voyages bringing settlers from London, England to Auckland, New Zealand. The ship was described as 'a fine and roomy ship'.https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/Bre01Whit/Bre01Whit063.gif The fastest of these passage took 92 days and the longest 112 days.https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/Bre01Whit/Bre01Whit063.gif

In 1874 the Caduceus was wrecked.