This ship only made one voyage as a convict ship. I believe that its small claim to fame was that it was the first convict voyage direct from England to Hobart. She delivered 137 males, without loss of life. She is described as 394 tons. The ship's master, Robert WEIR, and the Surgeon Superintendent, James WILSON, had a dispute of some sort, and lodged complaints against each other. The matter was referred to the Admiralty, and so no records survive in Australia. I have never found a picture of it, and I have searched the indices of maritime museums in Oz & UK. I have been on the lookout for any references to it for years. I have copies of the indent, and the Surgeon's Journal. I have googled, and the name comes up in conjunction with various convicts. Recently, I repeated this exercise, and the number of hits was vastly larger. It seems that new material is coming on line very rapidly - that's an important point for all researchers to keep in mind. Here's the good news for Lady Ridley descendants: this year, the National Library of Australia acquired a watercolour of her, "A convict hulk next to the frigate "Lady Ridley" in port ",and copies are available for purchase. See http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10670870-v I also found a few references to "LR" arriving in Canada in 1824 & 1825, after journeys from Britain. I have not yet discovered her fate. Peter THOMAS Darwin, AUSTRALIA <pmthomas@bigpond.com>

Well done, Peter, and thank you for posting this information to the list. We can only wonder at how many images, etc are out there that we don't know about. And a good point, to regularly 'google' the web to see if more information on an ancestor, convict, institution, ship, or whatever you are interested in has turned up. Of course, it makes it much easier if the convict you are interested in is not Ann Smith transported on the 'Mary' for example :). Regards Trudy Dr Trudy Cowley List Administrator TAS Convicts Rootsweb List tcowley@bigpond.net.au AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com -----Original Message----- From: Peter Thomas [mailto:pmthomas@bigpond.com] Sent: Wednesday, 9 November 2005 8:44 AM To: AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [TAS-CON] Convict ship "Lady Ridley", arr VDL 1821 - picture now available This ship only made one voyage as a convict ship. I believe that its small claim to fame was that it was the first convict voyage direct from England to Hobart. She delivered 137 males, without loss of life. She is described as 394 tons. The ship's master, Robert WEIR, and the Surgeon Superintendent, James WILSON, had a dispute of some sort, and lodged complaints against each other. The matter was referred to the Admiralty, and so no records survive in Australia. I have never found a picture of it, and I have searched the indices of maritime museums in Oz & UK. I have been on the lookout for any references to it for years. I have copies of the indent, and the Surgeon's Journal. I have googled, and the name comes up in conjunction with various convicts. Recently, I repeated this exercise, and the number of hits was vastly larger. It seems that new material is coming on line very rapidly - that's an important point for all researchers to keep in mind. Here's the good news for Lady Ridley descendants: this year, the National Library of Australia acquired a watercolour of her, "A convict hulk next to the frigate "Lady Ridley" in port ",and copies are available for purchase. See http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10670870-v I also found a few references to "LR" arriving in Canada in 1824 & 1825, after journeys from Britain. I have not yet discovered her fate. Peter THOMAS Darwin, AUSTRALIA <pmthomas@bigpond.com> ==== AUS-TAS-CONVICTS Mailing List ==== If you require assistance using this list, try the www.rootsweb.com 'HELP' page. It may have the answer to your question. ============================== Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx