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The
Countess of Kintore
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This
Aberdeen Clipper was built in 1866 by Duthrie, and she came out
to New Zealand under charter to the Shaw Savill Company, making
some fine passages for a vessel of 700 tons.
A very popular Captain, Petherbridge took command of this fine vessel
from launch date and she carried hundreds of passengers to New Zealand
ports as well as visiting Auckland on some seven occasions between
1868 and 1874.
It is reported that efforts were made in those days of sail to bring European birds into New Zealand and several shipments were entrusted to Captain Petherbridge, as he was known to take a personal interest in this exercise. He is known to have brought out 70 pairs of partridges, 50 rooks, sky larks, blackbirds, ushes, starlings, goldfinches and Captain Norie after him brought 13 salmon into Lyttelton.
After encountering
a heavy storm in 1869, the Herald reported the arrival of the Countess
in 1870 and stated "we are glad to welcome back our old
friend Captain Petherbridge, who has always taken a great interest
in Auckland".
The vessel had met with heavy icebergs, some 60 in 24 hours near
Tasmania and the Captain and crew had seen their passengers safely
through these to port.
On one run to Lyttelton in 1876, which took only 81 days, some 7
passengers had died of measles and scarlet fever, out of the 180
onboard. Photo's of this fine vessel show her clean clipper like
lines.
If you have notes on The Countess of Kintore or any other vessels and would like to be considered for inclusion in this website, please e-mail.