John Birch

John Birch was transported on the Racehorse, departing 19th May 1865 and arriving 10th Aug 1865 with 279 passengers.

This ship began her life as Matilde Wattenbach built by Frederick C Clarke in St Heliers, Jersey in 1853. Her principal owners were J J Melhuish of Liverpool and T H A Wattenbach, of London. In 1863, after trading for some years out of London to the Cape of Good Hope and to New Zealand, she was acquired by Philip Blyth, of London and the following year she was sold. Within a few days she was purchased by Alexander Fotheringham and renamed Racehorse. Racehorse was surveyed at Sunderland shipyards in January 1864 and at that time her specifications were 1077 tons, length 209.3 ft., breadth 36.1 ft. and depth 20.0 ft. For her voyage to the Swan River Colony another owner would be on the scene – John Smurthwaite, a Sunderland merchant. Racehorse left Portland on May 26, 1865 bound for Fremantle. She carried the thirty second of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 76 days and the Racehorse arrived in Fremantle on August 10, 1865 with 172 passengers and 278 convicts. M H Seward (DPS) or J Mann (Lloyds Register) and Dr Alexander Watson were the captain(s) and surgeon respectively.