It does appear that the Rodney made several trips back and forward to the colonies in Australia between 1850 and 1858 when it was shipwrecked. This article from the convict voyage in 1853 states that Captain Maclean's 75 day voyage was the fastest on record at the time :
https://www.tdob.org/rodneyreferences on that page to :
"SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE." Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas. : 1847 - 1854) 16 February 1853: 2. Web. 16 Feb 2020;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172859469.
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"LOCAL INTELLIGENCE." Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas. : 1847 - 1854) 16 February 1853: 3. Web. 16 Feb 2020;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172859463.
The Rodney also transported convicts families through the assisted immigration programme. My ancestors made the trip in 1853/1854 to join their convict relatives. They had some rough weather on the way:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/686888?searchTerm=Rodney#The UK national archives has some medical/surgical journals of the convict trips archived:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=convict%20ship%20rodney&_p=1800&_hb=tnaIt seems this Rodney was lost June 6 1858 on Kenn Reef off Queensland along with another ship in convoy:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154876615?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FA%2Ftitle%2F809%2F1858%2F10%2F12%2Fpage%2F18217999%2Farticle%2F154876615#Several ships were lost on this reef over the years. Some people believe that some remaining artifacts found at the reef belong to the Rodney:
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone/identity-of-cq-reef-wreck-revealed-as-historic-convict-ship/news-story/4fe752a045a5af283b1c6cbb9b3d075fInteresting that the captain was travelling with his wife.
South Australia's Passengers n history website has some good links and clues regarding Duncan Dunbar who seems to have owned the ship at least in it's later years
https://passengers.history.sa.gov.au/node/935064Some of the Duncan Dunbar Jr story is documented here:
http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/networks/periods/1800after/1800dunbar.htmSome other Dunbar shipping history. Dunbar apparently had his own ship yard in Moulmein, Burma:
https://www.maritimeheritage.org.au/documents/burningham%20hougoumont%20talk.pdfThe McGann family tree story also has their family emmigrating on the same ship Rodney as my ancestors.
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~jray/mcgann/index.htm#5A partial crew/passenger list in Sydney 1853/1854:
http://marinersandships.com.au/1854/03/058rod.htm And crew/passenger list from Sydney in the week before it ran aground 1856 - you can see there are a couple of shipmates in common from the years previous:
http://marinersandships.com.au/1856/06/001rod.htmI'd be interested in finding out any more of the 1853/1854 trip. I haven't found any medical/journal or other log of that journey. Gouch's Island (is it maybe Gough Island -South Atlantic?) is mentioned as well as exchanging signals with the Annie Armstrong and the rudder issue.
It seemed that a lot of these assisted immigration ship left from Plymouth, so passengers had to get there first.
The Plymouth Emigration Depot facility was built to marshal and house passengers until embarkation:
https://www.britishempire.co.uk/article/plymouth/emigrationdepot.htmAlso, regarding the builder, It sounds like it's not clear whether the Rodney was built by James Laing, Arrow Leithead or a Lainey at Sunderland?:
http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland123.html#1850http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland097.html#rodney2Leithead built a ship Cambodia for John Hay in 1850. It is thought that maybe after buying? the ship from John Hay, Dunbar renamed it to Rodney. It would go along with the theme of several of Dunbar's ships being given names of British naval commanders and battles.
The Lloyd's Register shows several ships around this time changing hands from John Hay to others. I'm curious what the situation was there. Was John Hay a ship salesman/broker around the port or had he ordered ships built and then was unable to pay for them? or unable otherwise to keep them?
http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/images6/leithead4.jpgThere have been several ships name Rodney that saw service in and around Australia.
glendon2@rogers.com has some interest in the Rodney also.
Rodney is a small part of my family history but it's been interesting to discover the ship's own story.
JD