Plan

Plan of the Poop Accommodation of the Clipper Ship Venilia, 1863, showing the cabin allocation for the more affluent passengers, Master and Mates aboard. The plan shows the arrangement of the private cabins and has the names of the occupiers inserted. It is a unique document which would have been produced for the start of the voyage, for the use of the officers as the passengers embarked. It is possible, from the drawing, to differentiate the class of accommodation even in the poop, with the most affluent passengers occupying stern quarters where there would have been plenty of light and a private W.C.

The Venilia of 618 tons was built at Sunderland in 1854 for Shields of Newcastle. Three years later she was sold to Thompson’s of London, and then remained a London Registered ship until 1870. In 1863 she was sold to J. Baker and was employed in the immigrant trade, carrying as many as 262 emigrants to Australia (as she did to Brisbane in October 1865). In 1867 he previous Master, Richard Page, was replaced by T.W. Pow, and in 1869 the ship disappeared on a voyage from London to India.