Igor Grek

Shipping Horses to the Antipodes


Sydney harbour: horses being loaded onto a Royal Navy frigate for shipment to India, 1844. Painting by F. Garling.

By Keith R. Binney for Thoroughbred Heritage. ©Keith R. Binney, 2009. Keith Binney is author of Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788-1900) & The Serpents Legacy (Volcanic Productions, 2005) and a contributor to Thoroughbred Heritage.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the time taken for voyages on sailing ships from England to the east coast of America, vis-a-vis those to the Antipodes, do not bear a true comparison. The direct shipping route from Southampton to New York is listed as 3,091 nautical miles. From Southampton to Sydney, Australia, via Cape Town was 12,385 miles, with a further 1,233 miles from Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand.
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Peninsular transport

Although the British forces in the Peninsular purchased most of their pack and draught animals locally, they still had to ship cavalry and artillery horses from Britain. Getting horses onto transports was no easy task, as William Tomkinson saw when his charger Bob was swung aboard a ship at Falmouth:

‘[He] kicked himself out and was near being lost. He stood on the deck of the vessel for some time while they were putting a fresh pair of slings on him, and nearly killed the second mate of the vessel by kicking him overboard. The man fell the whole height of the vessel, there being no water near the quay at which we embarked. He was left behind sick at Falmouth.’


The landing of the British Army at Mondego Bay, 1808
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