The First Four Ships transporting pilgrims and settlers to the province of Canterbury in December 1850 are quite well known. But in fact there were two additional ships, the Castle Eden and the Isabella Hercus, which arrived in Port Lyttelton in February and March 1851 respectively.
Together The First Six Ships sent out from England by the Canterbury Association in 1850-1851 were known as The Summer Ships
“The best time for colonists to arrive is from October to January; they then arrive in the summer months, have the summer before them to house themselves, and probably form a garden, or break up some land and get in a crop.”
– Extract from a Despatch of Captain Thomas, the Canterbury Association’s Chief Surveyor, 15 May 1849.
The settlers who arrived in Canterbury in the summer of 1850-51 on the ships Charlotte Jane, Randolph, Sir George Seymour, Cressy, Castle Eden and Isabella Hercus were truely pioneers. They were men and women we can admire, even 150 years after their arrival.
They sailed into the unknown, staking the rest of their lives on their ability to create a settlement at the ‘uttermost ends of the earth’. They were both creative and constructive. They found swampland and bequeathed a city. And they were hardworking, practical people – a mix of builders, traders, craftsmen, professionals, workers, farmers – who established for all who came after them, a way of life.
– The Right Honourable Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, Governor-General of New Zealand
CHARLOTTE JANE
RANDOLPH
SIR GEORGE SEYMOUR
CRESSY
CASTLE EDEN
ISABELLA HERCUS
More Information on Shipping
Archives New Zealand, Christchurch hold copies of all existing shipping lists including The Summer Ships [Link]
The Canterbury Museum Archives also has a comprehensive list of passengers in and out of the port of Lyttelton.