The Herald was an iron paddle steamer imported as frames from the United Kingdom and assembled in 1855 by Richard Johnson in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, where she was registered. The Herald is one of the earliest iron paddle wheel steamers built in Australia, where she operated within Sydney Harbour. She was initially used on the fledgling North Shore route between Dawes Point and Blues Point by the newly formed North Shore Steam Company; however, due to not enough traffic to make her financially viable, she often performed tug duties. Eventually the North Shore Steam Company was wound up; the vessel was put up for sale but continued picking up business wherever it was available, operating as a tug, ferry, excursion boat and cargo vessel.
By 1873 Herald was working to Mosman Bay and Neutral Bay in a somewhat irregular weekday timetable. In the late 1870s and early 1880s she ran as an excursion boat to Manly and a tug. On 1 April 1884 the starboard boiler blew out while the Herald was waiting to bring in a sailing ship about 400 yards from North Head, causing the vessel to sink.
Ship description and construction
Early steamships in Australia
The iron paddle steamer Herald
The Iron Herald is reported as being built in London and sent to Sydney in sections, either being assembled in Australia from imported Frames or alternatively from three sections shipped out to Australia. The vessel was assembled at the Gasworks in Darling Harbour by Richard Johnstone, Davidson and Anderson
The vessel had a sharp bow and stern with a rudder able to be locked at each end so that it could be run in reverse.
It was a steam paddle wheel vessel with twin boilers and no decks, with passengers standing on top of the vessel.
It had a and a with a length of and a beam at midships of and a depth in the hold of .
Ship service history
Formation and operation of the North Shore Steam Company
By 1846 there were 106 houses in North Sydney, with the post office opening in 1854, while having no firm transport across the harbour to Sydney central. A number of prominent locals formed the North Shore Steam Company to start a ferry company across the harbour. The company was incorporated through an Act of Parliament in November 1854.
The company purchased the Herald from the UK and imported it in pieces to be assembled by Richard Johnson at the July meeting of the North Shore Steam Company held at the Royal Hotel with T. J. Fisher in the chair. A. Berry (after whom Berrys Bay is named) and other shareholders were present. It was stated that four calls of one pound had been paid, leaving a fifth sum of one pound per share to be called up.
The steamer would be ready for running on Thursday [19 July 1855], and it was expected that the Brothers, steamer, and the Company’s new steamer, to be called the Herald, would make alternate trips, so as to give the residents and the public uninterrupted communication between the North Shore and Sydney.
Just a few weeks after the small vessel started plying the route on 31 July 1855 there was a fatal accident when Mr. Field, a butcher, residing on the North Shore, was crossing in the new steam ferryboat. The vessel left Windmill Street at about six o'clock with about six passengers and about 112 sheep on board. When approximately halfway across the harbour, one sheep went overboard. The engines were stopped when two men got outside the rail to lift the sheep in when the stanchions gave way. One man was pulled back in, but Field drowned.
Shortly after this incident an ad appeared in the local papers seeking a competent person to take charge of the steam ferry-boat Herald as well as an engineer, to whom liberal wages would be given. George Hall applied, and he spent the rest of his life working on the vessel, along with his sons. In May 1856 Hall, at that time the engineer of the Herald ferry boat running between Sydney and North Shore, was convicted of using obscene language towards John M. Ball, a passenger, and was ordered to pay a fine of 20s. and costs, or be imprisoned for seven days.
By July 1856 another steamer (Premier) had been added to the North Shore Steam Company, but by 1858 the company had started to run into issues, causing it to reduce fares.
All classes, the fares for foot passengers by the steamer Herald have been reduced to two-pence (2d), each way. This cheap conveyance will enable the workingman to visit the beautiful scenery of the North Shore at a moderate rate. The steamer plies from 8 o'clock a.m. to 7p.m. in the evening, to and from Windmill-street to Billy Blue's Point, every quarter of an hour.