MAILBOAT NAME: RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Derwent
PAST NAMES:
DIMENSIONS: 794 gross registered tons, paddle wheel propulsion (steam), wood hull
BUILDER:
YEAR BUILT: 1849
EARLY CAREER: appears to have been dedicated to the West Indies mail service 1849-1852
BAHAMAS CAREER: served Nassau and Inagua with international mail from New York, UK, Jamaica, US, and Portugal according to the below
CAPTAINS: not known
OWNERS: West India Mail Company
FATE: not known
NOTES: This entry arose from an article in the “Nautical Standard” of Sept. 18, 1852 which cites the new arrival of RMS Conway to replace the RMS Derwent and RMS Esk serving Bahamas with mails. It reads in relevant part:
“The Royal Mail steam-ship Conway (850 tons, 260 horsepower), having been fitted with new boilers, and undergone a thorough overhaul both of machinery and hull, sailed on Saturday for St. Thomas, West Indies…. After the arrival at St. Thomas’s of this steamer she will temporarily take up the route on the Northern Islands intercolonial station, now performed by the Derwent, which vessel will proceed to New York…. The Conway is to leave Savannah on the 4th of every month, and will touch ast Nassau (Bahamas), Inagua (Turk’s Island) and Jamaica, leaving Chagres [Portugal] for the same route on the 18th of every month.
The mails for the Bahamas are now conveyed by the screw-steamer Esk to and from St. Thomas monthly, in correspondence with the TransAtlantic packets, but this vessel will be discontinued by the establishment of the new line of communication.”
Source: “Nautical Standard” of Sept. 18, 1852