Crusader was 1,058-ton iron clipper ship. She built for John Lidgett & Sons, Indian traders of London, by Charles Connell and Co of Glasgow and launched in March 1865 (yard number 26).Crusader (Ship : 1865-1898), National Library of New Zealand, retrieved 28 July 2024Iron full-rigged Crusader, retrieved 28 July 2024

Dimensions The clipper had a length of , a beam of , and a draft of .

Ownership In 1869 Lidgett's sold her to the Albion Line. At this time she was painted black with a yellow streak. The Albion Line merged with Shaw Savill in 1883 and by then her portholes were painted. Having completed her final voyage from New Zealand in May 1898 she was sold to a Norwegian company, Daniel Steen, of Kristiania Oslo for £2,950 on or before 8 June 1898.Shaw, Savill & Albion, retrieved 28 July 2024

Use From 1865 to 1869 she was used by Lidgetts on the London to India route from London to Calcutta and Madras under Captain A M Gronsund,Advertisements, The Times, London, 12 December 1866, Page 1

After her sale to Shaw Saville she was used on the London – New Zealand route to bring migrants to New Zealand. In total she made 28 voyages from Great Britain to New Zealand. Her average sailing time was 91 days. From 1874 to 1876 she was chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company to take wool and grain to the United Kingdom. She was noted as having made the fastest journey from Lyttleton to London by sail around Cape Horn. The journey was in 1873 and took 65 days.

In late August 1886 the Crusader sailed from Wellington to Auckland to pick up more cargo before returning to London. While sailing past Taranaki she was caught in a northerly gale which nearly drove her onto the shore near New Plymouth. After losing a mizzen gallant mast and a complete set of sails, and having one of her anchors driven through her bow she managed to sail away from the land.

On 17 July 1889, while sailing from London to Lyttleton she was caught in a heavy storm which damaged her forecastle, smashed two boats and the forward deckhouse, and carried away 80 feet of top-gallant bulwarks.

Her final voyage from New Zealand was with a shipment of cargo from Port Chalmers on 11 February 1898. She arrived in London on 31 May 1898.

Her new owner, Steen or Stein, sailed her to Fremantle in January 1899 via Algoa Bay to collect a load of timber.Vessels in West Australian Ports, Daily Commercial News, Sydney, 10 January 1899, page 6 Her weight was given variously as 686 tons or 996 tons.Shipping, The Western Australian, Perth, 9 January 1899, page 2 She returned to London on 27 June 1899. Then sailed for Pensacola on 5 August and arrived about 29 September. In 1901 she sailed to Bunbury under Captain Lawson and later Captain Aanonsen to collect a cargo of timber.Shipping, The Australian Star, Sydney, 6 November 1901, page 2 While there, the ship's cook and one of the seamen got into an argument which resulted in the cook stabbing and injuring the seaman. The cook was arrested, tried, and sentenced to one month's hard labour.A Seamans quarrel, The Western Australian, Perth, 13 January 1902, Page 5Police Court, Burbury Herald, Burbury, 14 January 1902, page 2 The Crusader sailed for London on 26 January 1902, arriving in London mid-May.Port of Bunbury, Bunbury Herald, 28 January 1902, page 2 She returned to Bunbury again in 1903.Port of Bunbury, Bunbury Herald, 30 January 1903, page 2

Voyages to New Zealand No. Departed Arrived Days Captain Destinations in New Zealand 05/02/1870 06/05/1870 - Robert Kerr Melbourne (only sailed to Australia)Shipping intelligence, The Argus, Melbourne, Australia, 7 May 1870, page 4, retrieved 29 July 2024 01 17/12/1870 13/03/1871 82 Robert Kerr Lyttleton 02 22/12/1871 31/03/1872 99 Isaac Sutherland Lyttleton 03 11/10/1872 05/01/1873 81 Isaac Sutherland Lyttleton 04 03/11/1873 01/02/1874 90 Isaac Sutherland Lyttleton 05 26/09/1874 31/12/1874 96 Charles H Renaut Lyttleton 06 31/10/1875 08/02/1876 99 Charles H Renaut Lyttleton 07 18/10/1876 13/01/1877 87 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 08 21/07/1877 21/10/1877 83 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 09 12/07/1878 11/10/1878 91 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 10 24/06/1879 24/09/1879 92 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 11 04/07/1880 07/10/1880 95 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 12 06/04/1881 04/07/1881 Llewellyn Davies Port Chalmers 13 17/02/1882 22/05/1882 Llewellyn Davies Wellington 14 15/12/1882 23/03/1883 98 Llewellyn Davies Lyttleton 15 06/02/1884 20/05/1884 102 William Scotland Auckland 16 01/03/1885 26/05/1885 83 William Scotland Auckland 17 28/03/1886 22/06/1886 87 William Scotland Wellington, Auckland, Napier 18 27/05/1887 04/09/1887 99 George Perriam Auckland, Napier 19 02/06/1888 25/08/1888 84 George Perriam Auckland 20 11/05/1889 16/08/1889 96 George Perriam Lyttleton, Auckland 21 25/04/1890 19/07/1890 85 George Perriam Port Chalmers, Lyttleton 22 25/02/1891 29/05/1891 91 George Perriam Port Chalmers (from Glasgow), Timaru 23 26/09/1891 30/11/1891 George Perriam Wellington (from Callao), Bluff 24 29/07/1892 27/10/1892 George Perriam Port Chalmers, Wellington 25 30/06/1893 23/09/1893 84 D G Fullarton Port Chalmers, Bluff 26 04/07/1894 06/10/1894 95 T Burton Wellington (from Liverpool), Port Chalmers 27 22/06/1895 01/10/1895 97 T Burton Port Chalmers (from Glasgow), Auckland 28 11/06/1896 10/09/1896 90 T Burton Bluff 29 04/09/1897 09/12/1897 91 T Burton Port Chalmers

Fate The Crusader rigged down to a barque in 1905 and sold for scrap April 1910 in Dordrecht, Netherlands. It is possible that she grounded prior to this. There was mention in some sources that she was still sailing after 1910, but she was struck of Lloyds register as broken up in the 1911 edition.Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1911 Sailing Vessels, page 108, number 608

Crusader Association On the 50th anniversary of the 1874 voyage of the Crusader in 1925, The ship Crusader Association was formed for those who had migrated to New Zealand on her.

References

External references The Clipper Ship Crusader, Built 1865, Broken Up 1910: Memories and Records of Over Fifty Years' Pioneering : with Special Reference to Voyages 1874-1879 by various authors. Published by Cadsonbury Publishers, New Zealand on 1 November 2002.