Ships

Thomas was Master of 9 schooners all based out of Hobart Town in Van Diemens Land (changed to Tasmania in 1856). The vessels were:

BANDICOOT

Thomas was appointed Master of the BANDICOOT on 4 December 1839. The vessel was built at Hobart Town by John Watson and was launched 12 October 1838. She was schooner rigged and fifty one feet in length. The launching was described in the Colonial Times (Hobart) 16 October 1838.

ISABELLA

Thomas was appointed Master on 23 November 1841. The Isabella was schooner rigged and fifty five feet long. She was built at NW Bay in Van Diemens Land by John Eason in 1840.

TRUGANINI

Appointed Master of the schooner on 12 August 1842. She was built in Hobart Town in 1839. The vessel was lost in 1842 at Lady Bay (now Sealers Cove) on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory while sheltering from a Westerly gale en route from Melbourne to Hobart. No lives were lost and there are many reports in the newspapers of the time.

AGNES and ELIZABETH

Thomas appointed Master on 18 March 1843. She was built at Hobart Town in 1840 by Elkanah Mitchelmore, schooner rigged and fifty eight feet in length.

MARGARET

Appointed Master on 29 February 1844. She was built at Twofold Bay, New South Wales in 1839.

PALMYRA

December 1844 was shown as Master. No registration details.

MARYS

Built at Kangaroo Point in 1840, Thomas became Owner and Master as shown by registration certificate 11 of 1845 and dated 9 May 1845. She was two masted and fifty three feet in length. On 12 June 1846 Duncan McPherson purchased a 48/64th share in the vessel. Thomas held the remaining 16/64th share.

TIMBO

Thomas appointed Master 21 July 1847. The vessel was built at Little Hampton in the County of Sussex in 1835 and was seventy feet in length.

I DON'T KNOW

The vessel was built at the Bay of Islands in the Colony of New Zealand and launched in May 1843. She was later registered in Sydney before being sold to Duncan McPherson and registered in Hobart on 1 June 1847. Thomas Griffiths was appointed Master on 14 December 1849.

The vessel left Hobart in January 1850 for San Francisco and was last sighted at the Bay of Islands on 14 March taking on wood and water. She was carrying 9 passengers (including a Thomas Griffiths, Jnr) and an extensive cargo. She was never seen again and was reported missing and de-registered by her owner in 1855.

The "Sir John Franklin", schooner, was reported as having experienced very severe conditions on her voyage to San Francisco.