The Ospery.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 143, 27 November 1884, Page 2

The Ospery.

: !' paper. J Some years .since, the friends and adherents of the Tichborne claimant applied to the Victorian Government, (.heir object being to ascertain through the Ou=.t,om» .of that port, if any veWsel ,-nurueil the Osprey had visited Port Phillip 'between 1840 and 1852, with a view to prove the probability of the claimant's story that he had been^pick^d'tlp as a castaway off the South America coast by a vessel nameU the Ospreyy bound for Melbourne, The answer of «he Mcli bourne authorities was exceeding dis&ppdint'irig to the" ap'piicantsVKas-" in ych as N the former stated that their -records sh,o^v(-;thdt'. the only craft calr le4,|tlio;O!4j>rey which h.ad ever visited t£o )son's Bay . was /a , schooner, which v as built for the colonies, and which for some years traded between -Melbournoe Wharf and Geelong. It ia now jincpntestibly .proved that a transport ship named the Onprey did s^il periodically between the Thames and 'Mefbpurjie, Hobarfe,. and Sydney. Within'; the, iprtafc few/ days the dtsfence Department,;- huvo liepa i engaged m removing, a; number of- shot and cartridge oafeeH frpm the oldvatoros. m Mount took Barracks to the newlyerected ; brick htore«, and amqngHt other bdxes aiad ,cases ar;^ aeyeraj on • whioh may r still be pluinly read the words.,' for Melbourne,' or ' Sydney ' or * Hofeart,' as the case may be. The vessel referred^ to y> o^uld appear to have i been ( a regular ' trader to the Colonies^ as the boxes, m addition to ( tbenam]e " Osprey," bear"the dates 1844, 154(5, 18^4 ? 1856., These iacts wojuiU, ; therefore, r d 6 away with the oftfrepeated assertion that no such ship as the Osprey ever visited Außtral|a. ; , ; lt is notqriouH. .ljhat,. m the eaijly- ' days 'of tlie AustVaii^ii coloniesithe public records were b'idly and nothing is more probable than that the arrival of a Government transpqijtx 'ship . ,-.iip%l bo so acpurately recorded as a merchantman. The finding, of ammunition m IS>w .Zealand which origipally ! were" "consigned to a sister colony is easily expla|aed by. the 4'act that during the^Maori tjfcpfflWes, the- troops diufted r from P- AustniHk s and Hobarton brough With them the original : amm^uition biases. JLt ,;anjr .ratej,- thej packages 1 * and cases beafrinjgj thebspi|ey mark placed on them.atr the Imperial arsenals is jnimd facie ''evidence' thatpa ship nam.ed the Os-, .ptfey certainly 'did visit the coiomes m the ; early days of. ; the,9B.ttlement.t ; ; ..;