Trial (1808 ship)

Trial was a ship that first appears in Australian newspaper records in 1808 and that was seized by convicts and eventually wrecked on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in 1816.

Trial was a brig owned by the merchant Simeon Lord. Trial's first recorded voyage in 1808-1809 was to Fiji to purchase sandalwood under the captaincy of Henry Kable junior (1786-1852). Henry was the son of Henry Kable who pioneered the Pacific trade with his partners Simeon Lord and shipwright James Underwood. Cut off from the lucrative trade with China and India by the East India Company, Australian merchants turned to whaling and sealing, and to the emerging trade with the Pacific Islands with products including sandalwood, pork, pearls, pearl shell, flax, and sea cucumber. In between merchant voyages, Trial also travelled within the Australasian colonies. In early 1810, for example, she was hired to take a detachment from the 73rd Regiment to Port Dalrymple to relieve the 102nd Regiment of Foot.

By 1810, Trial was being commanded by Michael Fodger who became infamous for his treatment of both his crews and the Pacific Islanders he encountered on his trading voyages. In 1811, while in French Polynesia a shore party were attacked and several killed but Pōmare II insisted that the sailors had been the aggressors. On that same voyage, Fodger directed the Trial to Palmerston Island where they left a party of sailors to collect bêche-de-mer, shark fins, and pearl shells. Passing by a year later, now captain of the Daphne, Fodger would not pick up the survivors even after one swam out to the vessel with news of the deaths and injuries the party had suffered.

By 1814, Lord was expanding into new business ventures with Trial collecting a valuable shipment of red cedar from the Shoalhaven district before being chartered for the New South Wales New Zealand Company. Set up by five Sydney merchants (Simeon Lord, Garnham Blaxcell, Richard Brooks, William Hilton Hovell & E.S. Hall), the company hoped to create a monopoly on the flax and hemp trade from New Zealand. Although the monopoly was not granted, Trial set off for on 27 May 1815 for the Marquesas intending to stop at New Zealand and the Society Islands. After spending a month at the Bay of Islands, Trial under Captain Burnett and the schooner Brothers under Captain Hovell travelled south to the area near Kennedy Bay to trade in flax with the local Māori. On returning to collect the flax, however, the ships were attacked by the Māori and several sailors from both ships where killed. When the attack was reported the missionary Thomas Kendall blamed Hovell who had defrauded the Māori on the earlier visit. While Brothers returned to Sydney after the incident, Trial continued on to Tahiti and the Society Islands to find a cargo of sandalwood and pork.