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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Leonidas'' (ship)}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
'''''Leonidas''''' (Named after king [[Leonidas I]] of [[Sparta]]) was a labour transport ship (schooner) that played an important role in the [[history of Fiji]]. She had been earlier used to carry [[indenture]]d labourers to the [[West Indies]], having transported 580 Indian indentured labourers to [[St Lucia]] in 1878. Captained by [[McLachlan]], the ship departed from [[Calcutta]], [[India]] on 3 March 1879 and arrived at [[Levuka]], [[Fiji]], on 14 May that year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml |title=Historical Timeline |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913082754/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml |archivedate=13 September 2009 }}</ref> The indentured labourers who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from the [[Indian Sub-continent]] over the following 37 years, forming the nucleus of the [[Indians in Fiji|Fiji Indian]] community that now numbers close to forty percent of Fiji's population.

== Cholera and smallpox aboard the ship ==
A total of 498 passengers made up of 273 men, 146 women and 79 children, less than twelve years of age, had embarked on the ship in Calcutta. While only three days out to sea there was an outbreak of [[cholera]] and [[smallpox]] abroad the ship. Despite efforts by the Surgeon Superintendent to isolate the infected passengers, 17 died before the ship arrived in Levuka, after a journey of 72 days. Since there was no quarantine facility in Levuka, it was decided to anchor the ship some distance from Levuka on the leeward side. While attempting to reach the selected anchorage point, the ship went aground on a reef. The gravity of the situation was all too vivid in the minds of the Government officials as only four years earlier a [[measles]] epidemic had wiped out 40,000 [[Fijians]]. Fortunately at high tide the ship floated off the reef and was safely anchored.

== Quarantine at sea ==
The Chief Medical Officer of the colony, Dr McGregor, devised an ingenious method of effectively preventing the infection reaching the shore, during the process of sending stores, letters, etc., to the ship. A stage was erected on the outer reef using trestles of hardwood, with a moving platform. Stores necessary to the ship were placed on this platform at low tide and taken off by the ships boat. All letters were placed in a [[carbolic acid]] bottle, and were [[fumigate]]d before delivery. At high tide this was cleaned by the sea.

== Temporary quarantine station ==
[[Yanuca Lailai]] was chosen as a quarantine station but houses on it could accommodate only 350 people. Within days extra ''bures'' (Fijian houses) were constructed and the ship's passengers transferred to the island. Armed guards were placed in the narrow passage between Levuka and Yanuca Lailai, to prevent contact with the new arrivals. On several occasions warning shots had to be fired to prevent seamen trying to return to the Leonidas after dropping off their passengers. Fifteen more of the new arrivals died on the island due to [[dysentery]], [[diarrhoea]] and [[typhoid]], leaving only 463 survivors, before they were released from the island on 9 August 1879.

== Early voyages of ''Leonidas'' ==
* 8 September 1866 - The 110-ton schooner was in Auckland harbour.<ref>Daily Southern Cross, Port of Melbourne, 8 September 1866 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=DSC18660908.2.5.1</ref>
* 23 November 1870 - ''Leonidas'' called into the Bay of Islands on her way to Fiji. She departed for Fiji on 27 November with its original cargo.<ref>Daily Southern Cross, Bay of Islands Shipping, 5 December 1870, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=DSC18701205.2.4.4</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Indian indenture system]]
* [[Indians in Fiji]]
* [[Indian indenture ships to Fiji]]

== References ==
<references/>

== External links ==
* [http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=dgd3/a353;seq=7 Picture of Leonidas]
* [http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_thedayleonidasarrived.htm The day the 'Leonidas' arrived in Fiji]

== Bibliography ==
* ''Fiji Times'', 17 May 1879
* Fiji Government, ''The Colony of Fiji: 1874–1924'', Government Printer, Suva, Fiji, 1925
* B.V. Lal, ''Chalo Jahaji: on a Journey through Indenture in Fiji'', Australian National University, Canberra, 2000

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonidas}}
[[Category:Schooners]]
[[Category:Indian indenture ships to Fiji]]
[[Category:Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:13, 2 November 2021
Line 2:		Line 2:
	{{EngvarB\|date=December 2016}}		{{EngvarB\|date=December 2016}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=December 2016}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=December 2016}}
	'''''Leonidas''''' (~~Named~~ after king [[Leonidas I]] of [[Sparta]]) was a labour transport ship (schooner) that played an important role in the [[history of Fiji]]. She had been earlier used to carry [[indenture]]d labourers to the [[West Indies]], having transported 580 Indian indentured labourers to [[St Lucia]] in 1878. Captained by [[McLachlan]], the ship departed from [[Calcutta]], [[India]] on 3 March 1879 and arrived at [[Levuka]], [[Fiji]], on 14 May that year.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml \|title=Historical Timeline \|url-status=dead \|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913082754/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml \|archivedate=13 September 2009 }}</ref> The indentured labourers who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from the [[Indian ~~Sub-continent~~]] over the following 37 years, forming the nucleus of the [[Indians in Fiji\|Fiji Indian]] community that now numbers close to forty percent of Fiji's population.		'''''Leonidas''''' (named after king [[Leonidas I]] of [[Sparta]]) was a labour transport ship (schooner) that played an important role in the [[history of Fiji]]. She had been earlier used to carry [[indenture]]d labourers to the [[West Indies]], having transported 580 Indian indentured labourers to [[St Lucia]] in 1878. Captained by [[McLachlan]], the ship departed from [[Calcutta]], [[India]] on 3 March 1879 and arrived at [[Levuka]], [[Fiji]], on 14 May that year.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml \|title=Historical Timeline \|url-status=dead \|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913082754/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/historical_timeline.shtml \|archivedate=13 September 2009 }}</ref> The indentured labourers who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from the [[Indian subcontinent]] over the following 37 years, forming the nucleus of the [[Indians in Fiji\|Fiji Indian]] community that now numbers close to forty percent of Fiji's population.

	== Cholera and smallpox aboard the ship ==		== Cholera and smallpox aboard the ship ==
	A total of 498 passengers made up of 273 men, 146 women and 79 children~~, less than~~ twelve years of age, had embarked on the ship in Calcutta. While only three days out to sea there was an outbreak of [[cholera]] and [[smallpox]] ~~abroad~~ the ship. Despite efforts by the Surgeon Superintendent to isolate the infected passengers, 17 died before the ship arrived in Levuka, after a journey of 72 days. Since there was no quarantine facility in Levuka, it was decided to anchor the ship some distance from Levuka on the leeward side. While attempting to reach the selected anchorage point, the ship went aground on a reef. The gravity of the situation was all too vivid in the minds of the Government officials as only four years earlier a [[measles]] epidemic had wiped out 40,000 [[Fijians]]. Fortunately at high tide the ship floated off the reef and was safely anchored.		A total of 498 passengers made up of 273 men, 146 women and 79 children under twelve years of age, had embarked on the ship in Calcutta. While only three days out to sea there was an outbreak of [[cholera]] and [[smallpox]] aboard the ship. Despite efforts by the Surgeon Superintendent to isolate the infected passengers, 17 died before the ship arrived in Levuka, after a journey of 72 days. Since there was no quarantine facility in Levuka, it was decided to anchor the ship some distance from Levuka on the leeward side. While attempting to reach the selected anchorage point, the ship went aground on a reef. The gravity of the situation was all too vivid in the minds of the Government officials as only four years earlier a [[measles]] epidemic had wiped out 40,000 [[Fijians]]. Fortunately at high tide the ship floated off the reef and was safely anchored.

	== Quarantine at sea ==		== Quarantine at sea ==
	The Chief Medical Officer of the colony, Dr McGregor, devised an ingenious method of effectively preventing the infection reaching the shore, during the process of sending stores, letters, etc., to the ship. A stage was erected on the outer reef using trestles of hardwood, with a moving platform. Stores necessary to the ship were placed on this platform at low tide and taken off by the ~~ships~~ boat. All letters were placed in a [[carbolic acid]] bottle, and were [[fumigate]]d before delivery. At high tide this was cleaned by the sea.		The Chief Medical Officer of the colony, Dr McGregor, devised an ingenious method of effectively preventing the infection reaching the shore, during the process of sending stores, letters, etc., to the ship. A stage was erected on the outer reef using trestles of hardwood, with a moving platform. Stores necessary to the ship were placed on this platform at low tide and taken off by the ship's boat. All letters were placed in a [[carbolic acid]] bottle, and were [[fumigate]]d before delivery. At high tide this was cleaned by the sea.

	== Temporary quarantine station ==		== Temporary quarantine station ==
	[[Yanuca Lailai]] was chosen as a quarantine station but houses on it could accommodate only 350 people. Within days extra ''bures'' (Fijian houses) were constructed and the ship's passengers transferred to the island. Armed guards were placed in the narrow passage between Levuka and Yanuca Lailai, to prevent contact with the new arrivals. On several occasions warning shots had to be fired to prevent seamen trying to return to the Leonidas after dropping off their passengers. Fifteen more of the new arrivals died on the island due to [[dysentery]], [[diarrhoea]] and [[typhoid]], leaving only 463 survivors, before they were released from the island on 9 August 1879.		[[Yanuca Lailai]] was chosen as a quarantine station but houses on it could accommodate only 350 people. Within days extra ''bures'' (Fijian houses) were constructed and the ship's passengers transferred to the island. Armed guards were placed in the narrow passage between Levuka and Yanuca Lailai, to prevent contact with the new arrivals. On several occasions warning shots had to be fired to prevent seamen trying to return to the ''Leonidas'' after dropping off their passengers. Fifteen more of the new arrivals died on the island due to [[dysentery]], [[diarrhoea]] and [[typhoid]], leaving only 463 survivors, before they were released from the island on 9 August 1879.

	== Early voyages of ''Leonidas'' ==		== Early voyages of ''Leonidas'' ==
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	== External links ==		== External links ==
	* [http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=dgd3/a353;seq=7 Picture of Leonidas]		* [http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=dgd3/a353;seq=7 Picture of ''Leonidas'']
	* [http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_thedayleonidasarrived.htm The day the 'Leonidas' arrived in Fiji]		* [http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_thedayleonidasarrived.htm The day the ''Leonidas'' arrived in Fiji]

	== Bibliography ==		== Bibliography ==

Leonidas (ship) - Revision history

->Jessicapierce: minor copy edits

imported>Howcheng: italics