This post is part of the A to Z Challenge, a blogging initiative where participants publish daily posts in April (except Sundays), each one themed around a letter of the alphabet. My theme this year is "Migration Stories"—tracing the journeys, ships, and personal histories behind my ancestors’ moves across continents. Through passenger records, newspaper clippings, and genealogical detective work, I’m piecing together the routes they took and the vessels that carried them. Today's post is brought to you by the letter Q.
Genealogical research often starts with a name—but what happens when that name applies to multiple ships, sailing the same routes, at overlapping times?
This was exactly the challenge I faced when I began untangling the story of the Geelong—a name that appears repeatedly in 19th-century shipping records. The deeper I went, the more I discovered a tangle of vessels, cargoes, captains, and companies, all bearing the same name but heading in different directions.
Why this matters to me
In September 1869, my 2nd great-grandparents, Andrew Munro and his wife Isabell Munro (née Jennings), left Bombay with their seven children—including my great-grandmother Caroline Munro, in search of a new life.
Their journey was in two parts:
First, they boarded the SS Travancore in Bombay on 3 September 1869, bound for China under the command of Captain Eastley.
The ship called at Point de Galle, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where they transferred to the Geelong RMS Steamer, which took them to Australia.
Knowing which Geelong they sailed on was essential not just for accuracy, but to understand the conditions, capacities, and context of their voyage.
But which Geelong?
🚢 1. Barque Geelong (1854)
Built: 1854, Sunderland
Type: Barque (sailing vessel)
Tonnage: Around 397 tons
Owner: Often listed under Dalgety, Moore & Co. or Potter & Co.
Voyages: Known to transport emigrants from the UK to Australia
Registry Reference:
Lloyd’s Register, 1854–55 on page 170
An example voyage, in the newspapers:“Aug. 10 - Geelong, barque, 397 tons, M. Howlett, From Plymouth May 4th, with 190 Government emigrants.”
— The Banner (Melbourne), 15 Aug 1854
🚢 2. R.M.S.S. Geelong (1866)
Built: 1866 by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton
Type: Iron screw steamer
Tonnage: 1,584 gross / 1,217 net
Owner: Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O)
Registry No.: 54641
Official Record:
Service: Primarily used for Eastern mail routes—Ceylon, India, China, Australia
Passenger capacity: Up to 29 first-class passengers (as of 1888)
End of service: Sold in 1890, renamed Ishizaki Maru No. 1, and foundered in 1891
This is the ship my family sailed on, via the Point de Galle to Australia route. Although it’s often overlooked in favour of bigger migrant carriers, the R.M.S.S. Geelong played an important role in connecting imperial outposts and bringing mail, officials, and a modest number of passengers—including emigrating families like mine.
Why it’s confusing
Here’s why the distinction is so hard:
The name "Geelong" appears in both shipping intelligence and Lloyd’s Register entries for different vessels in the same decade.
The barque and the steamer were both in use at the same time—the barque carrying emigrants from the UK, and the steamer running between Ceylon and Australia.
Many shipping news items (especially in Trove) focus on the mail or cargo, not the passengers.
Some registers, like Lloyd’s, use abbreviations that make it hard to confirm the exact vessel without additional context.
In short, it’s easy to conflate them unless you're actively comparing registry numbers, tonnage, build year, and ownership.
Not Your Typical Passenger Ship
One surprising detail I uncovered in my research is that the R.M.S.S. Geelong wasn’t primarily a passenger ship. As a Royal Mail Steamer operated by P&O, its main purpose was to carry mail, cargo, and official dispatches between colonial outposts — not large groups of emigrants. However, it did have limited capacity for passengers, often transporting just a few dozen people on any given voyage.
Passenger records from the Geelong’s various journeys between 1866 and 1871 show as few as six passengers (plus a stowaway!) on one occasion, with most sailings listing under 30 passengers in total. That small number gives us a sense of the intimacy — and perhaps isolation — of such a voyage. The Munro family may have shared the vessel with mail clerks, officials, merchants, and missionaries, rather than fellow migrants in steerage.
So what did I do?
To clear things up, I created two separate pages on WikiTree:
⚓ R.M.S.S. Geelong (1866) which includes more on the Geelong’s regular service and passenger patterns, see this [timeline of her voyages from 1866 to 1871]
🗄️ References and Sources
📚 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping (1854–55, 1860): HathiTrust Archive [Explanation: Lloyd’s Register is best known for its classifications and certification of ships, providing key technical and ownership details.]
🔗 Clyde Ships Database: Geelong (1866) [Explanation: This website documents the careers of vessels built by Scottish shipyards. It lists five ships named Geelong built between 1847 and 1886, three of which could carry passengers—but only one was a screw steamer, the type used by the Royal Mail Service.]
Southampton Archives, England: GEELONG (Reg No. 54641) [Explanation: Confirms the vessel's owner as the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company and its involvement in the Mediterranean Mail service.]
🔗 Trove – National Library of Australia:
📰 CURRENT TOPICS. (1869, November 10). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929), p. 2. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150435296 [Explanation: mentions how vessels of the R.M.s are distinguished by their punctuality]
📰 SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1854, August 15). The Banner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1853 - 1854), p. 8. Retrieved April 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179814530 The Banner, 15 August 1854 [Explanation: mentions the Geelong, barque of 397 tons arriving in Victoria with 100 Government emigrants]
Useful Links for Background
This April, as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (#AtoZChallenge), where I’m sharing my ancestors travel stories—one letter at a time. From long voyages by sea to overland treks, each post will focus on the journeys themselves—the routes they took, the challenges they faced, and the experiences along the way.
Blog Post Meta Data:
The URL for this post is ,https://ancestralresearchjournal.blogspot.com/2025/04/q-is-for-questions-of-geelong.html originally published on 19 April 2025
Author: Sandra Williamson
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