2-888-209 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Launch of the "Earl of Hardwicke", Whaling Ship, at Cowes, 1850. Launch of '...a fine barque, measuring about 256 tons...built for the Southern Whale-Fishery Company, by Messrs. Thomas and John White, the well-known shipbuilders of the above-mentioned place. The ship has been named the Earl of Hardwicke, in compliment to the Governor of the Company...'. [The vessel is] '...being fitted with all despatch, and will be sent direct to the Company's station at Auckland Island, in order to prosecute the Whale Fishery from thence; in which pursuit [it] will have been preceded by the whaling-ships which the Company sent out in August last, conveying the preliminary expedition'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.