Shipping transit times

[Jaznjjj]

Thank you.  The Ganges and Seringapatam leaving Sydney in November both arrived in the U.K. too late to have carried the Bruce family in time to travel to South Australia on the Childe Harold.   So, while it seems impossible the family went to the U.K. and returned in the time available, their arrival on the Childe Harold indicates to the contrary.  One possible solution is that they trans-shipped onto the Childe Harold at Tasmania - but I have found no evidence at this stage to support that vessel touching at Tasmania.   J 

[cando]

The CHILDE HAROLD arrived in Adelaide from London, via Plymouth and cleared out for Bombay without passengers after being towed off a sandbar.   This ship did not berth in Tasmania or Victoria. 

Colonial Times, Hobart 15 Jun 1859
NEWS FROM ENGLAND.
BY the Adelaide journals received per Duchess of Clarence, we have intelligence seven days later than that formerly received. Two emigrant ships, the Royal Sovereign and the Childe Harold, arrived at Port Adelaide on the 2nd instant; the former having sailed from Plymouth on the 17th February, and the latter a few days earlier.
The important information contained in the following article from the Daily News of the 5th February, entitles it to precedence. The fact that the Bill to give us comparative political freedom was at last about to be brought before Parliament, with every chance of speedily passing and becoming law, will be hailed as good news by our, fellow-colonists.......

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12913475
Sydney Morning Herald 11 Jul 1849
PORT PHILLIP
ARRIVALS
The William Hyde brings the passengers for this port who came out by the Royal Sovereign and  the Childe Harold to Adelaide.-Herald.  [? Port Philip Herald]


http://www.familyhistorysa.info/shipping/passengerlists.html
BRUCE Richard, Maria PARKINSON, Rd Hamilton, Eliz Jane arrived in SA 2 Jun 1849 aboard Childe Harold from London 17 Feb 1849 via Plymouth.

This record has been compiled from various sources including newspapers.

AND

http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/1849ChildeHarold.htm
BRUCE, Richard and wife and 2 children

I wonder who wrote this letter?  Someone who expected Richard to be living in the colony of SA ie if the letter was intended for your ancestor?
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158926996
The Observer  13 Jan 1849
UNCLAIMED LETTERS.
List cf unclaimed letters for quarter ended December
31st. 1848;
Samuel BRUCE, Richard BRUCE

Perhaps Richard and family returned to England prior to his formal discharge.  Any events in England that would have caused him to return albeit for a short period?

Cando

[Malcolm33]

    Anyone looking for a day by day description of a voyage from the UK to the Antipodes in the 1800's can read the diaries of two passengers who travelled on the Cartvale in 1874.

    The diary of George Smith is on this page - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/DiaryofGeorgeSmith.htm

[Malcolm33]

  Edwin Selby also kept a diary recording every day of the voyage of the Cartvale in 1874 - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/DiaryofEdwinSelby.htm

   Some awful events on the way but just look at what happened after the ship arrived.

[cando]

Malcolm the OP is seeking information about journeys in 1849.

Cando

[Jaznjjj]

Yes, it's one of those situations where the irresistible force meets the immovable object.  The facts regarding the Childe Harold appear to be solid and seem to support the family travelling from Great Britainin 1849.  What works against it (among other things) is the brief time-frame in which to get to G.B. in time to board the Childe Harold. As indicated earlier, the ships leaving Sydney for London in November, 1848 did not get there in time to allow this. Richard was discharged and paid out in Sydney including a year's gratuity which gives us an earliest probable date for departure.  There is a possibility that he left before formal discharge and that's a direction to be explored.  I can't imagine their continuing to pay him if he took off possibly months before the discharge.  I have some of his pay information from the National Archives in Canberra and I'll need to check whether this runs right up to the discharge date.  Daughter Maria marries in Sydney on 13th October, 1848.  Richard is discharged 31st October, 1848 so I will need to check my notes and/or go to State Records Office and check witnesses' names which might tell us whether Richard and Maria were still in Sydney at the date of the marriage.  Maria would have required permission from parents to marry because of her age.

There are a few thoughts floating around that the family perhaps went to the U.K. to visit the oldest daughter, Margaret, left behind in Ireland, or that perhaps there was an inheritance to be claimed.  They would have needed an inheritance because I roughly calculated that the passage money would have been about three years' pay as soldiers were not paid generously.  The family would have had to live frugally for a number of years to afford passage money unless there was a windfall from elsewhere. 

Lots of links to look at (thank you).