Poonah, the ship that met with two tragedies?
The Poonah, named after the Indian City of Poonah, was the third ship that brought indentured labourers to Fiji.
She was used as an indenture ship and made two trips to Fiji carrying passengers from India.
It was met with unfortunate circumstances in both instances.
The Poonah was a three-masted sailing ship of 1199 tons, owned by Tyser & Haviside and was built in 1867 by William Pile at Sunderland.
The sailing ship’s first arrival at Suva was on September 17, 1882, with 476 passengers on board.
The second was on June 18, 1883, this time with 515 passengers from Calcutta in India.
During the first trip, the Lascar crew refused to go on deck during a severe storm and the ship was almost lost.
15 of the men on the ship jumped overboard after finding separation from their country unbearable and nearly drowned.
Since then all indenture ships were accompanied by boats until they reached an area of the open sea.
During Poonah’s second trip to Fiji, there was an outbreak of cholera and smallpox onboard.
There were 26 deaths during the trip from cholera and another death of one of the passengers in Fiji.
The vessel was held in quarantine by the Colonial Government and was later sent to Nukulau Island which served as the Quarantine Island for the nation then.
After 10 days of Poonah’s arrival in Fiji, four Europeans, and three sailors, part of the crew stole one of the ship’s boats and tried to make an escape.
These men were secured the next day at noon and returned to the vessel, and off to the Quarantine Island.
The ship was carefully watched on the Quarantine Island until its departure.
Later on, Poonah made trips from India to South Africa carrying indentured labourers who ended up working on the sugar cane plantations and other various sectors.
After a change of ownership in the early 1890s, she was renamed Lief