Contents

Brothers (ferry)

Anonymous painting of Brothers
History
Name	Brothers
Owner	1847—: John and Joseph Gerrard
Operator	1847–: John and Joseph Gerard
Port of registry	1847–1886: Sydney
Route	1847–1848: Circular Quay–Blues Point
Builder	Thomas Chowney, Pyrmont, New South Wales
Launched	1847
Maiden voyage	9 October 1847
In service	1847
Out of service	1886
Identification	Official number: 59513
Fate	Broken up 1886
General characteristics
Type	Ferry
Tonnage	23 GRT
Length	20.66 m (67 ft 9 in)
Beam	3.60 m (12 ft)
Decks	1
Installed power	1 × steam engine 18 bhp (13 kW)
Capacity	50 passengers

Brothers, also known as The Brothers, was a Manly ferry owned and operated by John and Joseph Gerard. She was built in 1847 by Thomas Chowney Pyrmont for use on Sydney Harbour.

Concept and construction[edit]

Brothers was a small timber paddle wheel steam ship and one of the earliest constructed in the colony. A sporadic ferry service to the Manly area had been established in the 1830s provided by a small sailing ketch operated by Barney Kearns and that service ran between Balgowlah and Balmoral after which passengers had to head overland to Milson's Point and then be rowed across the harbour by a waterman. It did not last long and passengers faced a long and difficult overland trip.^[1]

Service history[edit]

Brothers began her career on Saturday, 9 October 1847 initially engaged to run from Windmill Street in The Rocks to Blues Point from 8am until 6.30pm. It is unlikely that she ran to a timetable, probably only doing the trip when there was a demand. In 1848 she shifted to the Manly route on a sporadic service which was to change in 1853 when Henry Gilbert Smith chartered the vessel following his opening up of Manly as a holiday destination.^[2] In this role she became the first scheduled ferry between Manly and Sydney along her with running mate, the 1858-built PS Phantom.

Brothers remained on the Manly route for some years and was eventually sold to Port Stephens where she was hulked and used as a timber store, eventually being broken up in 1886.^[3]

See also[edit]

• List of Sydney Harbour ferries
• Timeline of Sydney Harbour ferries

Notes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Prescott, Anthony (1984), Sydney Ferry Fleets, Ronald H. Parsons, ISBN 0-909418-30-6.

• Andrews, Graeme (1994), The Ferries of Sydney (3 ed.), Trident Publication, ISBN 978-0-424-00202-6, ISBN 0-424-00202-7.

External links[edit]

• Brothers entry at Ferries of Sydney