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The Ulcer, shipboard newspaper for SS WILCANNIA
The Ulcer, shipboard newspaper for SS WILCANNIA

The Ulcer, shipboard newspaper for SS WILCANNIA

Date12 June 1892
Object number00005844
NameShip newspaper
MediumInk on paper, string
DimensionsOverall: 328 mm, 0.1 kg
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionShipboard newspaper titled 'The Ulcer', written by the passengers on board the SS WILCANNIA commanded by Captain Pentin. Inside are various pages containing various articles written by different contributors. Some include 'Shakespeare Up To Date', poems, a story titled "The Lost Treasure', letters to the editor and shipboard advertisements - in jest.HistoryThe steamship WILCANNIA, from London via Adelaide, arrived in the bay at an early hour yesterday morning. The WILCANNIA is the last new boat built for the British Australian line [Blue Anchor Line], and intended specially for the Australian trade. Like the others which immediately preceded her - the RIVERINA and MURRUMBIDGEE- her name implies connection with a wool-growing district, and it is in the overseas wool carrying trade they will make their mark. The WILCANNIA is a sister ship to the RIVERINA, and both were built at the same place. The WILCANNIA is evidently, and at all points one of the class of boats termed useful. She is a cargo carrier of a pronounced type, and her entire equipment is suggestive of thorough practical utility. The WILCANNIA, however, is not wholly given over to hard work. Provision has been made in a comfortable saloon under the poop, for the accommodation of 12 passengers, and in this portion of the vessel there is a relieving touch of elegance and luxury. The cabins are roomy and well ventilated, and the saloon is very handsomely furnished and appointed. The decorations are in two designs of Lincrusta-Walton, the upper panels being in cream and gold, and the lower in bronze. The settings, or frames, are of polished mahogany, and the pilasters and brackets are of dead or unpolished walnut, and the whole have a pleasing effect. The WILCANNIA is a steel screw steamer and was launced this year from Messrs. Wigham, Richardson, and Co.'s Neptune Works, Low Walker-on-Tyne. Her dimensions are as follow - Length, 335ft ; beam, 39ft 10in.; and depth of hold, 28ft. 8in. This gives her a gross measurement of 2,807 tons, or a net register of 1,826 tons. " - The Mercury, Thursday Morning, August 24 1893 SignificanceOn-board newspapers like this edition of 'The Ulcer', give a unique insight into ship board life on long journeys. Inside passenger jokes, witticisms and caricatures often revel more than log books or records about a voyage and the dynamics between passengers and crew.