• port services
• S Coast (Albany)
• Services
• Shipwreck
• Wooden

Figurehead of Viking purchased by Mr Campbell Taylor and erected at gateway to Candyup Homestead. Later offered to WA Museum Board by Mr H.C. Poole, together with figurehead of the Lady Lyttleton. Site location provided by Adam Wolfe Larkins (1808-1876) ex Louisa The Larkins was constructed in Calcutta, India in 1808 of teak and saul (an Indian hardwood), fitted with 12 guns and originally named Louisa. In 1809 the Louisa sailed to London and was bought by East India Company ship owner John Larkins, and renamed Larkins. Between 1817 and 1852 the Larkins undertook a number of voyages between England and India, Australia and China. For some of these voyages the Larkins was fitted out as a convict transport, transporting 250 male convicts from England to New South Wales in 1817, 200 convicts from Cork, Ireland to New South Wales in 1829, and 281 convicts from England to Tasmania in 1832. In London in 1853 the P&O Company bought the Larkins for use as a floating coal depot in Albany, becoming Albany’s first coal hulk. The ship was loaded with 1000 tons of coal, stores and 1000 pounds of confectionery, along with 20 passengers for the voyage from the River Thames to Albany. After 30 years in this role in 1875 the Larkins was declared unfit for service. The hulk was dragged ashore and broken up. The Larkins’ figurehead had been previously removed after a collision with RMS Bombay. In 1882, two years after the P&O Company’ Albany coal station closed, the figurehead was erected outside a boarding house in Albany. The figurehead survived various moves and being thrown down a well by Albany larrikins, before being donated to the WA Museum. Remains of the hull of the Larkins and the old P&O coal jetty are believed to lie under reclaimed land within the Albany Port Authority wharves area. If found, the remains of the Larkins would be archaeologically and historically significant for their contribution to the study of Indian shipbuilding, and its long historical association with Albany coaling trade and the P&O Company.