The Brothers









The Brothers
Type :
 Wooden paddlewheel steamer
Launched  :
1847
Builder :
 Thomas Chowne
Pyrmont, NSW
Gross weight :
 23 tons
Dimensions :
 20.66 x 3.60 (metres)
Passenger capacity :
 Between 50 & 80
Speed :
 unknown

The Brothers was the first ferry between Manly & Sydney. She was a wooden paddlewheeler. There are some discrepancies in both her naming & description. Some sources call her 'Brothers', others say 'The Brothers'. Passenger capacity was anywhere between 50 & 80.

Irregardless, in 1848 she commenced the first regular run to Manly & the rest was history. She was chartered in 1853  by Henry Gilbert Smith, an early landowner in the Manly district to bring new settlers to the area. Prior to then, passengers wishing to get from Manly to Sydney had to travel overland to Balgowlah where a small boat took them to balmoral. From Balmoral there was another overland trip to Milsons Point. Quite a trip for the fifty or so people that lived in the area.

The Brothers ran the trip three times a week for a fare of threepence return. In 1858 she was joined by the Phantom & with her, the history of the Manly ferries really began.

Her hulk was broken up in Port Stephens in 1886.
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