The Fremantle Barques “Charlotte Padbury” and “Helena Mena.”
In the early days the Fremantle wool trade, including that of the Ashburton River and Sharks Bay, was all carried in the holds of fast clipper barques, such as Walker’s Westbury, Decapolis and Corinth, and well worthy to be ranked with these were the Charlotte Padbury and Helena Mena, both of which were well known and much admired in the London River for many years.
The Charlotte Padbury was a wood barque of 640 tons, she was built at Falmouth in 1874 for W. Padbury, of Fremantle.
The Helena Mena was a composite barque of 673 tons, and was built by Thomson, of Sunderland, in 1876, for J. Wilson, of London.
The Charlotte Padbury was wrecked in April, 1903, and the Helena Mena was sold to the French for £1275 in 1898.
These were two of the last of the wood and composite clippers, for by the early seventies every shipowner, however conservative, found himself compelled to go in for iron ships, if he was to compete successfully in the world’s freight market.