List of the Wood and Composite Ships of the Aberdeen White Star Fleet.
| 1842 | Neptune, | wood ship | 343 tons. |
| 1842 | Prince of Wales | „ „ | 582 „ |
| 1846 | Oliver Cromwell | „ „ | 530 „ |
| 1846 | Phoenician | „ „ | 530 „ |
| 1849 | John Bunyan | „ „ | 470 „ |
| 1850 | Centurion | „ „ | 639 „ |
| 1852 | Woolloomoolloo | „ „ | 627 „ |
| 1852 | Walter Hood | „ „ | 936 „ |
| 1853 | Maid of Judah | „ „ | 756 „ |
| 1854 | Omar Pasha | „ „ | 1124 „ |
| 1855 | Star of Peace | „ „ | 1113 „ |
| 1856 | Wave of Life | „ „ | 887 „ |
| 1857 | Damascus | „ „ | 964 „ |
| 1857 | Transatlantic | „ „ | 614 „ |
| 1858 | Moravian | „ „ | 996 „ |
| 1860 | Strathdon | „ „ | 1011 „ |
| 1861 | Queen of Nations | „ „ | 872 „ |
| 1862 | Kosciusko | „ „ | 1192 „ |
| 1864 | Nineveh | „ „ | 1174 „ |
| 1864 | Ethiopian | „ „ | 839 „ |
| 1865 | George Thompson | „ „ | 1128 „ |
| 1866 | Christiana Thompson | „ „ | 1079 „ |
| 1866 | Harlaw | „ „ | 894 „ |
| 1867 | Thyatira | comp. ship | 962 „ |
| 1867 | Jerusalem | wood ship | 901 „ |
| 1868 | Thermopylae | comp. ship | 948 „ |
| 1868 | Ascalon | wood ship | 938 „ |
| 1869 | Centurion | comp. ship | 965 „ |
| 1870 | Aviemore | wood ship | 1091 „ |
No ships that ever sailed the seas presented a finer appearance than these little flyers. They were always beautifully kept and were easily noticeable amongst other ships for their smartness: indeed, when lying in Sydney Harbour or Hobson’s Bay with their yards squared to a nicety, their green sides[B] with gilt streak and scroll work at bow and stern glistening in the sun, their figure-heads, masts, spars and blocks all painted white and every rope’s end flemish-coiled on snow-white decks, they were the admiration of all who saw them.
There’s a jaunty White Star Liner, and her decks are scrubbed and clean
And her tall white spars are spotless, and her hull is painted green.
Don’t you smell the smoky stingo? Ech! ye’ll ken the Gaelic lingo
Of the porridge-eating person who was shipped in Aberdeen.
—Brady.
From the first to the last they were hard-sailed ships, and some of the fastest were often sent across to China for a home cargo of tea, though the Thermopylae was the only bona-fide tea clipper in the fleet.
On the outward passage, whether to Sydney or Melbourne, they generally carried a few first-class passengers, but it was only during the very height of the gold rush that their ’tween decks were given up to a live freight.