Mimosa (ship)

The Mimosa was a clipper ship best known for its voyage to South America in 1865, carrying Welsh emigrants. By the time Mimosa made the voyage, it was already past its prime as a clipper, having been built in 1853 at Hall's shipyard in Aberdeen. It had not been designed to carry passengers, and had been converted for the purpose. Mimosa sailed from Liverpool, England on May 28 1865 to Patagonia, South America with a group of about 150 Welsh settlers. They landed on July 28 1865 and named their landing site Porth Madryn. Edwyn Roberts and Lewis Jones had already arrived in Patagonia in June 1865 to prepare for the arrival of the main body of settlers. Their aim was to establish a Welsh colony which would preserve the Welsh language and culture. The proposed site for the colony was in the Chubut River valley. On September 15 1865 the first town in the Chubut colony was named Rawson, and the settlers went on to build the settlements at Gaiman and Trelew. In 1875 the Argentine government granted the Welsh settlers ownership of the land which encouraged hundreds of others from Wales to join the colony. The colony became known as Y Wladfa.

The 1865 Settlers

Bibliography

• Susan Wilkinson - Mimosa: the life & times of the ship that sailed to Patagonia (Y Lolfa, 2007)

See also

• Welsh settlement in Argentina
• Welsh Tract
• Welsh colonization of the Americas

External links

• Photograph of Mimosa passengers in 1890
• Ticket of Rev. Abraham Matthews for journey to Patagonia