The Bruce was a 1,200 ton sailing ship

Sailing ship

The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...

, built in 1866 by Aitken Mansell of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. In 1880 she was purchased from British Shipowners Company by the Nourse Line

Nourse Line

The Nourse Line was a shipping company formed by Captain James Nourse in 1861. After taking delivery of his first ship, the Ganges, in 1861, Nourse went on to build up one of the last great fleets of sailing ships.- Early life of James Nourse:...

.

Indian indenture ship

On 21 May 1886, the Bruce carried 458 India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n indenture

Indenture

An indenture is a legal contract reflecting a debt or purchase obligation, specifically referring to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, an instrument used for commercial debt or real estate transaction.-Historical usage:An indenture is a...

d labourers to Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

. In 1889 she was re-rigged as a barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

. On 3 January 1889, she carried Indian indentured labourers to Surinam in the West Indies. http://genforum.genealogy.com/grenada/messages/60.html On 17 November 1890 she arrived in Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 with 507 Indian indentured labourers. There were 2 deaths during the voyage. http://www.rootsweb.com/~ttowgw/archives/indianships.htm The Bruce also took Indian indentured labourers to Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

. http://www.guyanachronicle.com/supplement.html

Coal hulk in New York Harbor

On 18 February 1891 she capsized in New York Harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

, was salvaged and used for coal storage. http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/nourse.htm