The SS Antelope

The postcard above shows the SS Antelope, an early Liverpool-built iron screw steamship, one of the ships of the Golden Line of packets run by the Millers & Thompson company in Liverpool.

In an 1853 ad in the Belfast News-Letter, the ship was "fitted for the Australian trade." Her cabins were "elegantly fitted" and the ship itself had "every possible comfort and convenience." The ship, about to sail in February 1853, included a surgeon and many stewards and stewardesses. The ship was commanded by Henry C. Kean.

The Miller family were not ship owners, but shipping agents who worked with ship owners and merchants with cargo that needed transporting. Some of the ships that they used were the Marian Moore, Mindoro, The Morning Star, Bride of the Sea, The Gold Finder, The Guiding Star, South Carolina and Star of the Sea.


Related Links
The Miller Family
A brief history of the Miller family
Millers & Thompson

A copy of the postcard of the SS Antelope was provided by Donald A. Miller, one of the Miller family descendants. The postcard was sent to him in 1986 by his second cousin, Hope Healy Koontz, who had been researching the family history in Liverpool.
The newspaper advertisement/notice was from the Belfast News-Letter, Belfast, Ireland, Wednesday, February 2, 1853; Issue 11840.