Argo (ship)

The Argo was a ship that disappeared in 1814 off the coast of Tasmania. She was a ship of some 150 tons, armed with four guns and having a crew of thirty-two. Constructed at Chittagong, present-day Bangladesh, the ship was registered in Calcutta to Payne & Tyrce.

In 1814 the ship illegally departed Hobart with thirteen or fourteen convicts on board. It was postulated that this was done with the agreement of the master of the ship, John Poor Dixon. At a special commission held on 3 May 1820, the harbour master of Hobart, Captain James Kelly, testified that the Argo was never heard of again. It was presumed that it foundered at sea with the loss of all aboard.