In 1808 a 701 ton teak ship ‘Louisa’ was built in Calcutta, armed with 12 guns. It was bought by John Larkins in 1809 and renamed ‘Larkins’ after his nephew, who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. It was chartered to the East India Company, serving at various times as a convict ship to Australia. It arrived in Princess Royal Harbour on 11th July 1853, with 1,000 tons of coal.
Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company (P&O) de-masted it for use as a Coal Hulk.
The P&O Agent at Albany, Captain Hugh Thomas applied to the Government for a permanent land lease to ‘erect coal and other stores from which to run out a pier...’ but was rejected and offered a yearly lease, but the Colonial Secretary then offered a 60 year unconditional lease at £10 per annum following P&O lobbying.
P&O regarded Albany as a superior coaling port to Fremantle due to its protected harbour.