Today's Stories from our Past
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Today's Stories from our Past
E16 - Bound for South Australia - An Eventful Voyage Home
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At this stage all hands were ordered to the pumps and we sounded and found we had six feet of water in the hold. The carpenter and myself volunteered to try and get sail over the cabin skylight, and a Scotch lad, who had been made third mate only a short time before this, volunteered also. The carpenter and myself were fastened round the middle with a rope fastened to the windward mizzen rigging and having got a sail out of the middle hatch, we proceeded to our work. When I discovered that our Scotch lad had not secured himself with a rope, I shouted to him and threw him the end of my rope. I had not done so one moment when a heavy sea washed clean over us all and I felt a tremendous pull at my waist and that was all. And when we again felt the deck and were able to look, he was gone.
Speaker 2:G'day, I'm Peter.
Speaker 3:G'day, I'm Greg.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Today's Stories from Our Past, a podcast about the history of Australia from about 1800 onwards. The story is told through the experiences of those who lived it. So in the last episode we left John Watts flat, broke down to his last penny. He and his friend Trimmer were living with Dr Mayo and Mariah in Adelaide. The colony of South Australia was in an economic crisis.
Speaker 3:So what did John do next?
Speaker 2:Well, he had a stroke of luck. John says.
Speaker 1:I got a letter from my father anticipating my wish, enclosing a draft for £100. Mr Trimmer and myself broke up our home. He went to Sydney a short time before me and obtained a situation in a brewery at Parramatta.
Speaker 3:Well, that's lucky. How did this happen?
Speaker 2:As we've discussed previously, it took nine to twelve months to get a response to a letter to and from England at that time. My guess is that Dr Mayo sent a letter to John Watt's father in England telling him that South Australia was in a state of financial crisis and that it would be advisable for John not to even come out to the colony. However, that letter arrived in England after John and Trimmer had left for South Australia. John's father realised what was happening and sent out the £100, and it took until June 1843 for it to arrive. Alternatively, John's father may have read newspaper reports in England about the turmoil in the colony. By this time they were on to their third governor. Perhaps John's father saw the writing on the wall. Either way, John had some money now.
Speaker 3:Well, that's fortunate for John. How did he use the money?
Speaker 2:As soon as he could, he got passage to Sydney, John says.
Speaker 1:And I started in a small brig called the Dorset to take my passage from Sydney. But we had a wretched passage and being three weeks in doing it I just missed the Vimera which I saw leaving the heads as we were coming up to it. The next ship did not sail for a month. She was a bark called Farmer, so I had to economise all I could to make my funds last out. But to make sure, I went and paid my passage money at once and then cut my cloth according to my means. I went to see my friend at Parramatta and stayed with him a week and just managed to pay my way and when the ship was ready, went on board in the month of September 1843.
Speaker 3:So he missed the boat literally. The Vermeer had already left Sydney. At least he could stay with Trimmer for a while. What's next for young John?
Speaker 2:He gets a passage on a ship called the Farmer. But first some words about his friend Trimmer. Trimmer eventually returned to England and worked in his father's brewery in Gloucester. He married in 1861 and had one son before his wife died just two years after they were married. Trimmer died in 1879, aged 55. I can't work out whether John ever saw his friend again after they parted company in Sydney in 1843. Nevertheless, john was off towards merry old England. He departed Sydney on August the 18th 1843. The following is a description of his accommodation the passengers and the cargo on the boat.
Speaker 4:Captain Bennett was in charge of the farmer. The cabin passengers were Dr Bland RN, mr J Bannister, mr J Moore and Mr and Mrs David Chambers and their four children. The steerage passengers were Mr J Watts, mr A MacDonald and Mr A Duff. The cargo consisted of 414 bales of wool, 205 casks of tallow, one cedar log, 971 hides, 8,000 tree nails, 10 packages of copper, 9 cases of cigars, 133 casks of sperm oil, 25 casks of coconut oil, 9 casks of sperm oil and 114 bales of whalebone.
Speaker 3:Well, that's an interesting cargo wool, as you might expect, and a lot of whale product Exports from Australia to England need to get the economy going. Do we know anything about his fellow passengers?
Speaker 2:Yes, Firstly, I should point out how few passengers there were on board just a handful really. I haven't been able to find out anything about John's fellow passengers and steerage, but I have found out about some of the cabin passengers. Mr J Moore is a bit of a mystery and the only reference to Mr J Bannister is to a former Attorney-General, Mr Bannister, I'm not sure that this is the correct person. However, I did find out about the others.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, what did you discover?
Speaker 2:Well, firstly, mr and Mrs, david Chambers and four children. After trolling through Trove, I've been able to find out a fair bit about them. David Chambers was born in Londonderry before coming out to Australia sometime before 1832. He married Mary Dowling in that year. The four children accompanying them on the voyage were Margaret, aged nine, hugh, aged five, charlotte, aged two and David, aged just five months. In addition, david and Mary had four other children that had died young. I couldn't work out what David did for a living, but he had offices in Macquarie Street in Sydney and they lived in an estate called Letrium. And they lived in an estate called Leitrim, which they valued at over £10,000. Just before they left, they bought Leitrim up for let and they had a sale of all their household goods.
Speaker 3:Okay, it sounds like David Chambers was well off, but the young child, only five months, was quite young to be doing a long trip to England.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll talk more about that later on. A young child like that requires a good supply of fresh milk. To provide that there was a goat on board.
Speaker 3:Okay, so that leaves Dr Bland RN. What did you find out about him?
Speaker 2:Well, he was quite famous. His story was well known at the time as a naval surgeon. On the 7th of April 1813, bland shot and killed Robert Case, the ship's purser on the Hesper, in a duel on Cross Island in Bombay Harbour. The duel stemmed from a disagreement between Case and William Randall, the ship's first lieutenant. Bland and the three other surviving participants in the duel were charged with willful murder and jailed. Bland was transported first to Van Diemen's Land with a sentence of seven years' transportation, and then to Sydney on 14 July 1814. Hence he was a convict. He was almost immediately granted his freedom by Governor Macquarie and in September 1814, he was appointed as the Medical Superintendent of the colony's lunatic asylum at Castle Hill. He was pardoned on the 27th of January 1815. He was also granted some nearby government land for his own use. He became a well-known member of Sydney society, even though he was an emancipist, that is, an ex-convict.
Speaker 2:During 1839-41, bland wrote letters for Australian Patriotic Association.
Speaker 2:The Australian Patriotic Association is considered the first political party in Australia.
Speaker 2:It was formed in 1835 by a group of influential colonists of New South Wales which had amongst its leaders William Wentworth, the son of a convict woman and the publisher of the influential newspaper, the Australian, sir John Jameson, a surgeon and a founder of the Agricultural Society, and William Bland. The association sought representative government for the colony with a broad franchise and was opposed by more conservative free settlers in the colony who, while favouring representative government, sought disenfranchisement of emancipists, in other words, convicts couldn't vote. As Secretary to the Association helped draft two bills for a representative constitution, which was approved in 1842, with Bland representing Sydney at its reading and approval passages. In 1842, parliament passed an Act to authorise representative government in the colony with a single chamber of 12 nominees and 24 elected members. The first election was held on the 15th of June 1843, and Bland was elected as a representative of Sydney. In fact, bland had to seek permission from the Speaker of the House to be granted a leave of absence to undertake this voyage. Bland was 54 years old when the voyage of the farmer departed.
Speaker 3:Okay, so there's some interesting people on board, so what route did they follow?
Speaker 2:They followed the well-known Clipper route. The Clipper route was the traditional route sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, australia and New Zealand. The route ran west to east through the Great Southern Ocean to make use of the strong westerly winds in the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along this route, particularly around Cape Horn, which the clippers had to go around on their return to Europe. The return passage headed east from Australia. Ships stopping at Wellington would pass through Cook Strait. Otherwise this tricky passage was avoided, with ships passing instead around the southern end of New Zealand. Eastbound ships would be running more or less within the ice zone, staying as far south as possible for the shortest route and the strongest winds. Most ships stayed north of the latitude of Cape Horn at 56 degrees south, following a southward dip in the ice zone as they approached the horn.
Speaker 2:The horn itself had, and still has an infamous reputation amongst sailors. The strong winds and currents which flow perpetually around the southern ocean without interruption are funnelled by the horn into the relatively narrow Drake Passage. Coupled with turbulent cyclones coming off the Andes and the shallow water near the Horn, this combination of factors can create violently hazardous conditions for ships. Those ships which survived the Horn then made the passage back up the Atlantic. Following the natural wind circulation up the eastern South Atlantic and more westly in the North Atlantic. A good run for the 15,000 miles, that's about 25,000 kilometres, from Sydney to Plymouth would be about 100 days. The famous Cutty Sark made it in 84 days and the Thermopylae in 77 days. The later windjammers, which were usually large four-mastered barks optimised for cargo and handling rather than running, usually made the voyage in 90 to 105 days. The fastest recorded time on great grain races was on a Finnish four-mastered bark, palmer 83 days in 1933.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've heard about how dangerous Cape Horn can be, so does John give a description of his voyage?
Speaker 2:Yep, he gives a lot of detail. This is what John said about the first stage.
Speaker 1:All went well until we arrived off the coast of New Zealand. Here we got very bad weather. It was blowing a gale, but it was favourable to get through Cook's Straits and we made for it. But just before entering these straits it began to blow just as strong, dead against us, and we then tried to go round the southern island, but we were doomed not to get far before the wind changed and we again bore up to get through the straits a second time. This time we were successful, but the gale increased on the other side. And the next day, when eight bells were sounded, we went to get our usual meal and we found all had been prepared by our cook. But no cook was to be found and all we could think of was that the poor fellow had gone to get a bucket of water over the side and as the ship was going very fast and leaning over to draw it in, he must have been pulled over into the sea. We never saw him again. What's eight bells?
Speaker 2:Eight bells is a well-known nautical term. One stroke of the ship's bell indicates the first half hour of the watch, watch being a work shift for sailors. Then an additional bell is struck for each succeeding half hour. Thus, eight bells indicates the end of a four hour watch.
Speaker 3:Okay, so that's the end of the work shift, but that doesn't sound too good for the cook.
Speaker 2:No, not at all. I did manage to find out the name of the cook it was Tinkin. I was searching some old British newspapers looking for the details of the voyage of the farmer and I came across a relevant article. It was about the father of Tinkin trying to get the owners of the farmer to pay him the wages due his son. The newspaper article says Tam's office Sea wages.
Speaker 5:Yesterday Mr Richard Tinkin, a foreigner residing at number 20, swan Yard, shoreditch, applied for summons against the master of the bark farmer for wages due to his son who died at sea under the following circumstances. Mr Tinkin said that his son was cook on board the farmer and on the 27th or 28th of September last he fell overboard off Cape Horn and was drowned. The ship afterwards went into Rio de Janeiro for repairs and about months since arrived St Catherine Docks, he saw Mr Bennett, the master, who immediately delivered to him his son's chest, which had very few clothes it, and he was directed to come board again the day appointed for paying the crew. He did so. Mr Souter, the owner, refused to pay him his son's wages. On application to the master, that person said he should pay the wages into the merchant seaman's office and gave him an account, which he had no doubt was correctly made out, from which it appeared that the wages due were £19.09. After the master had accompanied to the merchant seaman's office, but without paying the wages, mr Watson, the secretary of the institution, directed him to go to Mr Scurlock, a respectable proctor in Doctors' Commons, and take out letters of administration without which he would not be entitled to receive the wages. He complied with Mr Watson's directions and the letters of administration were sent down to the merchant seaman's office where he again called and was informed the money had not been paid in.
Speaker 5:He had since made three or four applications to the owner and master and was put off with excuses that the ship's accounts were not settled. He had been put to a good deal of unnecessary trouble and begged of the magistrate to interfere. Mr Broderip asked the applicant if his son was married and he replied to the negative. Mr Broderip said in that case the father was entitled to take out letters of administration. He was afraid there was a difficulty in granting a summons under the Merchant Seamans Act as the seaman was dead. But the father could recover the wages earned by his son by another process. Mr Simons, the chief clerk, was appealed to, who thought the Merchant Seamans Act did not recognize such a case as this. Mr Broderip said the applicant was a foreigner and all the assistance he could give him should be afforded. He directed that an officer should make inquiries about the matter and see the master and owner. He then requested Mr Tinkin to wait upon him again and he would let him know the result.
Speaker 3:Interesting, and that's not clear whether dad gets his son's wages. That sounds a bit unfair. Anyway, how did the rest of the voyage go?
Speaker 2:Not well. This is what John says.
Speaker 1:The weather got worse and worse until we reached within about 400 miles of Cape Horn. Here it became a perfect hurricane. Sails got blown away and the ship lay in the trough of the sea. All our boats and livestock were washed overboard. Also, the cabin skylight and half-deck hatchway and the bulwarks fore and aft Part of the covering board got broken off and tons of water went into the ship through it and the cabin skylight. All the passengers baggage was being washed about their cabins. And to add to our difficulties, our first mate got so injured in his back by being washed against the longboat just before it went overboard so that he was unable to render any assistance. The captain we never saw.
Speaker 3:Where's the captain? Who's in charge?
Speaker 2:now, well, young John he's only 22 years old takes charge. John then says charge.
Speaker 1:John then says At this stage all hands were ordered to the pumps and we sounded and found we had six feet of water in the hold. The carpenter and myself volunteered to try and get sail over the cabin skylight and a Scotch lad, who had been made third mate only a short time before this, volunteered also. The carpenter and myself were fastened round the middle with a rope fastened to the windward mizzen rigging and having got a sail out of the middle hatch, we proceeded to our work. When I discovered that our Scotch lad had not secured himself with a rope, I shouted to him and threw him the end of my rope.
Speaker 1:I'd not done so one moment when a heavy sea washed clean over us all and I felt a tremendous pull at my waist and that was all. And when we again felt the deck and were able to look, he was gone. And when we again felt the deck and were able to look, he was gone. At the same time, the two goats which were in a cask, fastened to the mizzenmast and which were kept to supply milk for a baby of Mrs Chambers, one of the cabin passengers. They went over the side in this cask and I saw them no more.
Speaker 3:So another death. First the cook and now the Scotch lad. And what would Mrs Chalmers give young David for milk?
Speaker 2:Somehow I suspect that milk for Mrs Chalmers' child was the least of their problems. John continues his story.
Speaker 1:The carpenter and myself managed to finish the work by ourselves, and we did it well.
Speaker 1:He then sounded the pumps and although the men had been pumping several hours, there was a foot more water in the hold than before.
Speaker 1:As there was no water now going down through the cabin, the question was, where did it get in when it was discovered that the covering board before mentioned was off for some distance and tons of water must have poured in when the side of the ship was underwater. So the carpenter and myself again volunteered to try and stop it if two men could attend to our ropes fastened to our middles. As I had taken care of all the skins of the sheep slaughtered and put them in a safe place, I suggested that these would do to stuff down between the outside and the casing of the ship. I went and got them and began our work. The skins proved just the thing wanted and, having stuffed them all in, we then got a board over them and a piece of tarpaulin over all, nailed it to the outside and the deck of the ship. Then we joined the others and pumped for about five hours when we sounded again and the water was reduced many feet.
Speaker 2:When they say sounding, they mean measuring the depth of water in the hull of the boat.
Speaker 3:John certainly takes charge, but I guess if there's no captain around, someone's got to step up.
Speaker 2:What's next? Well, John continues his story.
Speaker 1:We went to work with greater heart than before and, to our joy, before night of the second day, we had cleared the ship, having neither captain nor any officer to direct our movement, our poor second mate having died in the midst of our troubles. I asked an old sailor by name Thomas Double if he had ever been in such a storm before, upon a ship broached too, and if so, what was done to lay her up to the wind. And he said yes. And they set a hammock on the mizzen rigging and she at once lay too, then said I let us do this. But he said I do not know how this is to be done in such a hurricane as this. I said will anyone volunteer to go to the forecastle and bring a hammock? And I will show you how to do it. One of the sailors at once volunteered to go, and a rope being placed from quarterdeck to forecastle and made tight. He ran along the deck holding on to it and told him to take with him some cord to fasten his hammock when rolled up and then sling it over his shoulders and return with it to the quarterdeck. This he was successful in doing and, having taken it in this way myself when delivered, I proceeded with my friend Thomas Dooble to pass it outside the mizzen rigging, seated with my friend Thomas Dooble, to pass it outside the mizzen rigging, and then unrolling it up the shrouds and fastened it bottom and top and to our delight the ship at once lay comfortable.
Speaker 1:Another death, the second might. This is a voyage from hell. You can say that. John continues his story. We had nothing to eat or drink for 24 hours and our kitchen had been washed away. John continues his story and offered my services to see if it was possible to make a pot of tea. To do this it was necessary to fix the boiler to the windlass and get some coal from below, also water from some of reserve casks below. Plenty of willing hands, and this was done and I managed to get a fire after much difficulty and my water to nearly boil. When over came a sea and all was spoiled, the carpenter now set to work to cover me in and did it very cleverly, and this time I succeeded and made all hands a good panicking of tea and with a biscuit, satisfied our craving. Then all hands turned in to try and get some rest. By this time the wind and sea had gone down considerably and, being so done up, we were soon in the arms of a dead sleep.
Speaker 3:Ah, the British. All can be made good with a hot cup of tea.
Speaker 2:Yep. You can imagine how exhausted they must have been. John then discusses the aftermath.
Speaker 1:Next morning our first mate called all hands but there was no response. Not even grog would entice our men, who now placed little faith in those who commanded, as during all this dreadful time we had seen neither captain nor mate. When we had rested, all hands turned to clear the wreck and get up fresh sails from below. We were indeed in a sad plight. Not one sail left. All our bulwarks gone, no cabin skylight or half-deck hatchway. All our boats, except the captain's gig gone and that stove-in four-yard split royal masts and yards and jib-boom, also gone by night.
Speaker 1:We had put things in as good order as we could and again started on our course, a sad but thankful crew. Next morning we buried our second mate by sewing him up in his blanket and placing a shot at his feet and throwing him overboard. Now we began to count our loss and see how to work the ship with those left alive. Two of our men were so injured that they were not able to work. Our cook, as before stated, was lost. Our second mate died, the young Scotch lad gone, thus leaving us very shorthanded.
Speaker 1:So I joined the crew and had for some time to go to the helm two hours out of every four. Day and night. We reefed topsails every night as we could not have taken the sail in time if bad weather came on suddenly. As a precaution, this was done every night before eight bells. At first, my watch consisted of the first mate, one boy, one man and myself. We had no fresh meat and our salt beef was so hard that it was not possible to cut it with a knife, and our biscuit, most of it, weevil-eaten.
Speaker 3:So they've lost a few crew members. Do you know how many crew they had when they started?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. From the information that I've been able to glean, the crew was Captain Bennett, who had gone absent during the storm, locked in his cabin. First mate badly injured during the storm. Second mate dead. Third mate, the Scots lad drowned. No surgeon is ever mentioned. The cook, tinkin, washed overboard and cooked straight dead. There was a carpenter. Then there's Thomas Dooble, a sailor, plus at least three other sailors and a boy. There may have been more crew, but that's all I can find. It means there were three deaths amongst the crew during the voyage and another so badly injured he couldn't work.
Speaker 3:The ship must have been just limping along Very slow progress. I shim that they eventually reached a port where they could recover.
Speaker 2:Yep John explains how they got home.
Speaker 1:In this way we managed to exist and in about a month arrived at Rio de Janeiro for repair. Here we remained about a month and after a refit we started again on our way for England. But the f? Fates were against us and although we had no bad weather, we made but slow progress.
Speaker 2:John had his 23rd birthday on this lake. John continues his story.
Speaker 1:We at last arrived, all safe, after a voyage of seven months being anxious to get to my home. I started by rail as far as Cirencester and coached the rest of the way to Gloucester and walked from there ten miles to my parental home.
Speaker 3:So John's voyage home took seven months, 209 days, sydney to London. That's a lot longer than the usual, considering that a usual trip would be about 100 days.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's certainly true. About 100 days Yep, that's certainly true. It may have been a long voyage, but it is clear that no one would have survived if John hadn't taken charge.
Speaker 3:Do you know what became of his fellow passengers?
Speaker 2:Bland Chambers and the others would have died in 1843, but for the efforts of young John For Mr Chambers, he and the family arrived in Australia soon after. The last record I can find of David Chambers is that he died in Melbourne in February 1848. However, dr Bland is a much more interesting story. When Bland departed on the farmer, he had just been elected to the NSW Parliament. If he'd died on that voyage, the colony would have lost an esteemed member. Following his return to Australia, bland went on to have an illustrious career. He was an elected member of the NSW Legislative Council twice, from 1843 to 1848 and then 1849 to 1850, for the City of Sydney and after the introduction of responsible government he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council. After a rocky start as a convict in Sydney, including a year in jail for libelling Governor Macquarie, he won and maintained the community's regard. A book called Dueling Surgeon, colonial Patriot, the Remarkable Life of William Bland, was written about Bland.
Speaker 6:The author wrote Bland was a man of many parts. His prominent role in the push for representative political institutions won him enemies as well as friends, and he never shrank from a fight. Bland was a man of many parts. His prominent role in the push for representative political institutions won him enemies as well as friends, and he never shrank from a fight. As a doctor, he was admired as much for his benevolence as for his skill. Believing in the power of education to produce a better society, he initiated the establishment of Sydney College, predecessor of Sydney Grammar School. As an inventor, he designed surgical instruments, fire suppression apparatus and, most adventurously, an airship that he was confident would reduce the travelling time between Britain and the colony from two or three months to four or five days.
Speaker 3:Well it certainly seems that Australia benefited from John's actions around Cape Horn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, agreed, thank you for listening.
Speaker 3:So it's goodbye from me, and it's goodbye from me, thank you.