EMBARKATION ORDERS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21432, 26 March 1935, Page 17

EMBARKATION ORDERS

♦ MEMORIES of emigrant 1 SHIPS iCQHSITIOX TO VILGKI.MS' MUSK I'M That voyages to curly Canterbury w'ere seldom unattended by peril and , ere never without discomfort is replied by an "Id embarkation order which Miss Mary Allen Jewell has lately presented to the Pilgrims' Museum. The order is signed by John as the Canterbury provincial government's London agent, and it authorises the master of the fullrieged ship Echunga to grant Mr and jj®s \V. H. Jewell a passage to the Echunga, 1007 tons. Captain tnhn E. Cooper, sailed from Gravesend on Au?usi 1. 1862, and arrived at Tjroaru aft?r a voyage not unduly protracted, considering that she was far jrom being the pride of the old Willis jine of packets. Sho was. as a matter of fact, rather a decrepit old ship, ff hich had spent the days of her usefulness in the Chinese and East Indian trades; and at the time of her one voyage to New Zealand she was E o infested with vermin that her emigrant passengers thoroughly disliked her. At Timaru, 130 of them disembarked. Others, including Mr and Mrs Jewell, finding the Timaru barracks in an unfinished <nte. demanded to be brought on to Lyttelton. where there were better arrangements for their reception. Thus it was that, eventually, the young Mr and Mrs Jewell came round from Lyttelton to the Bricks wharf in

sn open boat, and began their new 'ife in Christehurch. With them was Jeir infant son (who had been born while the Echunga was crossing the line), and all their worldly possessions including the 29 dresses which Mrs Jewell had considered an indispensable part of her outfit for the colony. The son. Mr William Allen Jewell, of St. Albans, is to-day one of the 40 descendants of this courageous pioneer pair. As for the ship on which he was born, she sailed in ballast for Callao, in January, 1863. and was afterwards wrecked. The Cospatrick Tragedy The embarkation order is an acquisition to the Museum, for only two precisely similar documents are known to be in existence. One, an order to embark on the Cressy, is in the North Island. The other, in the possession of a Christehurch woman, revives memories of a tragedy of the sea, for it is directed to the captain of the Cospatrick. How the family of which she v/as the youngest member came to miss their passage by the Cospatrick was explained by this woman to a representative of "The Press." While in barracks at Gravesend she inadvertently swallowed so large an overdose of medicine that on going aboard the Cospatrick she became violently ul and was immediately ordered ashore. In the meantime, her parents had conceived a dislike for the ship, a former frigate built of teakwood. Which, to landsmen's eyes, rode alarmingly low in the water. The family thereupon quitted the ship, and was panted passage by the Geraldine Paget, 1200 tons, which left London °n September 15. 1874, only a few days wer the had sailed on her last voyage. , The reporter's informant added that, ■ when somewhere to the south of the Cape of Good Hope, she noticed what seemed a curious phenomenon—that of toe sun and the moon rising at the swie time. She pointed this out to ~ e Geraldine Paget's master. Captain Ogilvie, who was below at the moment, and he told her that what she jJSQ assumed to be the sun was evidently a ship in distress, many leagues . distant. Afterwards, in Christehurch, ?? e learned that she had actually seen 'ne Cospatrick on fire. Of the 473 persons aboard, only three survived. When fie master of the Cospatrick, Captain f™slie, saw that there was neither ™pe for his burning ship nor chance J getting the panic-stricken emigrants r~ely away from her, he threw his . 7"® and child into the sea and leapt * after them.

A Passenger's Contract Ticket A passenger's contract ticket for the 2f® r aldine Paget, in the possession of e same woman, shows to what emi--B«nts were entitled in those days of .. i Three quarts of water were each adult daily, with an jjQitional quart while in the tropics. £2?S u i c &.. also, was issued during hot dav xT' s ' x ounces to ea °h adult each Wpbl-i s were computed in th# Quantities, the following being meat on for an adult:—Preserved .Dl,. Hlb; salt beef, lib; salt pork, ' ostlv, , 321b: flour. 33b: rice or tea n P eas - i Pint: sugar, lib; coffee, 2oz; butter, 6oz; moniciri S ' ' rais i n *, ilb: suet. 6oz; 02 . r^ s ' Quarter of a pint; mustard, h fa. P e PPer, quarter of an ounce; salt, P°tatoes. 21b; preserved poets,. Children were allowed root' pr ® serve <3 soup, sago or arrow3nf[ Preserved milk, aboard"heless. the infant mortality staa],. 1 3 "lose early ships was not ■ i ton nn u'- s!l ips sailed into Lvttel*hn ™ w "ich there were not mothers sea U ! nec * lin - v children buried at 5 < Geraldine Paget, though sorrnur" sllip ' llac ' lier share of -i 26al aT1 j n ® P are »ts. She came to New i Mth J? ° !lce a ß ain . iii 1880, meeting 1 time tv, roug h a passage that, for a • cotonic* i P ass engers' quarters were ' "Wetely flooded.

Mary Ann was later substituted. The iviary Ann's passengers counted themselves fortunate, for she was a beauti- £ pt ship " Her master, Captain uliam Ashby, was the most popular sKipper sailing between London and iNew Zealand, and up to 1872, commanding in turn the Mary Ann, the Aunk-Lrf he K S J am ' J and the Cit -y of Auckland, had made more voyages to New Zealand than any other man. However, under his command, tut' 1 ** 1 anci Mrs Thomas aboard, the Mary Ann sailed from St. Kathermes docks on April 25, 1859, on a | 's oyage which might well have been i last. Ice in unprecedented quantities was encountered in the Southern j Ocean, and at one time icebergs 800 feet, high and two miles long encompassed the ship. While she was among the ice something struck the vessel a sharp blow under the main chains on the starboard side, and on the following morning the copper was found to be dented. It was thought that the obstacle had been part of some wreckage for on the next day a large snar, with top and rigging, and other sam from a ship of about 800 tons, were passed. This vessel had evidently tallen victim to the fate narrowly missed by the Mary Ann—a fate which later was thought to have overtaken those fine ships, the Marlborough and the Dunedin. which sailed from New Zealand in 1890 and were never heard ol again. Historic Associations The embarkation orders and passenger's contract tickets seen by the reporter are now yellowed with age, and the writing on them has faded; but they are treasured possessions, not only on account of their rarity, but also as a link with the vanished days of sail. The Cospatrick embarkation order is of special interest as it is probably the only relic of that tragic ship which ever reached New Zealand. For the rest, mere scraps of paper though they be, it is hoped that some day they will all be enshrined in the pilgrims' museum. To Canterbury folk of to-day they have a sentimental value. For the future

citizens of Christehurch they will have an historic one. Stormy voyages in cramped quarters, breathless" dav S and nights in the tropics, peril from ire and fog in the Southern Ocean—in days to come Christehurch people will gaze reverently at these little scraps of paper, and. studying (he voyages of the old emigrant ships, will realise how great were the dangers and discomforts endured by the earlv settlers in reaching Canterbury, their land of promise.