Settler travelled on two ships

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 13

Settler travelled on two ships

Cyrus Davie has the distinction * of being the only person to travel on two of the first four ships to reach Lyttelton as part of the Canterbury Association scheme. His diary, held at the Canterbury Museum, gives an insight into this feat by a likeable man. Unfortunately, his diary does not say why he missed the Randolph which left Plymouth, England, on Saturday night, September 7, 1850. Davie arrived the next morning, and after some difficulty (no doubt with bureaucratic processes) was permitted to take his passage on the Sir George Seymour. All his gear, apart from a small amount of luggage,' was on the Randolph, but he had some of his books and clothing, and was provided with a hammock to in He soon £ecame ac-

qualnted with his fellow passengers, and occupied his time by reading various works on New Zealand, Euclid, and “Principles of Design in Architecture.** Ten days after leaving England, a fire broke out in the hold when a lantern was overturned. Quickly a chain of passengers was formed and buckets of water were passed continuously to the seamen in the hold. Fortunately, the blaze was extinguished before it ignited the gunpowder stored nearby.

On October 4 a ship was sighted on a parallel course to the Sir George Seymour. Bets were offered at 16 to one that she was the Randolph — and it was. The Randolph was signalled that Davie was on board, and after some amusing conversation about mutton, a boat was lowered and Davie rostered to his

rightful ship in mid-ocean. He commented in his diary that he found himself “a Lion at dinner that night’’ Davie found the voyage much more comfortable on the Randolph, the water was better and the cuddy arrangements more pleasant It was also a more eventful journey, meeting a French barque and dining aboard, and almost a mutiny among the Randolph crew. The attempted mutiny occurred when the chief officer ordered a crewman to remain on deck during his turn below. The man refused. He was placed in irons. His watch requested his release, which was not granted. They then quarrelled with the cuddy cook and were assaulting him when the captain and mate interfered — and the captain was struck. The man responsible