Unhappy ship with crew troubles

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 13

Unhappy ship with crew troubles

The Castle Eden, the fifth Canterbury Association ship to bring immigrants to Lyttelton, was not a happy ship. Built at Sunderland in north-east England in 1842, on her voyage to Lyttelton in 1851 she carried 27 chief cabin, 32 intermediate cabin and 145 steerage passengers. A copy of a diary kept by George Wright, a 14-year-old boy in steerage, and letters by Captain Timothy Thornhill (the ship’s master), Dr Thomas Busick Haylock (the surgeon-super-intendent), and William Bowler (the Canterbury Association’s shipping agent*in London) are all preserved in the Canterbury Museum’s shipping archives and show that the ship was plagued by crew troubles. Passengers began boarding at Woolwich Dock on the River Thames on September 25, 1850. Among the most notable chief cabin passengers, were the Rev. Thomas Jackson who was the Bishop-Designate for Canterbury, and Lord Frederick Montagu. Neither was to make a favour-

able impression on Charlotte Godley who was the wife of John ‘ Robert Godley, the Canterbury Association’s chief agent in New Zealand. Commenting on Montagu, Charlotte Godley said, “He is quite a nuisance here, drinking, swearing, cheating at cards, and so on, and amongst the lowest public-house set, for noone else now I believe will notice him. His name and title, out here, make him far too conspicuous and I think some of the very young gentlemen here would have been better if they had never seen him. Mrs Jackson told me that he was unbearable in the ship, and used such language the first day she was at dinner that she and Dr J. and their boys, always afterwards dined in their own cabin.” The ship moved down river to Gravesend on the following day and set sail for Plymouth on

September 29, nine days later she arrived at Plymouth and at noon the next day she began her lengthy voyage to New Zealand. It was association policy that no immigrant ship should put into port en route to Canterbury except under extreme circumstances.

Dr Haylock was required to give written reasons for any deviation of course on his arrival at Lyttelton and if these were not considered satisfactory, he forfeited his gratuity. Surgeons received 10 shillings for each passenger landed safely, 20 shillings for each birth aboard ship, and a gratuity of £25 subject to a deduction of 20 shillings for each death on board.

Providing they had carried out their duties satisfactorily, the ship’s master received a gratuity of 30 guineas, and the chief mate and third mate each received one shilling per head for each passenger landed safely. Up until November 16, when the surgeon ordered that the vessel head for the Cape of Good Hope, the voyage had proceeded like any other, only one death had occurred.

On November 24, one of the seamen refused to obey an order. A scuffle ensued and almost developed into a riot. In his report, Dr Haylock stated, "Several sailors had behaved very ill and*indeed were disposed to mutiny.”

A report published in the 1930 s held that reasons for putting into Cape Town were that the crew mutinied, the provisions went bad, and disease broke out among the children. For the mutiny, the captain determined to shoot the ringleaders, but the Bishop-Designate intervened, and going among the sailors, he talked them over and there were no shootings. Strangely, the Rev. Jackson’s own report makes no mention at all of any crew problems.

The ship reached Cape Town on December 11 without further crew problems. Captain Thornhill took three of the main troublemakers ashore where they appeared before a magistrate for disobedience of orders. They were sentenced to imprisonment. In support of their shipmates, nearly all the able seamen and the second mate refused to work. They were dismissed and also ended up in court and sentenced to hard labour. New crew members were signecrbn. Loading of fresh stores was delayed because

some of the old crew had thrown the handle of the windlass into the sea and the ship did not leave Cape Town until December 22.

The Castle Eden finally dropped anchor at Lyttelton on February 7, 1851. Dr Haylock reported to Godley that the quality of livestock, preserved meat and other stores was inferior and that many passengers had not been able to eat them. He stated that there had been a considerable amount of sickness among the children and that before reaching Cape Town, there had been several severe and dangerous cases of typhoid fever which had caused one death.

In addition his supply of medicines was almost exhausted and for the above reasons he had decided to divert the ship to Cape Town to load fresh supplies of food and medicines. A letter signed by all the cabin passengers, including the Rev. Jackson, supported Dr Haylock’s action. It is doubtful if Jackson’s signature would have carried much weight with the Godleys. Charlotte Godley described him as, “a little fussy upstanding man, whose very bow and style of greeting, tone, manner, words, all have on them the very stamp of humbug and forbid the idea of considering him what I have been used to call a gentleman ... John really cannot bear him, and finds him as unsatisfactory as possible to do business with, always self-seeking and inaccurate.”

In a much longer letter written at Cape Town by Dr Hayjock to the management committee of the Canterbury Association in London, • he was critical of the fact that because of the stowage arrangements he had been unable to get food items to issue to the passengers at the correct times. His complaints list was lengthy, but he praised feptain Thornhill, “of whose calm, manly

and judicious management of the seamen, I cannot speak too highly.” The day after the ship arrived at Lyttelton, a large number of the crew went on strike and would not man the boats to take passengers and their belongings ashore. Once again Captain Thornhill brought the miscreants before the local magistrate and 17 men were charged with having refused to perform their duties. They were sentenced to 14 days imprisonment aboard their ship. Most of the passengers were able to get ashore on

February 15, and were no doubt glad.

Surprisingly perhaps the Canterbury Association cash books disclose, despite the problems on the fourney out, gratuities were favourable.

Castle Eden left Lyttelton for Nelson with several passengers including Dr Haylock and his two sons. They ran into severe weather and the captain was unable to make Nelson. Instead, they went on to Sydney where once again the crew went on strike and there were court appearances. The Nelson passengers refused to sail any further in the ship. They received reimbursement of some passage money and travelled to Nelson in another vessel.

Captain Thornhill in a letter written at Sydney on May 18, 1851, blamed Dr Haylock’s inefficiency and neglect of his duties for the disorder and riot in the ship which led to many acts of insubordination, the most serious of which was caused by his son giving spirits from the medical stores to the crew, by which some became intoxicated. He had not reported that previously because Dr Haylock had promised to carry out his duties correctly, but he was speaking out now because he believed that the surgeon was responsible also for the recent trouble with the crew and . passengers at Sydney. William Bowler, the association’s shipping agent in London, wrote a detailed reply to Dr Haylock’s complaints. He was of the opinion that the surgeon had been negligent in several matters, that there was no real justification for putting into Cape Town and that he had probably been persuaded to do so by the captain who was concerned about the conduct of his crew.

Crew before

a magistrate

By

RON CHAPMAN