A FATEFUL VOYAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 21, 25 July 1933, Page 3

A FATEFUL VOYAGE

THE BARQUE OXFORD

TYPHOID AND DISMASTING

3IE3IOEIES OF 1883

Fifty years ago last Sunday a barque was sighted off the- Wellington Heads. It was the 1281-ton vessel Oxford, from Plymouth, bringing with her 325 immigrants, of which 225 were for Wellington. Behind this ordinary .occurrence of an overseas vessel arriving at "Wellington there are memories, many of them bitter and nearly all of them never to be forgotten. It was a journey which has perhaps rarely been paralleled in the history of emigrant travel. On January 20, ISS3, the barque left London with 302 immigrants on board. She was owned by Temperley, Carter, and Co., and was under charter to the Shaw, Savill Co. Seven days after leaving London she cleared Plymouth on her long voyage to Wellington. TERRIFIC WINDS—DISASTER. The voyage, however, was fated to be broken before long, for in the Bay of Biscay the Oxford met strong winds. On February 6 conditions became worse, and on the following two days mountainous waves rose, accompanied by driving rain and sleet. Then came bitter and wild squalls of hail and terrific winds which reached their height on the night of February 8. The barque's three masts were snapped off at midnight that night, and for the next four days she drifted helpless, being carried far out into the Atlantic. In the same storm the vessel Kenrnure Castle foundered with the loss of 32 lives. Totally disabled and with over 400 passengers and crew on board, the Oxford continued to drift westward. Then, on the afternoon of February 12 the British paddle-steamer Troutbeck was sighted. The gale, however, still raged, and the Troutbeck stood by through the night, flares being lighted on both ships. Frequent attempts during the next day to get a tow-line aboard tho Oxford failed until, in a gallant effort, a boat from the Troutbeck eventually carried a hawser to the barque. It parted, but a new lino was run aboard by the same means. During the gale several of the crew were injured, though none fatally. None of the passengers were lost. Ten days nfter the mishap the Oxford was towed into Cardiff, semi-wrecked and dismasted, with passengers and crew suffering from their experiences. So much for the first attempt to reach New Zealand, ■ A special train took the immigrants from Cardiff to Plymouth, where they were to await the refitting of the Oxford —"a three weeks' task." But at Plymouth further disaster was to befall the travellers —this time an outbreak of typhoid. In a short time 55 emigrants had contracted the fever. Nine of them died. THE TEVEK AGAIN. The remaining passengers, however, were not discouraged, and on April 2(5, 1883, over three months after leaving London, the Oxford sailed from Plymouth with 325 immigrants on board. Further distress was in store, for another outbreak of typhoid occurred — three passengers dying and others being infected. Eighty-eight days, after leaving Plymouth she reached Wellington. Her passengers were quarantined on Somes Island, and the vessel was fumigated and cleaned before she was allowed to berth. Such are the bare facts of the experiences that befell the Oxford. But there is far more than that behind them. "RUSTY TANK WATER." The case of the immigrants is, perhaps, best couched in a letter from, one of them to a friend in Wellington, a portion of which was published in "The Post" of May 30, 1883. The accommodation on the vessel was dreadful, at the rate of three to one bunk," he wrote. "The meat was literally alive and rotten; potatoes unfit for pigs to eat. The water condenser broke down as soon as wo started. After that we drank old rusty tank water. The masts were loose, and all three went overboard in the Bay of Biscay.-The depot (at Plymouth) is a mass of corruption, and" the Agent-General (Sir Dillon Bell) is unable to deal with it, even if told. . . . She is a filthy ship, having been used last voyage (the previous year) apparently to convey hides, etc. Her decks had an. inch or more of blood, hair, and filth on them, which the immigrants scraped off." • The master of the barque on the first phase of the voyage to New Zealand was Captain Braddick,- but when the vessel was refitted Captain. Seymour was appointed to the command. An inquiry into tho outbreak of fever at Plymouth was held, and it was clearly proved that the cause was the bad condition of the water. CAPTAIN PRAISED. On April 2, 1883, "The Post" published the following' statement from London, dated February 22: "The Oxford was under the command of Captain. Braddick, who is well known in New Zealand. To his unflinching pluck, cheery encouragement, and! excellent spirits, the safety of over 400 souls aboard is mainly attributed." On April 3, the following appeared in "The Post" from, the same source:— ". . . the numerous colonial friends of this gentleman (Braddick) will regret to learn that he has been seriously, though it is to be hoped only temporarily, injured by the long exposure to the driving sleet and rain during the recent storms. The captain also suffers in other ways (sic) from the same cause." In the same letter the correspondent added: "Captain Braddick still suffers from, the injuries received during the fearful storm." On April 1!), the correspondent wrote to "The Post" as follows: —"It appears that the steamer (Troutbeck) which towed the disabled ship up. the British (Bristol?) Channel has claimed £0000 salvage, and as the Shaw, Savill Company considers the same excessive, there will be an action, to be witness of which Captain Braddick is detained." During the whole of their unpleasant experiences on tho unlucky ■ barque, which, incidentally, is reported to have been afterwards burnt at sea, the passengers "behaved splendidly." "The Post's" London representative reported that "they were received most cordially at Cardiff," which report was scarcely borne out by the immigrants, who stated that tlie very mention that they were connected with the Oxford sufficed to turn away sympathy. A large number of these passengers were Irish. THE PASSENGER LIST. The following is a list of those immigrants for Wellington who died from typhoid at Plymouth:—Walter Taylor, 17; Phoebe Austwick, 20; Patrick MeAlteer, 26; Mary O'Sullivan, 17; Minnie Stewart, 23; and Sarah Stewart, 16. Three others, Catherine McMahon, 20, Ellen Nolan, 18, and Jane Spence, 17, also died at Plymouth. The three passengers who died of the fever en routo from Plymouth were James Silva, 2(i, Mary Port, 20, and Marion Naylor, 16. The publication of the list of passengers on the Oxford will probably recall many memories to those immigrants who are still alive. The fol--1 lowing -dispatch, .reccivediig-^he^go^-^

eminent on July 4, ISS3, gives the full list of passengers for Wellington as follows;— Joseph, Mnry, Thomas, ! Jqhn, and Elizabeth Barnes; Joseph, Henrietta, Annie, Ellen, Willie, ami Kate Brewer; Robert, Anna, Lillie, Florence, Beatrice, Violet, and Daisy Brewer; William, Matilda, Walter, and John Brown; Archibald, Mary, Elizabeth, and AVilliam Coulter; Samusl, Jane, Charles, Margaret, and Samuel Harding; Timothy and Julia Korin; Charles, Annie, John, anil Rosanna MeColl; David, Sarah, David, and Jemima McGuire; Thomas, Frances, Evelyn, Gertrude, and Minnie Manning; James, ißosina, Rosctta, and Midred Marshall; Alfred, Martha, and Maiy Richardson; Philip, Annie, Fred, Arthur, and George Tarrant; John and Caroliu Taylor; Thomas, Catherine, Emily Wils(0; James, Maggio (2), and Alexander Wilson; James Adams; Jessie Blewett; Benjamin, Thomas, and Henry Brown; James, John, and Gibson Coulter; John Cowie; John, Buchanan, and William Drysdale; James Fletcher; Patrick Flood; John and James Grogan; Albeit Higgins; John Hopnoll; John and William Hudson; Patrick Kcrin; Edwin Lang; Edmond McSweeney; Alexander Nccly; Thomas O'Malley; Denis and Patrick O'Meara; Robert Patton; Robert Port; John Roberts; Joseph Shepherd; Patrick Spilman; William Stewart; Denis Sullivan; John Walsh; Robert Wilkie; Thomas Wilson; Thomas Woodward; Johann Windborg; Elizabeth Bannister; Mary Anderson; Maria, Maria, Alice, Nellie, Frederick, and Florence Andrews; Susannah, Alice, and Mary Barnes; Margaret Barrett; Annie Blan'ehctt; Susannah Blaner; Nancy Bolton; Anno Rowcns; Elizabeth Boyton; Emily, Lucy, Lydia, and Mary Brewer; Elizabeth Burn; Mary Bultcr; Mary C'adigan; Letitia Coulter; Mary Crignton; Ann and Mary Daiey; Margaret Doujj»as; Margaret, Euphemia, and Lilas Drysdale; Emma Dustin; Sarah Edgoler; Ellen Entwistle; Frances Featherstone; Mary Fitzgerald; Margaret Fletcher; Marion Flint; Alice Fowlestone; Mary Gullivan; Henrietta Gover; Susannah Green; Emma Halpin; Rosabella Hamilton; Charlotte Harrod; Julia Hartigan; Mary Henderson; Johanna Higgins; Mary and Sarah Hopwcll; Jane Howell; Ada Hudson; Susan Hunswiek; Elizabeth Ide; Annie Jones; Mary- and Lizzie Lambert; Gertrude Langton; Jane, Mary, and Elizabeth, Lang; Bessie and Alice Brewer; Maiy McDonald; Jane and Martha McDowell; Margaret and Susan McGaughey; Mary Mahoney; Emily Mansell; Emma Maunder; Margaret Moore; Miriam Meylor; Sarah Neville; Louisa Niblett; Mary and Annie O'Brien; Mary and Annie O'Connor; Ellen and Hannah O'Leary; Mary O'Malley; Johannah O'Meara; Bridget and Mary O'Sullivan; Annie and Kate Paton; Kate Perrin; Louisa Pitt; Mary, Port; Elizabeth Ryland; Annie Smith; Jemima Spence; Sarah Stepney; Kate (2) ' Sullivan; Mary Taufo; Margaret Tawse; Sarah and Emma Taylor; Mary Tliurle; Mary Tonkin; Albcrtina and Auguste Tulke; Alice and Sarah Turner; Mary "Walsh; Mary Wickens; Elizabeth and Susan Wilkie; Ellen, Rachel, and Emily Wilson; Elizabeth York; Alice Ide; Nora McCarthy; Mary Thomas; Emma Wilcher. In addition, the barque brought forty-six immigrants for Nelson, eleven for Marlborough, eighteen for Taranaki, fifteen for Westland, nine for Hawke's Bay, and one for Canterbury.