THE VOYAGE OF THE HANOVER

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 23, 5 June 1912, Page 6

THE VOYAGE OF THE HANOVER

LIFE ON BOARD. A PASSENGER’S DIARY. At this time it is interesting to recall some of the incidents of the voyage from the Old Land to the new. such an undertaking being in those days much more adventurous than it would be in these days of steam. From the diary of one of the passengers of the Hanover (Mr. H. Brett), who was in the habit of writing full and interesting letters to hia people in England, which were subsequently published in a Home newspaper, so great was the interest, taken in the venture of the Albertlanders, the following extracts are made:— "Set sail for New Zealand in the good ship Hanover, which, on the 29th May, 1862, quitted the East India docks with 336 adult passengers on board, the said passengers being a portion of the first

thousand 'Nonconformist settlers’ destined to colonise.-the new territory of Albertland.” v . After referring to the inevitable sadness of.-saying farewell to the land of their birth, the writer says: — “On the 2nd of June. I got into a 'mess’ with five gentlemen from Coventry, and two from Exeter, we having formed a coterie for provisioning during the voyage —they were, in fact, my messmates. We had about fifty passengers from Coventry, a similar number from Scotland, and one only from Ireland. the last-mentioned being an exceedingly good fellow.” The trials of mal-de-mer. which occupied the attentions of the passengers for the. first week, are amusingly set .down, and the bad weather which came up did not clear up till the 7th. Whit Sunday, when the ( haplain he’d a service on the quarter-deck. The respite was of short duration, however, for three days later they ran into heavy weather, and on one occasion .were ‘’battened down." and tha ship was under bare poles. “As the storm grew less violent, 1 managed to perform my daily ablution on deck (the voung men not being allowed to wash below), with a rope tied round my body, to prevent me having too much of a wash —a wash overboard. 1 had to make some bread in the afternoon, but after taking it from the oven I had the mortification to find it had turned to a bread pudding. “June 10th.—This night it fell to my lot to ‘go on watch’ from 10 to 12, this necessary duty being taken in rotation by the male passengers about twice a month, in consequence of the pilfering propensities of some of the sailors. “June 19th. —A rifle corps was established, consisting of sixteen of England’s so-called brave defenders, who had been an the ranks of the volunteers at Home, and about fifty others recruited on board.

“The 24th was a noteworViy day, we having two grand musters, first for rifle drill, and second for a concert on the poop deck. Considering that the performers, sixteen in number, were selected from among the passengers, and that we had no Sims Reeves nor Catherine Hayes amongst us. the concert was by no means a discreditable affair." The daily- round on board ship is pleasantly chronicled by our diarist, among the uncommon things noted being that old-time ceremony of the sailorman which is now a thing of the past, ‘‘Dead Horse Day,” which is derived from the fact that the sailor has a month’s wages advanced to him before leaving port, and calls the four weeks' period “working off a dead horse,” an effigy of the said animal being heaved overboard after much • ceremony. July 9. —Neptune having paid us a‘ “flying” visit on the preceding evening, we were all upon the qui vive at an early hour this morning for his promised appearance. We had not long tv wait, for soon after the hour named lie entered the ship with his wife and officers, and marched round the deck to the place assigned them on the forecastle. The order of procession was as follows: Neptune and his wife, barber and clerk, the doctor and another clerk, (the latter with a book and pen of tremendous size), eight -constables and two sergeants, Of course they were dressed in appropriate costumes, and such as are less easy to describe than to imagine. The wife of his godship, although clothed in female fashion, was, without doubt, a very masculine goddess. The preliminary ‘grand march' being over and the party arranged in solemn state, one of the sailors was introduced to Mister Neptune and to Mistress Neptune, the latter graciously smiling and bestowing On the bashful tar —no, not a smack —K kies. Sundry questions were then put to 'him by Neptune and his mighty attendants, after which the grand operation of shaving was proceeded with. The Bailor was placed on a piece of wood, and, having satisfied the demand of Neptune as to his name and whereabouts, he was examined by the doctor, who prescribed for him a -couple of pills, the medicine, to all appearances, being the reverse of agreeable. A smelling Ibottle was then placed to his nose, with a couple of needles in the cork of the bottle. The patient found the essence somewhat too strong for him, giving evidence of the same by the detemunef manner in w’nich he drew back his head from what 1 should call ‘salts of tartar.’ Hieing blindfolded, his sense of feeling was of course more acute than his powers of vision, but a significant nod told <us that he had had enough of it. The barber then called for No. 1 razor— a piece of tin, halfoi-yard long—and, having well lathered his man with tar and

grease, the first part of the operation was dexterously performed, the barber every now ami then tilling the niian'i mouth with his ‘patent lather.’ No. ~ razor—a more refined and polished instrument —was used in the finishing process. He was then tipped over into a sail filled with water, Irin baptism and purification being assisted by two men jumping in with hi into keep him under water. He was then taken out and declared to be a ‘.Son of Neptune.' Several other sailors and a number of passengers consented to be similarly baptised, and among them was myself, for I thought that as the equator was nor- crossed every day there ought io oe some memento of the epoch. A collection was afterwards made for the sailors, which furnished them with a good tea on the occasion. lake some of my other descriptions. -the account here given ot IDaddy Neptune’ and his Amphitrite is very meagre to that which 1 may attempt on' some cither occasion; but if it should be asked what sort, of ‘line’ it- was we crossed. I might just remark that it was not visible this time, and that, it never is at this period of the year. It may he imagined, however, that the noil-visibility of the ‘line’ was amply compensated for by the visit of Father Neptune with his oceanic bride and grotesque train of attendants, to say no-

thing of the ceremony of hailing the ship: the queer letter-hag brought by his godship and handed to Captain Rich in the saloon; the taking possession of the ship and all on board, etc. These things will no doubt be remembered by the screaming ladies and half-terrified members of the sterner sex as long as they live. Oh! that horrid shaving tribu nal—that tar-pot and excruciating razor • —that terrible souse 'beneath the turbid waters! Ho, there! Fetch the I’.D. and drop the cutrain for the night, having crossed the equator in 26ileg. 40min. w. July Sth.—To-day found us bravely sailing with a south-east trade wind amid a host of flying fish, whizzing anil skimming over the sea, and there was the additional attraction of a fleet of •the graceful nautilus, or ‘Portugese nian-o’-war.’ In the evening a very interesting lecture was delivered on the quarter-deck by our minister, Mr. Davis, upon ‘Men, Women, .Sweethearts, and Homes.’ ' “July 14th—Mr. Hewctson, a fellow (passenger, entertained us with a lecture on ‘Life in New Zealand,’ in which were set forth some of the many difficulties that were likely to beset those whose intention it was to go into the bush.

“July 15.—Our Volunteers were again ordered up for drill, but as the ship was rolling heavily we accomplished but a small part of our exercises ere we were sent by the word ‘Attention!’ from our captain downwards, into the lee

scuppers. .... At about ton p.m.. I was awakened suddenly by a noise and confusion on the ma-in-deck, and on going towards the spot, I found a crowd of persons in a state of consternation and excitement in consequence of the insubordination of two sailors, named. Burrell and Flemming. ’ It appeared that they had had a ‘drop too much’ given them by some of the passengers, which, as is too frequently the case, required another, ‘drop too much’ to balance the ‘spirit level,* and to obtain this they sought to levy q contribution on (.laptain Rich; but meeting with a refusal, one of them instantly inflicted a severe blow on the captain's face, which caused the blood io flow freely. The captain was led to his cabin, and after his wound had been dressed he ordered that his assailants should be placed in irons. The carrying out of this order led to a scene of indescribable confusion. Placing themselves in an attitude of resistance, the men avowed their determination not to be seized, and it was not without much difficulty that they were secured. Dr. Hooper had to rush forward, pistol in hand, at the same time calling on the passengers for help, to effect the capture. After an hour's excitement, however, quiet wan. restored, and 1 again betook myself to bed on the main-deck. “July 19th.—We are now out of the tropics. The passengers were much gratified with the sight of a prettily-marked bird called the Cape Pigeon. The noble albatross was also an object of •admiration and wonder to those of us who had not seen it before.

“July 25th.—Extremely bad weather, with-rain and hail. Among the incidents of the day were the catching of a Ca-pe Pigeon and the stealing of a Dutch cheese from Mr. Mason by some unknown thief.

“July 28th. —To-day brought us a delightful change, except that, the entire absence of wind arrested our speed, and

left us to the sunbeams sporting on the almost unrippled surface of the ocean. In the evening it was rumoured that Mrs. Atkins had taken poison in mistake for water. This proved to have been the case, and it was only by the skill and prompt exertions of the doctor that she was saved from a dread ful death. August 2. —Passed the meridian of t-he (‘ape, and ran down our easting between parallels 40 and 50 south. Continued to experience rough weather for several days. . “August 15th. —Rose and beheld, for the first time in my life, one of those seas so often spoken of as ‘running mountains high.’ Truly it was an aweinspiring sight. At one time we appear ed to be rushing headlong into the fathomless abyss of waters, and at the next- we rose majestically en the crest of the seething billows. An I yet. as the sea was with us, we were said to lie in no danger. “The 18th had scarcely dawned ere it was announced that the good ship Hanover had another passenger and Mrs. Scott another son. August 19th.—This evening we had a lecture on ‘Teetotalism,’ bv the Rev. Mr. Davis. “The same unsettled conditions prevailed until the 23rd. when we had magnificent weather, enabling the ship to carryall her canvas, end tos-ud along in dashing style. This was the birthday of our respected captain, and the occasion was honoured by a salute of three guns. The Hanover Rifles mustered on the quarter-deck, presented arms, and the •captain was presented with a congratulatory address from the passengers. In the evening there was a display of fireworks under the direction of Mr. Hibbard, the chief mate. “August 24th.—‘A terrible storm. To get on deck without being tossed down a couple of times was out of the question. The weather increased to a hurricane in the afternoon. Two lady passengers were thrown down and washed from one side of tffie deck to the other with a couple of cows. The cow-house was washed overboard. The same evening the infant child of Mr. Graham, nine months old. died, and was committed to the deep—the only Death deprived us of during the wdiole of the voyage. ‘■■After this we 'had good weather. The Hanover Band, which had been formed some six weeks before—two violins, two cornets, French horn, trombone, drum (made on board), cymbals (also maun faetured on the ship), and the bass instruments represented by combs—marched round the ship to entertain the passengers. September 4th.—The bugle sounded the assembly, and 86 single men in best attire assembled for an evening's en'.joyment, supper having been provided in their honour by the married people. Tin plates, tin pannikins, and tin dishes were made to do duty for similar utensils of more fragile or expensive material; but. had they been of more precious metal they could not have added materially to the pleasure of t<he gathering. Among the speakers were Mr. Hewetson (who presided), Mr. Holt, and Mr. Harris. ■September 6th. —In the early morning I heard the Welcome shout, of ‘Land ho!' for which the passenger had .been anxiously waiting some days past, as it was known we were off the coast of Tasmania. . “September 14th. —Approaching the New Zealand coast beautiful weather set in. and the following day we sighted the Three Kings. “September 17th.—With a strong westerly breeze we passed Cape Brett in the early morning. In the evening we were boarded by the pilot in the gulf, and at 10 p.m. brought to an anchorage in the harbour. The Hanover Band assembled after anchor was dropped, and. the people on shore thought a man-o’-war had come into port. “September 18th.—We landed on the Wynyard Pier with heartfelt gratitude to Almighty God for our safe arrival an New Zealand. We had at times a good deal of knocking about, 'but on the whole it must be admitted that our voyage was a cheerful one. and calculated to impress -the more thoughtful among us with many a stern but profitable lesson.”