Copied by his daughter Charlotte from loose pages, some of which were out of order and some missing, especially the concluding pages from 21st July 1838 until the time of arrival in Sydney on the 17th October 1838. Charlotte's copy is now in the hands of her niece, Mary MacFarlane of New Zealand.

 

THE YEAR 1838

 I applied for an appointment in the Australian Church, which I finally received the promise of and accepted on Friday the 5th March.  March 30th being Friday, left the vicarage at Faringdon that the sale of my furniture might take place, and went to pass the rest of my stay in the Parish with Mr Bennet and his family.  April 1st: preached my farewell sermon in Faringdon to an evening congregation and on the following morning took leave of the cure and went to Tetbury by the eleven o'clock coach to join Maria and the children there.   

On Wednesday the 11th April at about 10 minutes after 10 in the morning

again left Tetbury in a Post Chariot with Maria and my little ones - on our way to London we passed through Faringdon once more where we took up Mary Anne Harding.  We then proceeded by Mr Pratley's Chariot to The Mitre of Oxford and thence to Thame where we passed the night.  On the following morning about 1 o'clock we went out by coach to Tring and thence to London by the railway.  From London we all got into an omnibus and hastened on to Poplar and had the satisfaction of finding my Mother and sisters all well.

 

Wednesday May 9th left Poplar with Maria and the children in the afternoon and took a lodging for them at No. 20 Burr St., St Katherine Docks where we remained till half past six the following Wednesday, at which time we embarked in the "Eden" in the St, Katherine Docks which we left the next morning early and proceeded to Gravesend where Plater joined us late in the afternoon.  He continued with us till two o'clock on Saturday, about which time a note arrived informing me of Charlotte's confinement.

 

Sunday May the 20th.  Between 11 and 12 we set sail, the wind being brisk, and anchored again towards evening.  The next morning we weathered the foreland and ran some way down channel.  25th: passed the Channel Islands.  Sunday June 3rd Whitsunday:  Read prayers at 11 o'clock on deck and after prayers preached my sermon on the text  "Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God".  We were at that time about 500 miles to the northeast of the Island of Madiera.  The day was fine and tranquil enough to admit of our being sufficiently at our ease.  In the afternoon brought little Fannie upon deck - she has been for the week past very unwell, I fear with the measles - and some of the other children appear to be sickening for them.  Towards evening we fell in with a shoal of porpoises of which the boatswain contrived to take one with the harpoon.  Monday June 4th: After we had taken tea this evening the boatswain caught another porpoise.  This morning at breakfast I tasted a steak cut from the one which we took yesterday.  Again brought little Fanny upon Deck for about an hour at noonday.

 

Tuesday June 5th: Shoals of Bonita around the ship all day - a vessel in sight bearing up for Madiera which we all suppose to be a Portuguese brig of war.  Wednesday June 6th: My sister Fanny's birthday.  This morning ourselves and fellow passengers were considerably alarmed about little Fanny's disorder which some of us suppose to be the smallpox - The Captain received into his vessel a Second Mate and a sailor shortly before we left England who were only then recovering from that pestilential disease - for which (if he did it knowingly) he deserves every punishment which the severest laws of man could inflict. In the afternoon passed two large sharks being about 160 miles north east of Madiera - one was struck at however by the Boatswain on Monday last.

 

Thursday June 7th:  This morning went on deck about 8 o'clock and we saw Porto Santo with its range of peaks some way to the east of us and Madiera about the same distance ahead.  We kept nearing the north west end of this beautiful Island till about 3 o'clock p.m. when we came close abreast of and saw some of the Quintas and their surrounding gardens and vineyards distinctly enough.  On approaching the Isle we saw on the north or northwest of it a great gap in the mountainous ridge down which a valley seemed to recede for far into the interior and lose itself at last in a background.  - For several days past we have seen the nautilus float by us and today I saw the first flying fish which has been observed during our voyage.

 

June 8th: Saw in the evening some Grampuses - one however was seen about a week ago by Mrs Jones, a passenger.

 

Saturday June 9th:  Rose early and went on deck.  it was raining at the time, but the rain soon ceased - about 9 o'clock the sky cleared up and the day became delightful.  It was about noon when Maria and I brought little Fanny who, thank God, appears much better, up on deck - and shortly after Maria sent Bessie to congratulate me on my birthday.  I am now, by God's good mercy 34 years of age, having been born about 4 o'clock on Saturday morning the 9th June 1804 in my Aunt McKenzies' house in the Island of Jamaica.  This time 12 months ago I little expected to be sailing abreast of the Canary Islands, on my way to so distant a home.  My poor dear old Mother was then with me at Faringdon.  God grant that by my next birthday, should it please Him to let me see another, she may be with me again.  It was the last time she was ever in my house - Fanny had been staying with her in London, and being taken ill and continuing so for some weeks she brought her down to see what her native air would do for her.  I have been thinking of my poor old Mother all the afternoon with a heavy, heavy, heart, but cheered never-the-less by my trust in God's merciful Providence and a reliance on the promise which Mr Price gave me before I quitted England, and the assurances which I received from her and my sisters that they would soon follow us to Australia.

 

This evening at a about a quarter to 10 the men were singing in the forecastle when the Captain came up to the gangway where several of us were standing, and in a very loud and a harsh voice desired a light which they had, to be put out and their singing to be discontinued - The men however required a second order before the light was extinguished and continued to sing in darkness upon which the Captain fell into a transport of rage, went to the other gangway , held up his fist to the men, vowed that he would blow out the brains of the first man who disobeyed him, and in a manner less ridiculous than his words were brutal, he ended by exclaiming "There, what do you think of that now? There!” and snapped his fingers.  I never before saw so much mean spiritedness and rampart ferocity combined with ignorance and pride as I have witnessed in him.  By such qualities it was of course impossible for the men's dispositions to meeting should be repressed - the brutality evinced by the Ship's Master tended only to kindle the brute propensities of our nature in the crew - and they proceeded to irritate him while he continued impotently to taunt them till at last he went down into the cabin to arm himself.  There he got a pistol out of which the steward had taken the flint and Mr Okeden, I believe, the powder of the priming; and to boot a cutlass with which he strutted half drunk, or nearly so, up and down the deck, reminding me of Don Quixote keeping guard over his arms.  I forgot to mention that before he thus equipped himself, I went forward with him among the men where he accused one of having applied a very improper term to him, which accusation the man was to refute upon oath.  In spite however of his denial he seized the man, declaring he would have him put in chains; upon which some others of the crew manifested their intention to rescue the accused and desired that he would put them all in into irons or none.  At this juncture Mr Okeden came up and after some further altercation our infuriated hero returned to the quarterdeck, shortly afterwards to make an awful demonstration of armed power.

 

Sunday June 10th:  This morning at about a quarter past 11 had prayers (at which the crew refused to attend) and preached half my first sermon.  After service was over, the Master of the ship brought a book up out of the cabin, laid it upon the Capstan and desired the passengers to attend, then read to us from it the clause of the Act stating that in the event of necessity passengers are to be considered a portion of the ship's crew, and if desired by the Master must afford him their assistance.  He then ordered the men aft and expressed his determination to put into irons the man whom he threatened last night. The man still denied the charge brought against him, and Mr Okeden declared that he heard another, whom he pointed out, make use of the expression.  (This  man was at the wheel).  The Captain, seeing that his imputation was now likely to be disproved, with the most ludicrous air exclaimed, that no doubt both had been guilty of using the word in question.  Of all the seamen (3 or 4) to whom he appealed, no one was willing to iron the supposed offender or to see him in irons, and affairs were beginning to assume a serious aspect when I fortunately proposed that the crew should in a body apologise to the Captain for the offence which had been given, and that the Captain should accept of their apology and be content - the thing succeeded and so the quarrel between the Master and his men was brought to a peaceful issue.

 

Monday June 11th:  This morning we found ourselves in regular trade winds progressing delightfully.  It is now all but determined that we touch at the Cape Verde Isles.

 

Tuesday June 12th:  Last night after all the other passengers had retired I had a conversation with the Captain which lasted for 2 hours I should imagine.  It began on deck at the larboard gangway and ended in the grand cabin at about midnight.  In it, I endeavoured to impress upon his mind the necessity of acting with greater mildness of manner towards the his crew - and informed him that if he did not, evil consequences would be the result, for the crew appear to be a very determined set of fellows.  I told him also that perceiving his harshness of temper and apprehending ill treatment, they had all bound themselves by oath not to permit him to put one man capriciously into irons without compelling him to put all - upon which vow it appears they acted on Sunday.  When I first heard of their having made it, I thought it through mere bravado and little imagined that they would act upon it, or indeed, have occasion to do so - Sed nos decipimur salpientes. The Captain appeared to be considerably influenced by what I said to him, and I hope that he will eventually prove to have been so.  He harps much upon his authority and seems to think that all must not only bow to it, but support it. - I assured him however that his passengers were of opinion that they could only do that in the event of its being reasonably and justly exercised - It is an awful consideration that at the bidding of a madman the law requires us to take arms and shed a brother's blood too, in defence of his authority.

 

Thursday June 14th:  At 8 o'clock I went on deck and saw the Islands of Cape Verde in sight: there was one lofty one on the Lee beam which the Captain said was Sal, but there were others ahead which convinced us that he was wrong.  Mr Miller at length succeeded in proving to him that he was quite out of his reckoning, and had made the leeward instead of the windward cluster!  The Island we were off turned out to be St Antonio - the next we ran by was St Vincent, the residence of the Bishop  - the next, St Lucia.  We then tacked, having Kara ahead together with San Nicholls without being in hopes of weathering it, and sailed through the Channel between San Antonio and St Vincent into the open ocean -  passing a wild sequestered looking bay in the latter Island.  The west side presents another, if I may judge from what I saw through the shadow of the twilight, but less open and enclosed by more ragged hills.

 

Friday June 15th:  About 12 made St Iago's for which we hauled up on leaving San Antonio, and in the afternoon got close in with land passing Iago and having a distant view of it.  This Island is not so lofty, but more ragged and less fertile if possible in appearance than San Antonio and its associates.  The high lands of of San Antonio overtop the clouds which gathered round it when the evening closed in, but those of St Iago were concealed by them.  I never however beheld a wilder scene than its coasts presented - it was a panorama of peak and ravine.  Towards evening we saw distinctly a house on shore and presented after a light kindled in it.  At midnight we lay to, desiring to enter Porto Praya in the morning - but at 4 o'clock the Captain went on deck (Saturday a.m.), put the ship under sail and stood away from the land; about 8 he again stood in for it, but without fetching so good a point as that we left when we tacked; and at 12 he tacked again and put the ship into her course, renouncing the idea of putting into Port Praya, and compelling us all to forgo the luxury and benefit of such tropical fruits as the Island furnishes.  I never sailed with such a bungler in my life as he is.

 

Sunday June 17th:  In the morning had prayers and preached the remainder of my first sermon of which I gave first half on Sunday last.  After dinner the Captain in conversation with Mr Okeden observed aloud, with I believe the intention that I should hear him (for I was sitting next to Mr Okeden) that he would never again receive children into his ship.  Upon which I remarked that I suppose that he meant what he said in allusion to my children.  This put him into a most towering rage during which he had the insolence to ask me how I dared to interfere between him and another passenger and interrupt their conversation.  He added that I treated him "very insolently", and threatened to confine me to my cabin.  I bid him do what he darst and told him that I should punish him for his conduct the moment that we arrived at Sydney.

 

Wednesday June 20th:  Yesterday morning a sail was in sight to leeward of us - during the day she hauled up to windward and in the evening just before tea, she bore down to speak.  She proved to be the ship St Vincent of London bound for China - she was lying in the West India Docks when I was at Poplar and had put to sea 5 weeks ago.  She appeared light and to have no passengers on board.  This morning, the ship still in sight, and a brig which came in sight yesterday afternoon or evening, and to boot, a bark which Mr Noble supposed to be the Mayflower.  Our latitude yesterday at noon was 9-41 north, according to Mr McMillan the Chief Mate's account.  This morning I bathed in a tub for the first time during the passage and had Bessie and Annie to bathe with me.  Several of the men jumped overboard for it was calm.  I longed to be with them and enjoy a swim, but I was afraid of the sharks.  Yesterday morning I bathed Bessie, Annie, Charlotte and Robert all for the first time - the two latter are worried by an eruption which is said to be the prickly heat, and for which sea-bathing is recommended.  They appear a little better this morning. 

 

Thursday June 21st:  Two of the vessels which were in company with us yesterday continued so during the night and were in sight this morning at 6 o'clock, but by the time I got on deck (about 8 a.m.) they had disappeared - at least to the naked eye.  Put on this morning a pair of moleskin trousers which belonged I fancy to my poor Uncle William.  They were last washed in my native Island; they will, if at all, be next washed in the region of Earth perhaps of all others the most remote from it.  I got them out of the chest of linen etc. which was taken out of the hold for us on Monday or Tuesday last.  In the 24 hours ending at noon yesterday we had made only 8 mile's progress towards the South and therefore our destination.  We were in Latitude 9-33 North.  Throughout the day we had almost a dead calm with the thermometer (or "therometer" as the Captain calls it) at 85 in the shade of the coolest cabin on board.  (I suppose the Captain derives the word from "summer").

 

Friday June 22nd:  This morning about 11 a.m. Mr K. Skinner the steerage passenger's dog (a white rough haired terrier) snapped at Annie and hurt her a little over and about the left eye, grazing the lid so as to make the blood start a little but not to flow.  Near the temple there were likewise two slight abrasions of the skin but not sufficient to let the blood escape.

 

Sunday June 24th:  Second after Trinity - prayers and sermon "When I was a child" etc.  This morning it appeared that we had lost during the last 24 hours six miles of our Southing.  The Captain conjectures that there is a strong Northwesterly current against him.  Our latitude yesterday was 7-10 North - today it is said to be 7-17 North.  The dog seems to have bruised Annie's eye considerably.  After washing it on Friday I sucked the scratch well to extract any evil properties of the bite.

 

Monday June 25th:  Last night between 10 and 11 we neared a bark which had been in sight the last few days, when she showed a light and came abreast of us.  We backed the mizzen topsail, when she tacked again and ran ahead of us; she after that fell astern, not noticing our light that we set up for the second time, but passed to leeward and then hailed us.  She proved not to be the Mayflower as we had supposed, but the Isabella from Dantzig and last from Portsmouth - bound for Rio Janiero.  She had been 42 days at sea from the latter place I believe, and made her longitude 1 hour 14 minutes west from Greenwich.  We had some difficulty in comprehending each other, for she had no one on board who spoke English well, and we could not make them understand that the Captain wished them to show a light and compare chronometers.  Her silence and somewhat unintelligible manoeuvres aided by darkness invested her in some of our eyes with all the horrors which belong to a pirate, and there began to be some uneasiness among our landsmen to whom her tacking and veering about so mysteriously was anything but agreeable.  This morning she followed in our wake about 6 miles astern.  In the afternoon a vessel appeared far to leeward over the larboard bow.  In the evening a brisk breeze came on with every appearance of a commencing gale.  The clouds behind us were dark and the crescent moon was cushioned upon them, at a times buried among them, throwing fitful gleams of light upon patches of the heaving ocean.  Took Maria on deck to witness the mingled sublimity and beauty of the scene.

 

Tuesday June 26th:  Yesterday evening late, that is between 7 and 8, a ship was seen through the twilight right ahead and close to us - as she was pursuing a course apparently contrary to ours she was supposed to be a homeward -bound vessel.  This morning the Prussian bark which has now been in company with us for more than a week was only a few miles from us over the leeward bow.  She tacked, however, about 8  o'clock and crossed over to windward pursuing a westerly and therefore a better course.  In the afternoon a ship appeared in sight but the bark had vanished.  She was past and gone before she had been 3 hours on the westerly tack.

 

Wednesday June 27th:  Again in sight and not far distant was this morning a Prussian bark.  The ship also within the scope of vision but as rapidly disappearing as a dead calm will permit.  In the forenoon a boat was lowered to try the currentwhich was found to be setting a knot and a quarter to the northeast.  The latitude today is 6-51 north, which places us in a much worse position than the one which we occupied the day before yesterday - yesterday we could obtain no sight,

 

Thursday June 28th:  Yesterday we saw some dolphins and sharks; of the latter we caught two, one about 5 ft long and another about 2.  To the first was attached a couple of Remora or sucking fish.

 

(Note by daughter Charlotte, who copied the journal - "Here I have missed several pages containing an account of unpleasant quarrelling between the Captain and passengers chiefly owing to the children in our family, 5 under seven and two of them in arms")

 

This morning a vessel was, I believe, in sight which I wish to goodness I could get on board and be away with.  The Master of the ship does all he can to make my life and my wife's disagreeable to us.  Patience however and a good courage aided by a reliance on God will, I hope, suffice to carry me through all the trials which I have now to undergo.

 

June 29th: (Charlotte's note - "More quarrelling which is not worth putting down".)

 

July 2nd:  Yesterday preached my sermon on the Lord's Prayer, which today after dinner the Captain formally accused me of having levelled at him.  It is not the first time he has taxed me with preaching at him - the truth is that the poor fellow is tormented by his own evil thoughts and everything one says or does he suspects said or done against him.  He perceives that he is detested by all on board, both passengers and seamen, and this too helps to make him more restless and suspicious.  It was but an evening or two ago that he said that all of us were contending against him, upon which I told him that it would no longer be the case if he would but prove that he was not resolved to contend against us all.  By "contend" he meant to dispute and be at enmity - I have myself had several disputes with him, but God knows I believe myself to have been in the right in each instance.  The first quarrel I had with him was about the food that he gave Laura and Lubecki - All our other quarrels have been directly or indirectly about the children.  I could go to loggerheads with but a few men in the world, for I abhor dissension, but with him it is impossible to be on terms.  Only the other day, when I was lecturing Mary Anne for a falsehood which she had been telling, with Mrs Duffus sitting beside me, he came up and interfered - bidding the servant to take a seat in the presence of her mistress, which

 

I instantly desired her to relinquish.  He pretends to represent the girl as being not under my direction but rather under his in virtue of his being Captain as he styles himself of the vessel.  His conduct towards Mary Anne ha been not only ridiculous but disgraceful.

 

(Charlotte's note:  "Here follows again several pages more of disputing between the Captain, his passengers and men.  It ends in his apologising and its being accepted provided he no longer annoyed them all.")

 

Wednesday July 4th:  We are now upon an allowance not only of water but of beer, also, which in these hot latitudes is a dreadful thing.  Beer is now only given us at dinner.  They who like may drink spirits and water, but that beverage will not do for me.  Yesterday evening being very thirsty I tried it, taking a tumbler and a half of Hollands and water, but being unaccustomed to the sort of thing it has had a stronger effect upon my stomach than I could have expected and left me quite squeamish today.  Its power was aided perhaps by a little bit of tobacco which I smoked in a twist of paper.

 

However I had fine fun to compensate me for it - it was about half-past 10 at night when Mr Simpson and myself came down to the cuddy to obtain something to drink.  Seated side   by side by side with a glass of spirits and water each, we gossiped long in undertoned whisper, chiefly about the Master of the ship and his absurd conduct to Mary Anne and scoundrelly attack in so clandestine a manner on Mr S's character.

 

We were soon joined by Mr Millar when the conversation assumed a louder tone and turned upon duelling.  Fired with the remembrances of my foolish days I related my exploits with the ball and pistol and freely was giving my opinion on the practice of duelling when the Captain entered the cuddy and joined us.  I loudly deprecated the the custom of shooting a fellow for mere honour's sake - or for anything indeed except the first law of nature, the law of self defence - under which I brought the protection of a wife or child, against the villainy of a seducer - as of things dearer even than life to a man of feeling. 

 

I must here remark that a few evenings since, the Captain had had some words with Mr Millar chiefly about Mary Anne, when the Captain used some language which Mr Millar roundly hinted he would not endure without resenting at some future moment.  On the next morning (Sunday) the Captain (who is quite a a hero at heart although a bully) called Mr M. from deck into the Cuddy, while scarcely any of the passengers had risen, and there begged him to give him his hand, and apologising for what had taken place the night before, hoped that he would forget and forgive whatsoever had been said amiss.  Mr M. at his entreaty promised he would do so, but only on the condition of his promising there should be no further rudeness offered either to himself or to any other of the passengers. - This circumstance with Mr M's bearing through it had inspired our heroic Captain with something like an awe of him, and such feeling was most ludicrously displayed in his countenance when, in reply to the remarks of my own to which I have just alluded, he heard Mr M. observe that he thought that if a man insulted you, you ought to shoot him.  "What - shoot him for a mere insult?" said I or Mr Simpson.  "Aye, shoot him like a dog" replied Mr M with emphasis, and looked the meaning that he uttered.  Upon hearing this the usual smirk that adorns the Captains's face in good humour suddenly forsook it.  He glanced sidelong at Mr M., then astoundingly at me and Mr S., then at Mr M. again and seemed to say and as well as he could without words "This is a dangerous fellow to deal with  - that quarrel the other night was a very ugly matter". - Mr Simpson in the meanwhile with me saw through Mr Millar's intentions, sipped his brandy toddy, suppressed a smile as well as he was able and supported Mr M's view of the necessity imposed by the nature of the thing on a man to shoot another who presumes to insult him.  The Captain looked into his glass for courage and tried what a gulp of brandy would do to give composure to his countenance, or at least that natural aspect which sometimes counterfeits composure - and then first dropping his eyes dropped a word or two about his own skilful method of handling the instruments of death.  We all laughed at him outright, ridiculed his pretence to skill and mocked him for the bad example of it which he had given us the week before; and so went on the babbling conversation till it now wanted little more than a quarter to 12 when we all retired.

 

Yesterday a homeward-bound vessel hailed in sight.  It proved to be the Stratford.  The Captain asked us if we had any newspapers on board, which we answered in the affirmative.  Upon this he came on board of us, and thank God we had the opportunity of sending letters to England.

 

July 7th:  Yesterday the Master observed that Alick, the man at the wheel broached the vessel several times to the wind; upon which he examined him and found him to be drunk.  Being ordered to quit the helm he refused to do so and the Master was obliged to take him by the shoulders and push him forward but without much violence.  About a half hour afterwards as I was sitting in the cuddy I heard a rush overhead and immediately ran up to see what had caused it.  I had left Bessie and Annie swinging on ropes tied up to the spanker boom when I came off the deck and as I went up the companion stairs I saw a crowd apparently leaning over the lee quarters, and as the mizzen mast and safe hid the children from me, I at the moment was seized with the fear that one of them had gone overboard.  Darting forward however I saw Annie still swinging as carelessly as could be, and Bessie not much more concerned standing on the hen coop to look at what was passing before her.  The tumult had been occasioned by the drunken man's returning aft and insisting on being reinstated in his duty at the wheel.  The second Mate in his attempt to turn him forward again met with resistance - the Captain ran up to aid him and Mr M. followed the Captain.  The latter in the scuffle which ensued received a kick in the stomach which laid him on his back.  The Captain was repulsed and others had just come to grapple with the offender when I got up on the deck.  My first duty was to seize the children and drag them in spite of much remonstrance on their part into the cuddy.  They were both intensely anxious to continue spectators of the row, but Annie was so particularly, and was very clamorous to learn what was meant by a drunken man.

 

When I again went up on deck I found the sailor overpowered and Mr Okeden in the act of putting him into irons.  At this instant the boatswain came aft followed by the rest of the seamen and rescued their messmate out of the hands of Mr O. and those who were assisting him, saying as he interfered "No, I defy this - come if you please, we'll have nothing of this sort on board of this ship".  As he and his companions took the drunken man away, the Captain, who had been standing aloof from the struggle bid them take him to his bed and lash him there for the night.  No sooner was the bustle over than everyone among the passengers began to comment upon the mutinous language and conduct of the boatswain - Mr Okeden especially spoke severely of his behaviour and declared that he never would interfere again, how much so ever his interference might be called for during the voyage.  After much had been said and the matter well considered it was resolved to leave the affair where it was for the night and to arm ourselves in the morning and put the boatswain into chains.  The night, which was unusually brilliant and serene was spent by many of us for the most part on deck.  Full of our project I retired between 12 and 1 to my cabin and woke this morning about 7.

 

By 8 I was on deck again and there found several of my fellow passengers who were discussing in a suspicious undertone of voice the events that were expected to transpire within an hour or two.  It had been prearranged that nothing was to be said or done before breakfast.  We accordingly awaited the morning's meal with no little anxiety for resistance was expected.  At length the bell rang for breakfast, and scarcely was it over before we were all in a bustle of preparation.  It was begun by Mr Okeden who had been a midshipman in the Glasgow at the battle of Navarine.  In reply to a question about a moments delay the Captain said that he was waiting for Mr Simpson who had gone into his cabin to put a blunderbuss in order.  I may as well then say that Mr Okeden rising from the table put the charge into my pistols.  In fact, a minute after, the ramrod was heard wedging the bullets down.  This seemed to be a signal for us all.  I went up on deck to fetch Laura and her child down to be with Maria - Mrs Okeden and Mrs Jones came out of the after cabins which they occupied - my sister sat just at the door within mine, and my wife on the box just without it with little Robert on her knee.  Laura peeped out from time to time to see what her husband who had just come down to join us was about.  Maria, Mrs O. and Mrs J. looked on the scene around them with alarm - Mary Anne stood leaning against the cuddy wainscot by Mr M. with Charlotte in her arms and seemed not to know what to make of what was going on, while the steward and his assistant were busied in taking the boarding pikes and tomahawks from their places and putting them down into the lazaret with such other weapons as we should not use, that they might be out of the seamen's reach in the event of their forcing their way down below.

 

At this stage of the affair a report was brought aft that the men were arming themselves with hand spikes and other implements with redoubled energy for fear our antagonists should take it into their hands to act upon the offensive rather than wait for our assault.  Mr Skinner, a tall stout athletic steerage passenger now added himself to our party, bringing to us no trifling accession of physical force.  Though Quaker, he acceded to the necessity of self-defence and with an expression characteristic of his sect declined a pistol or a sword, but said, laying his hand upon a boarding pike, that he would take one of these stout walking sticks.  Mr O. now came out of his cabin with his coat and waistcoat off, a leather belt buckled round his trousers instead of braces and a pistol stuck into it, and a sword in his hand which was made to serve a double purpose, being fitted to the hand and also to a rifle on which it answered for a bayonet.  Mr Millar sat deliberately in his usual seat at the table adjusting a silk handkerchief as a sword knot to a cutlass - I followed his example with a bit of whip cord.  Mr Jones sallied from his stateroom with an old navy regulation sword; - and after many a flint and steel had been snapped for the trial and our firearms loaded the Captain went on deck.  Presently after he called to us from the head of the companion stairs to come up - Mr M. armed with a cutlass and one of Mr O's pistols led the way - Mr O. followed - then someone else, then Lubecki with another of his pistols which he carried in his right hand while a cutlass occupied the left.  Then myself, dodging from side to side at every step to avoid the muzzle of his pistol which was still at every step in my face - and the others of our party as each could make his way.  The first sight which met our view, to no discomfiture of the martial spirit which had been excited, was the solitary boatswain sitting on the hen coop and unresisting holding out his wrists to receive their allotted irons!

 

I went up in the alarm which I think every man must feel at the idea of perhaps finding himself compelled to shed the blood of fellow creatures who are not at enmity with him, not unmixed with the sort of self reproach which is felt at arming oneself against those who have no arms within their reach, or none at least that are adequate; but the moment I set foot on deck and perceived that we had been arming not against opposition but against our own apprehension I felt that an air of ridicule was thrown over the whole affair.  However, we did right, for by intimidation we perhaps quelled a spirit of resistance which might otherwise have risen up and it is much better and more truly courageous too to dare to look ridiculous than place oneself even by possibility, under the necessity of taking a brother's life.  I looked around me with much more tranquility than I had experienced for some hours before, but pity now began to take the place of those other more serious feelings.

 

The unhappy boatswain was led in handcuffs down the cuddy stairs where he sat in dogged silence, an object of painful commiseration to every one that passed him.  About noon he was removed into a Steward's berth, and at the Captain's request I visited him a little before 3 and stayed with him till dinner bells were ringing.  From some expressions which he had dropped when the irons were first put on him it was believed that he was rather the instrument of others than the ringleader of mutiny himself.  I insinuated as much and exhorted him not to suffer unjustly for those who it was believed had spurred him on with assurances of support, and then deserted him in his hour of trial; but he implicated no one and seemed to bear all the blame himself.  I then told him how much we regretted to see him in his present predicament, and enquired whether the chains hurt him.  Upon this. he burst into tears and sobbed aloud - he said that they did, and from the manner in which he had been fettered to the floor and was unable to lie down.  I told him I would speak to the Captain and have the pain and hindrance which he complained of remedied as soon as possible, and exhorted him to support his present circumstances by religious considerations, and to endeavour to use the solitude of his confinement as he ought, by repenting the past and forming good resolutions for the future.  He received my exhortation in a becoming manner and appeared to be by no means careless about religion.

 

After assuring me that he always carried to sea with him a Bible and a prayer book which he had received in some Indian prison, he gave me the following account of the circumstances under which he came to be put in it  :- A few years ago, having landed with a boat's crew at Calcutta or Bombay he went in company with a Manila man into a a public house to drink.  When the drinking was over, some dispute arose, and on coming out of the public house the Manila man attacked him with a knife which he succeeded in snatching out of his hand.  They then went to work with fists and fought 7 rounds, in consequence of which the Manila man died on the following morning.  The boatswain was taken and cast into prison where he awaited his trial, and by some means or another his condemnation also.  The day appointed for his execution arrived and he was brought actually to the gallows when a reprieve for him arrived.

 

He told me this story that he might assure me that even as a condemned felon in an Indian prison he had never been so cruelly chained as at present.  He told also that he was a married man respectably connected in England, having a brother who was a wealthy tradesman in London, and added that he had been a second mate for some years and could produce the highest testimonials in favour of his character.  Upon this I left him convinced that he felt rather injured than erring, and reported after dinner the material points of my conversation with him to the Captain and my fellow passengers.

 

After dinner he was brought out of the steward's berth (which is a very dungeon indeed), to have his chains exchanged for others that would hamper and gall him less.  During the operation the Captain stood over him with a cutlass, and a long altercation ensued between them.  He was committed to his place of confinement, but not an hour had elapsed before some of the passengers interceded and the Captain at their request accepted an apology and had him brought upon deck and disencumbered of his chains.  The intercessors were Mr J., Mr O., Mr S., and myself and thus ended this seriocomic affair.

 

 

Sunday July 8th:  Crossed the Equator today. Neptune was prohibited from coming on board at which his satellites were not a little disappointed.  We were previously informed of the prohibition which had been laid on his Marine Majesty.  A contribution however is to be levied for the sailors, towards which I am to give 15s in consideration of my wife and family.  Preached a sermon, which I copied, by Dr Hawkins the Provost of Oriel.

 

July 9th:  The South East trade winds waft us merrily along, and we are all in high spirits at the thoughts of being on the other side of the Line.

 

July 11th:  Amused ourselves by singing on deck at night.  Mr H. sang "On the Banks of Allen Water", a favourite old thing which brought to mind Hastings and my happier days when I used to sing it with a lighter heart than I shall ever have again, in the midst of friends whom I never may see again.  We were young and thoughtless at that time with the exception of my poor old mother, whom may God bless and comfort during our separation.  But now we have all entered upon the laborious duties of life and are scattered God knows, none else knowing, how and whither.  Of almost all my early friends and companions I may truly say that I exclaim "Where are they?"  Echo answers "Where are they?"

 

July 16th:  Saw the first whales which had been seen during our passage.

 

July 20th:  Last evening we took leave of torrid skies and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  During the last few days we have experienced an almost incredible change in the temperature and the seas and skies begin to assume a more dull and leaden coloured hue.  We have not yet lost the South Easterly monsoon.

 

Bessie yesterday fell backwards down the companion stairs, but thank God, the Captain, who happened to be on the stairs, caught her in his arms - she might have received some lasting injury had it not been for his providentially intercepting her in the fall.  She was running away in a fright from Mr S's dog - the same which bit Annie.

 

A few evenings ago the Captain prohibited the supply of spirits to the passengers after a given hour, by which means Mr S. was denied a glass of grog when he desired the steward to bring him one.

 

 ------------------

 

(Charlotte's note - I regret to say the rest of the journal is lost.  It continued up to our arrival in Sydney.  I read it shortly before leaving for England.")

 

 

What a great misfortune it is, so much of this journal is not available.  Mr L.K. Paszkowski, a Polish author of Melbourne in writing about Prince Alois Constantine Drucki-Lubecki in his book "Poles in Australia and Oceanea 1790-1940" stated that Prince Lubecki,  "arrived in Sydney on 17 October 1838 on board the Eden as a steerage passenger.  The ship of 419 tons, was under the command of Captain George Noble and loaded with merchandise.  She had a very rough passage from England:  The Eden sprang her foremast and crossjack yard just before she went into the Cape of Good Hope, having encountered very severe gales during that passage.  The cabin passengers also included Rev. John Duffus, Episcopalian Minister, Mrs Duffus and 5 children.... Although Lubecki and his wife came to Australia as steerage passengers, he was a Prince and a descendant of the famous Norman Prince Ruric, who was invited to govern Russia and went with his troop of Vikings during the second half of the ninth century.....In London in 1836 Lubecki married Laura Duffus, who was from an old Scottish family.  It would seem that the reason for his emigration to Australia was the influence of Rev. John Duffus, Laura's brother."

 

Charlotte, another sister of Rev. John Duffus and an older sister to Laura (and not to be confused with the daughter of the Rev. John), also in 1836, married another Polish refugee, Count Lucien de Broel Plater. They followed the family to Australia the next year, arriving in Sydney on the 7th January 1840 on the ship "Alfred" after 101 days at sea.

 

In making a copy of the journal I have shown dates in bold print, inserted paragraphs which did not appear in the copy supplied to me and in other respects have endeavoured to show punctuation marks and spelling of words as shown by that copy.

 

 

M.B. de Plater

Brisbane, September 1999