eye_of_a_cat

This is totally worth spending all of Saturday working, and still working at half-past midnight: I'm transcribing the 1825 journal of someone sailing from Scotland to Australia in 1825. The journey takes about four months. It is fascinating and awesome, and at one point there are sharks.

Highlights!

- Santa Cruz, Madeira, in the mid-1820s:

"The natives of Santa Cruz are very indolent, & Greedy as soon as we went on shore they ran after us begging. The dress of the women is very peculiar; they have a blanket that covers the head & hangs down their back & on their head over the blanket is a hat, the same hat as is worn by the men. Camels are very common there instead of draught horses, they carry very heavily burdens on their back; the ass also in Santa Cruz is very plenty & a small kind of horse, there are no Carts there. Oxen are also in great abundance & instead of dragging by the neck they drag by the horns a sort of sledge without wheels, & upon this machine they drag their wine & water; the natives drive the horses & oxen into the sea & swim along with them to wash them."

- Hobart, Tasmania, in the mid-1820s:

"Tuesday 18th. Last night the Bush rangers were within ten miles of Hobart Town, where they had made themselves easy in a house during the day, besides committing a highway robbery. All the free inhabitants of the Town have been enlisted as volunteers to mount guard upon the different places of public buildings, in order that all the Soldiers may be in the bush in pursuit of the Bush rangers; and there are only a few Soldiers to mount Guard on the Bridewell & fort. Today where I was walking up the wharf with Mr. McLachlan, we met young Mr. Walkinshaw with his Musket, about to take shipping for Bassis Straits where a number of the volunteers are ordered to look for the Bush rangers. When the Prisoners of the Jail knew of the Soldiers having left Town they made an attempt to escape, but were prevented on the alarm being made, when several of the bricks were found extracted from the Wall."

- Life at sea (stormy):

"Wednesday 1st June. Blowing hard with a very heavy sea with difficulty could sit at table on accot. of ship rollling, broke a number of dishes. Thursday 2d. the wind not much less, but heavy seas running. Mr. Dudgeon still in bed. The Irish stew that was set on table for the children's dinner rolled off the table & lost on the Cabin floor a great quantity came into my berth."

- Life at sea (stormy in a useful way):

"Sunday 3d July. We had a light breeze of wind, and went along very well. Soon after breakfast went on deck & saw a very fine large ship at a great distance. The heat now is very strong, all the Cabin passengers remain on deck till very late, the heat is so oppressive in the Cabin. Monday 4th July Light winds during the day & in the evening experienced a Thunder Storm. The Lightning was very vivid and the flashes were very numerous. The Thunder was very loud. The rain was so heavy that I never saw the like of it, and as soon as Capt. observed the rain, he caused the awning be spread to preserve the rain for drinking, and I put on my great coat, went on deck & lent a hand to fill the buckets along with Mr. Fisher & young Mr. [unclear], & remained on deck til a late hour. The rain that came through the awning very soon pierced my old fur cap & had it not been for my great coat, I would have been drenched to the skin. We are now in sight of the Southern Croſs."

- Life at sea (don't pester the staff):

"Capt. Barwick in his letter requested me to annoy very seldom the Capt. of the ship with questions, as sailors are not fond of being troubled with questions; & for which reason I cannot give the Latitude & Longitude."

- Life at sea (or the other passengers):

"J. McDougall from Glasgow goes about here with the same air of impudence as he had done nothing wrong and his daughters and wife go dressed in the first rate style, with peach blossom gowns Leghorn heels trimmed with white ribbons & white or black veils."

- And of course, the homesickness:

"During our stay (our stay) at the Orkneys the men that were on shore for water did not come till midnight, when I was awaked by the Capstone & the men singing all the tunes I used to hear at Greenock quays & to the nest "John Crow" which lightened my heart, & put me in remembrence of home."
"There are a number of very fine bells in Santa Cruz, there was one bell which was very like the high Church Bell of Edinburgh. I observed a man in Santa Cruz who I thought was very like William Glen of Largs."
"On the latter Island (St. Vincent), there is a Crag very like Salisbury Crags."
"Hobart Town is something like Port Glasgow, where every thing is through the Town in a "Pigs Whisper."
"On the Coast [near Sydney] there is a conical hill, called the Pigeon house which resembles very much North Berwick Law."
"The [Millstone?] is a very large rock pretty far out from the Land, and at a distance resembled very much the Craig of Ailsa; but when close to it, it has completely the appearance of a Lion lying on the ground."
"I did not forget to drink my Father's health and all the family in a tumbler of brandy toddy being the Greenock fair day."
"The weather here [Tasmania] is very changeable, cold & chilly in the evenings generally. The weather here resembles very much the Greenock weather."

There's some irony in this: while I'm throwing myself into the world of an 1820s ship far far away, a man on that 1820s ship far far away clearly spent most of his time daydreaming about Scotland.

(Incidentally: did longitude and latitude get measured differently in the past? Because later on he does give lat/long co-ordinates, because the captain puts them up on a notice every day, but when I look them up they're not even close to where the ship should be, so unless the crew were just fucking with people I think something's not adding up. For example: Lat 43.33, Lon 73.35 should be well past the Cape of Good Hope, but turns out to be somewhere in Kazakhstan. Eh?)