The Tailor and the Shipwright

by Robert Westphal

Your Memorialist therefore claims

  Your Excellency goodness in rendering unto him the prayer of his application and as in duty bound he will pray

  Bernard Kearns

  Sydney 3 June 1822

  While Barney thought it was a good idea it gained no traction from the Governor. He was forced back to looking after himself.

  23.

  George Atherden

  SYDNEY TOWN, 1821

  On 12 March 1821 George Atherden, a man of twenty-three, stepped ashore at Sydney Cove. He was an immigrant and had just arrived as a passenger on the convict transport ship Dick. It had been a fast nonstop voyage lasting 128 days. There had been no deaths on board.

  Atherden, like William Foster, a shipwright, hailed from Dover and had decided to migrate to New South Wales, having heard there was a shortage of shipwrights in the colony, and that there would be ample opportunities for employment and advancement for a man of his skills. He and a few other free settlers had boarded the transport ship Dick at Falmouth, Cornwall, on the southwest coast of England prior to the ship’s departure date of 4 November 1820. It was the last point of departure from England for the Dick.

  The Dick had previously taken on prisoners at Portsmouth from the two hulks Justitia and Retribution. Of the 140 convicts, half a dozen were over fifty and about fifteen were under fifteen. To safeguard the ship twenty-six soldiers from the 24th Regiment had been embarked under the command of Lieutenant Issacson of the 47th Regiment. Atherden and his fellow free settlers, when they had boarded in Falmouth, had been glad such a force would be on board to protect their lives and interests during such a long journey.

  While all the convicts had arrived in Sydney in good health, it was another story at the point of departure. When the convicts had boarded the Dick in Portsmouth on 20 September and 6 October 1820 many were suffering from extreme excoriation where their irons had rubbed their arms and legs. There was also a smattering of minor ailments such as headaches and loss of appetite soon after they arrived on the vessel. Fortunately the Dick had an able surgeon on board by the name of Robert Armstrong. During the voyage he had achieved a remarkable outcome and brought all the prisoners back to good health.

  As was his custom, Governor Macquarie inspected the prisoners on their arrival.

  Atherden stood with his bags at Sydney Cove gazing at his surroundings. He could feel it was going to be a warm day. It was early autumn but his English bones could not reconcile with the humidity in the air.

  This was a town on the move. There was a lot of noise around the waterfront as ships were loaded with woollen and whaling products, and ships from India and China were offloading cargo. The hustle and bustle of the area excited Atherden. Lots of trade meant strong demand and opportunities for a shipwright. It was an export-driven economy. The busy streets around Sydney Cove were filled with horse-drawn drays piled high with goods making their way to and from the quay. The noise of their drivers trying to access a place to unload their goods and telling each other off added to the cacophony.

  He had assumed Sydney would be a prison town. He had expected to see convicts lined up in work gangs, being whipped into action by guards. But that was not what he saw. Instead there seemed to be a high level of prosperity. Housing clustered around the waterfront. Even the area to the west of the town that Captain Harrison of the Dick had called The Rocks, now the residential area for emancipated convicts, was full of nice trim houses.

  There were more questions in his mind than answers. How had these convicts achieved so much? They seemed to be better off than the average person in Dover. They looked well fed and independent.

  It was time to stop gazing and move on. The questions could be answered later. The first thing he had to do was find some accommodation for his first week in Sydney. As soon as that was settled, and it quickly was, he went on a walk around Sydney Cove to sniff out the opportunities for a newly arrived shipwright.

  From talking with the Dick’s captain, William Harrison, Atherden had learned he should make an appointment to meet with Robert Campbell of Campbell & Co. Since his financial difficulties, Robert Campbell and his family had lived frugally but by 1820 he had begun to revive his fortune. In April 1820 he had announced the establishment of an agency and commission business. While he had not re-established his ship-owning business, many ships visited his wharf and warehouses so there were plenty of opportunities for a shipwright to repair and refurbish the ships that berthed at the Campbell & Co wharf.

  Therefore March 1821 was an opportune time to engage with Robert Campbell. Atherden made his way to the western shoreline and Campbell’s wharf. There were warehouses and an office set back from the wharf.

  After finding and informing Campbell’s wharfinger the purpose of his visit, the wharfinger told him to wait a moment, and on his return he directed Atherden straight to Campbell’s office. Atherden was surprised to be given such a swift audience. He held in his hand letters of introduction from Dover citing his years of apprenticeship and his experience.

  ‘Mr George Atherden, shipwright, I believe.’ Robert Campbell rose from his chair and shook Atherden’s hand.

  ‘That is correct, sir. I have just arrived.’ Atherden guessed Campbell was about fifty years of age. As befitting a man of his position in society, Campbell was formally dressed in knee-length breeches with stockings, hessian boots and a waistcoat topped off with a cravat. ‘Sir, thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I am making general enquiries on the opportunities for another shipwright in the colony. Sir, The Dick’s master, William Harrison, advised me to make contact with you. Would you like to see my papers?’

  ‘The man you really should talk to is Mr William Foster. I have known him for over ten years. He’s a good man and does a lot of work around here. You will find him with the recently arrived vessel Lord Sidmouth that is tied up at my wharf. I presume you have your papers in your hand. I do not need to see them, Mr Atherden. I will leave that to Mr Foster’s assessments.’

  Atherden thanked him and went to find Mr Foster.

  Lord Sidmouth was a three-masted barque and looked in reasonably good condition, Atherden thought as he approached it. He found William Foster working down below. He was propped up in a tight area trying to fit a new piece of timber in the ship’s bow. On hearing Atherden’s footfalls, William looked over his shoulder.

  ‘Excuse me, Mr Foster. My name is George Atherden. I have just arrived from England today. I was wondering if I may have a word with you when you have the time.’

  Sweat was dripping from William’s brow as he responded. ‘Mr Atherden, please call me William. I’m almost finished here. If you want to wait in the shade on the wharf I’ll be with you in twenty minutes.’

  Atherden took the opportunity to examine the wharf and the associated warehouse. Men were rushing to and fro moving goods to tenders for loading. After a while William disembarked via the gangplank from the Lord Sidmouth. He was mopping his brow as he approached Atherden.

  ‘This is the wrong time of the year to be jammed inside the bow of a ship. Atherden, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Sir, I have just arrived from Falmouth, Cornwall. I am a shipwright by trade. I met with Mr Campbell this morning in his office and he directed me to you. I have my papers with me.’

  William and Atherden continued to exchange information, William being careful to omit mentioning his convict past. This was history and it was better left in a dark corner. Every successful person in the colony focused on the present and the future. Atherden wondered whether Foster had a convict past as he had been in the colony so long but did not take the matter any further. Robert Campbell respected the man, that’s all he needed to know.

  ‘George, there is a lack of skills here across most areas of trade.’

  ‘Is that right?’

  ‘Yeah, the distances involved between ports are large,’ continued Foster. ‘All vessels must be passed seaworthy before they are allowed depart. I have more work than I can do. I’d be wi
lling to direct some of it to you.’

  ‘I’d appreciate that. It’s very good of you.’

  Atherden handed his papers to William, who briefly looked at them. William had accepted Atherden at face value. He was a polished individual. He liked the man.

  ‘Lord Sidmouth has to go out to sea within the month and we need to get her seaworthy so Campbell’s cargo can be loaded. That’d be a good place to start.’

  The men agreed on Atherden starting the next day.

  William arranged for more permanent accommodation for Atherden in a house he had recently bought on an adjoining street in The Rocks. He was proud of having become a landlord.

  Over the ensuing months William and Atherden struck up a strong friendship even though there was an age gap of some ten years. Atherden was twenty-three and William thirty-three years of age.

  As they were both now bachelors, they met up regularly after the working day at the various inns in the area to talk about technical issues and have a quiet drink. The inns around The Rocks were noisy and boisterous places, with temptation at every turn. Some nights the temptresses were too enticing to resist. There was still a very significant gender imbalance in the colony and a woman’s pacifying influence was missing.

  William was impressed with Atherden’s carpentry skills, and his strong organisational skills, which would take him places if the opportunity arose. In the meantime they were focused on the work schedule in front of them.

  Early one morning William was standing on the deck of a ship he had been working on when he noticed a rowing boat, with an older man and a young girl of about ten years of age, working its way into Sydney Cove. The older man was frantically waving his arms, trying to seek the attention of anyone on shore. Above the noise of the swirling seagulls, William heard the man’s calls for help, so he jumped into a rowboat that was tied up to Campbell’s wharf and quickly and expertly rowed across to the man. When the boats had come together William was amazed to see the older man’s boat was a third full of water.

  William stood, picked up the young girl and placed her in his own craft. The older man accepted Foster’s arm and also boarded. With the reduced weight, the older man’s boat floated higher in the water. Foster secured a rope to the bow of the partly sinking boat, bailed out most of the water and rowed both boats to the shore. The weight of the older man’s boat tested William’s strength to propel both craft forward. After much effort they arrived at the shoreline.

  Even with the reduced water in the older man’s boat it was still too heavy in the water to pull onto land. William used his bailing bucket to reduce the volume of water. Then both he and the older man dragged the boat ashore and upturned it. Both were panting and sweating when it was done.

  The older man introduced himself. ‘Tommy O’Neil and this is my daughter, Hannah. Thank you for saving us. We would have sunk if not for you.’

  ‘William Foster, shipwright, glad to be of service.’

  William examined the boat’s keel, expertly tapping his hand along the wooden structure, looking for the softness of rotting timber. Some of the timber easily gave way to his prodding, revealing the ground underneath the boat. Anastasia watched intently, admiring William’s skill.

  Foster thought O’Neil and Anastasia were really lucky in the circumstances to have got as far as they had. If the problem had happened earlier in their trip they might not be still alive.

  ‘Timbers in the keel are rotten. They’ll need replacing. Are you relying on it to get home? Where do you live?’

  ‘We’re at Hunters Meadows at Middle Harbour. Will you fix it today then? I have money on me that I hope will be enough?’

  ‘No need to worry about that yet. The important thing is we get you back on the water and back home with your girl before nightfall, eh? So here, go about your business, come back in a few hours, and she should be right.’

  With that Tommy and Anastasia set off to town. William had one of his men fix the boat. It was a simple job and by mid-afternoon the repairs had been made to William’s satisfaction.

  Tommy and Anastasia returned to Campbell’s Wharf. This time with a woman.

  ‘Mr Foster, this morning you met my daughter, Hannah,’ said O’Neil and directed his glance at the new arrival. ‘This lady is my niece, Catherine O’Neil. She’s what we came down for.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Foster. Thank you for helping this morning.’

  ‘Glad to, darlin’.’

  Tommy inspected the repairs to his boat and noticed that two new pieces of timber were now in place where the leak had appeared. He was very impressed and paid William for his time and effort. He offered William an open invitation to visit him at the farm.

  On the journey back to Hunters Meadows, Catherine O’Neil related to Tommy and Anastasia her experiences since they had last seen her.

  ‘My time as an indentured convict to Julia Dundas of Liverpool didn’t work out too well. Very difficult woman so I ran away. I did not get very far, was captured and retried. In May 1817, I was sent on Lady Nelson to Newcastle. Served an additional three years. Only now I have returned.’

  ‘You do not seem the worse for all your misfortune. We will look after you at Hunters Meadows,’ replied Tommy.

  24.

  The O’Neil Daughters

  MIDDLE HARBOUR, 1823

  It had been more than three years since Tommy O’Neil had petitioned Governor Macquarie to have his daughters brought to Sydney. Macquarie had approved his petition and Tommy’s approval was in the hands of the Irish administrators.

  Tommy waited.

  By 1823 a new governor was in charge. Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane was now running the colony.

  How they will have changed, thought Tommy! It had been twenty-three years since they had last seen each other and he knew there was no way he could recognise them. They had been tiny girls when he had been arrested in Dublin. Eliza, born in 1797, only one year older than her sister Mary Ann Bridget. Now they were grown women. Anastasia too was growing up. She would turn thirteen at the end of the year.

  He intended to take them to the farm on their arrival. He thought they would be happy to live there for a month or so but he knew it was unlikely they would want to live there permanently; Anastasia already was agitating to leave. It was too isolated with too little for them to do. They would want to be in the heart of town. They would both want to find a husband; and there was no lack of men in the town – but apart from the odd indentured convict there was no one for them to meet at Hunters Meadows.

  He needed to find somewhere to rent in town for them, and had asked some of his many contacts in the town to help. But he would wait until they had settled in and got to know each other again before actually renting a place.

  The Countess of Harcourt had arrived in Sydney from Cork on 21 December 1822 and word on the waterfront was that five more ships were being organised to bring convicts from Ireland to Port Jackson in 1823. However, of those five ships, the only designated female ship would be the Woodman. The other ships from Cork were all male transports. Tommy figured his daughters would be travelling on the Woodman.

  However, the day or month of the Woodman’s arrival was anyone’s guess. Its departure date, while scheduled, could be deferred for any number of reasons. Its route to Sydney could be amended prior to departure or at the Master’s discretion. Fortunately, from the beach north of the island at Hunters Meadows, O’Neil could observe the movement of ships into and out of the Heads. But it was too far away to tell one ship from another, unless the ship was of a radically different design.

  The ships did not normally enter the harbour in the afternoon or at night. The risk of hitting and running aground on shoals was too high. Consequently the masters usually laid-to out to sea and took advantage of the calmer airs of the morning to enter the harbour. So Tommy, at sunrise each morning, would walk 700 metres or so from the farm, past the island that lay at the centre of the main beach at Hunters Meadows, to gaze towards the head
s and watch for ships.

  In late April 1823 he spotted a ship entering and rounding South Head. Could this be the one?

  He dashed back to the farm, gathered what he could, and with Anastasia in tow headed up the ridge on his way to Sydney Town. It was a very brisk walk followed by a frantic row across the harbour. He would normally have expected the ship to make its way down the harbour and dock at Port Jackson more quickly than he could cover the same distance. However, in this instance, due to wind that morning prevailing from the west, he arrived at the cove before the vessel.

  As a consequence Tommy and Anastasia were standing at Sydney Cove awaiting the disembarking passengers. They were in for a disappointment; the daughters were not on this ship. The ship was the Brampton, an all-male convict ship hailing from Cork.

  Following a number of inquiries, Tommy found the Brampton’s master, Samuel Moore, and asked whether he had any news on the Woodman.

  ‘Yes, Mr O’Neil, I can help you there. The Woodman was at its moorings in Cork. Still in port when we departed on 8 November last. Not due to leave until the end of December. If it makes the same time as we, being a similar sized ship and all, I would expect she would be in Sydney by early June.’

  ‘Thank you, good sir. I’m ’xpecting my two daughters to be on Woodman. Not seen them in a long, long, while.’

  ‘Good luck then, Mr O’Neil. I must be moving on now.’

  ‘Captain Moore, I know you’re in a hurry but could you please describe the Woodman to me so I might recognise it on arrival?’ Anastasia looked at Tommy. She had never seen him so anxious.

  ‘Certainly, Mr O’Neil. It is much the same tonnage as the Brampton but very different in its look. The most notable difference is that while Brampton has three decks the Woodman is only a two-decker.’

  ‘Thank you very much, Captain. I very much appreciate your time.’

  Tommy picked up some supplies, got ‘the craic’ on the events in town and asked about for more hands on the farm. Tommy asked the Convict Receiving Officer whether there was an opportunity to secure a convict for the farm from the newly arrived ship.