The Stranding of the ‘Strathgryfe’ … a Trove Tuesday post.

The barque Strathgryfe

Brodie Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria

Captain Donald McIntyre stood studying the chart in front of him, following an imaginary line along which he had plotted their course.  This was his first voyage as master of the Strathgryfe, although he had previously sailed on her as first mate.  The ship had made a good run in ballast from Table Bay, enroute to Newcastle where she was to load a cargo of coal. 

The Strathgryfe was a 4-masted steel barque, of 2,200 tons, built in 1890 in Greenock, Scotland, for the Strathgryfe Shipping Company.  She carried a crew of 28, several of whom had been signed on in Cape Town.

They had passed Cape Otway at 10:30 that morning, where Captain McIntyre had taken his bearings and set a course through the notorious Bass Strait.  He’d taken into account the 7 degree variation in the ships compass, and expected to pass Wilson’s Promontory by sailing to the north of Curtis Island.  There had been a steady sou’sou’wester blowing all day, and now at midnight it was dark and blustery.  Hearing the look-out calling “land ahead”, Captain McIntyre tapped his finger on the dot on the map that was Curtis Island, before making his way on deck. 

Directing the helmsman to alter course around the island, he peered into the gloom, expecting to see the Promontory light off to his north.  With no light visible, his momentary confusion quickly changed to alarm when breakers became evident on the port side. Realising the danger, he made a quick assessment of his options, and took the decision to turn the ship into the breakers and head for the mainland beach.  With a lurch, the Strathgryfe ran aground in the sands of Waratah Bay.

With the light of day, Captain McIntyre and his crew were able to assess the situation and recognise their error.  The island in front of them had not been Curtis Island at all, but in fact Shellback Island, some 13 miles north of their expected position.  The ship had come to rest high on the beach, but at least she was upright, and there was no loss of life or serious injury.

 

Cape Otway

Waratah

Sandy Point

stranding of Strathgryfe

Shellback Island

Cleft Island

Curtis Island

Wilsons Promontory Lightstation

Port Phillip Heads

THE STRANDED BARQUE. The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)

12 April 1902: 16. Retrieved 28 Jun 2016

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9635636.

Fred Pilkington woke early as usual on Tuesday 8th April. After re-kindling the stove and placing the kettle on to boil, he left his brother Dan and cousin Charlie asleep and headed over the dunes to the beach for his customary morning swim.  It was a fine morning with the crispness of autumn in the air, and calm after the previous day’s blustery south-westerly.  The tide was out and he sprinted the length of the sand to the water.

After diving into the waves three or four times, he left the water and jogged east along the beach to dry off. Suddenly, he pulled up short, and stared ahead, hand shading his eyes as he looked into the early morning sun.  Quickly, he retraced his steps, pulling on his clothes as he ran, arriving back at the house just as the kettle boiled over on the stove.  Waking the lads, he shouted, “Wake up you lazy lubbers! There’s a full rigger ashore, under the hummocks, this side of the Darby River.”
 
Two days later, at the opposite end of the bay, the S.S. Whyralla tied up at the long jetty in the lime-burning settlement of Waratah.  The coastal steamer was a regular visitor, bring supplies to the little township and surrounding district, and transporting the bagged lime back to Melbourne. 

Today in addition to her usual cargo, the Whyralla brought a newspaper man, “special reporter” for The Argus, sent down from Melbourne to get the story firsthand.  Jim Dewar, son of the mine manager, was on the jetty that morning, overseeing the loading of the lime.  The paperman approached him, seeking transport around the bay to the site of the wreck.  Jim made some arrangement with him and the two set off along the beach, calling at Sandy Point on the way where Fred joined them.  Jim would need Fred for the row across Shallow Inlet entrance against the in-coming tide.  Once across the inlet, the trio had a good six-mile hike along the beach to reach the stranded ship. 

While the paperman made his way out to the ship to complete his mission, Fred stretched out on the dunes and lit his pipe, surveying the scene of activity in front of him.  Presently he was joined by one of the sailors, a fair, stocky Englishman of about his own age. Introducing himself as Jack Bridges, the man pulled a letter out of his pocket and asked Fred if he would see it posted to his wife in Cape Town.  Fred tucked the letter inside his jacket, ready to post with his own mail the next day. The two men exchanged some conversation, Jack relating his story of joining the Strathgryfe in Cape Town, where he and his wife owned a small hotel.  Jack had been struggling against the ongoing temptations of alcohol. He and his wife had decided time at sea might be just what he needed to remove himself from such temptations, and Jack was feeling and looking the better for it.  Alas for poor Jack, being set loose in Melbourne later was to prove too much for him!

FATAL POISONING MISHAP. (1902, May 9).

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), , p. 6. Retrieved June 28, 2016,

from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9061237

Captain McIntyre was confident that by stripping her down, his ship could be re-floated without too much difficulty using the assistance of steam tugs.   He’d telegrammed the ship’s agents in Melbourne, and the owners in Greenock, seeking the necessary authorisation and assistance to achieve this.  The task proved to be not so straightforward, and it was not until the end of June that the Strathgryfe was eventually re-floated and towed back to Melbourne by the steam tug Albatross.  

THE BARQUE STRATHGRYFE. (1902, June 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), , p. 6. Retrieved June 28, 2016,

from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9075911

In the meantime, leaving three men behind with the ship, the Captain and remainder of the crew were transported to Melbourne, where the crew were paid off, and poor Jack met his fate. 

On the 14th May, Captain McIntyre faced a Court of Marine Inquiry into the incident.  The  Marine Board found him guilty of serious misconduct and careless navigation, concluding that he had not taken into account the compass error when calculating his course.  His Masters Certificate was suspended for 2 months, and he was fined £15 for expenses of the inquiry. 

The Strathgryfe underwent a refit during the months of July and August.  When she eventually sailed on 2nd September for San Francisco via Newcastle, Captain McIntyre was once more in command.

Donald McIntyre's Masters Certificate 1892



Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.                 

Original data: Master's Certificates. Greenwich, London, UK: National Maritime Museum.



Note:
Fred Pilkington and Jim Dewar were to become my great-uncles, when Fred's brother Charlie married Jim's sister Eve in 1907.

References:
F. W. Pilkington, “Memories of Sandy Point”. Private family collection.
Board of Trade Wreck Report for Strathgryfe 1902 ID: 18373 out of copyright.  Portcities Southampton http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports2002/18373.asp

A Little Bush Grave…

 

ERIC HASTINGS PILKINGTON

August 1911 – 24 May 1912

One spring day last year, during a weekend at my family home in Sandy Point, I went on one of my customary walks around the area.  Sandy Point is a quiet little settlement on Victoria’s southern coastline, tucked in the shadow of Wilson’s Promontory.  Come summer, it is a bustling holiday centre, but in early spring the few permanent residents share their home with just the local birds and wildlife, and the pristine beach is almost deserted.  This is how I love it.

 

Walking along Ryan’s Rise, I stopped to pick a bunch of the fragrant white freesias which grew thickly along the roadside and into the grounds of the neighbouring empty holiday homes.  A lady coming towards me walking her dog paused to exchange a greeting and a comment on my task.

 

“They’re lovely, aren’t they,” she said. “ You know they are supposed to have come from a baby’s grave?” 

 

“Yes” I replied, “I do know that…”

Ryan's Rise, Sandy Point
© Katrina Vincent 2015

104 years ago today, little Eric Hastings Pilkington, not quite 9 months old, succumbed to pneumonia and passed away.  In due course, he was laid to rest in a little bush grave lovingly prepared by his father, my grandfather.  A wooden frame surrounded by a strong wire fence was built to mark the spot, and buffalo grass planted in the newly-turned soil.  When my grandmother recovered from the same illness, she planted freesia bulbs from her own garden at the gravesite. 

The site was chosen on Crown bushland adjoining my grandparents home, easily reached by a meandering track from the house.  Over the ensuing years, the freesias and buffalo grass naturalised and spread so that 50 years later, when the Crown land was sold to developers and subdivided for holiday sites, no trace remained of the exact location of the little grave.   My father estimated that the road was constructed over the actual gravesite.

Some months after baby Eric’s death, my grandmother recorded the following in her diary.  Her writing indicates her desire to keep little Eric’s memory alive, and I hope that my tribute will help to preserve this little piece of history.

© Katrina Vincent 2015

 

September 6^th 1912:  In writing this diary I am not pledging myself to write daily or even weekly –     perhaps not monthly. Sometimes life goes on uneventfully for months at a time – at other times events crowd thick and fast, and some of them one wants to remember and if some record is not kept, time dims them and in trying to think back, one is amazed & often sorry to find that much that would have been better remembered has grown faint in ones memory. It might be so with the little life that came into existence in Aug of 1911 & passed away to God again on May 24^th 1912, & left such a blank in our lives, we miss him so sadly.  Sometimes I think the pain grows greater as time goes on.  He is never out of my thoughts & some days I have many sad hours & I yearn for him though I know everything that we could give him on earth would be as nothing compared with the full life of Eternity into which he entered almost before his life here was really begun.  He was such a joy such a bonny sturdy brown-eyed smiling little son.  Even through his illness he did not waste at all as our darling Haughton did.  So much that I did not see - the others have told me of spasms of pain & suffering & how for three hours before he died his eyes were fixed above. My little lamb – I was ill when he was dying & strange hands did everything for him.  My last recollection is of the day after Nurse came, 22^nd Wednesday, lying in the cot beside my bed with his beautiful brown eyes wide open & his wee hands playing with the fringe of his shawl. The pneumonia had left him then & we all thought he was getting better but God had other plans & that night he changed & sank gradually.  I did not miss him fully until after Belle went home & then oh shall I ever forget the empty rooms & the silences. Haughton was such a mouse in those days, the eruptions on his hands & feet keeping him chained to the couch & I was weak & Carl anything but well, but thank God, we are all in good health once more & Haughton the greatest comfort to us & as merry & chattery as we could wish him. He is so interested in thinking & speaking of Eric in heaven & I want always to keep him in his mind. Eric was within a week of nine months when he went away & was such a big boy. His eyes always had a smile in them & his hair was a sunny brown & was just beginning to curl & he had four little pearly teeth. Some people think that children develop in Heaven but I like to think of him always as my darling brown-eyed baby. I have a great deal of comfort in my deepest grief in knowing that he is safe with Jesus who loves the children & when He was on earth used them to illustrate some of His most beautiful sermons.

"Family Notices" The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) 25 May 1912: 5. Web. 24 May 2016 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197359089>.

                                         



The Carthage - A Pleasant Voyage ... a Trove Tuesday post

THE CARTHAGE-A PLEASANT VOYAGE. (1891, January 12). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), , p. 8. Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13780581

 

Mr. Haughton mentioned in the above article is my grandfathers 2nd cousin, William Horatio Haughton (1858-1932).  He was the writer of the letter of introduction carried by my great-uncle Fred Pilkington when he arrived in Australia in 1890.  See previous post New Beginnings.  I stumbled upon this article while researching William Horatio for that post.

 

P & O S.S. Carthage

This image was originally posted to Flickr by Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons at https://flickr.com/photos/33147718@N05/8724028831.

It was reviewed on 7 August 2015 by the FlickreviewR robot and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the No known copyright restrictions.

 

 

S. S. Carthage was built for P&O in 1880 for the London to Australia route.  The ship was 5,013 gross tons, length 410ft x beam 44.4ft, iron hull with two funnels and four masts.  It had a speed of 15 knots, with accommodation for 187-1st and 46-2nd class passengers.  Carthage was used as a hospital ship during the Egyptian Campaign of 1882.  Between 1900 and 1901 she was employed as a transport and hospital ship during the Boxer rebellion in China. The ship was scrapped in Bombay in 1903.

Information from The Ships List http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsC.shtml

 

 

William Horatio Haughton received his 2nd Mate's certificate in 1882, and his Master's certificate in 1889.  He did at least 4 voyages to Australia on the Carthage between 1889-1891.  He is on the retired Commanders list in 1913.

 









New Beginnings

Frederick William Pilkington
1869 - 1952

 Pilkington Family Collection

 

Great-uncle Fred was the first of four Pilkington brothers to emigrate to Australia.  At 20 years old, he left his home in county Clare, Ireland, sailing from England to Melbourne on board the SS Oruba.  The colonies provided much more opportunity for him to create a future than life as an impoverished younger son in Ireland.

Fred’s prospects had changed dramatically in 1884, when both his parents died within 6 months of each other.  He was the fifth of nine children, and was well educated, but there had not been funds for any further training.  The passenger list for the Oruba in 1890 records him as “grocer’s assistant”.

Prior to his departure, Fred had received a letter from his second cousin, William Horatio Haughton, containing some advice for the voyage.
William advised Fred to keep to himself as much as possible, not to drink and not to gamble. 
No doubt this was valuable advice, written from William's perspective as 2nd Mate on P&O S.S. Carthage.

 

Daunting as it must have been for a young man to travel alone to the other side of the world, Fred was not entirely without connections.  His first cousins Tom and Charlie Griffin had been in Australia for several years and were reportedly doing well.  He also carried with him a letter of introduction from William Horatio Haughton to James Barlow, a clerk in the City of Melbourne Bank.



1st page of letter of introduction

 

Pilkington Family Collection

 



 Fred stood on the corner of Elizabeth and Collins streets looking up at the impressive columns of the City of Melbourne Bank. In his pocket was a letter of introduction written by his cousin William to Jim Barlow, a clerk in the bank.  

Fred had come out here to make something of his life. At 20, he didn’t have much to go on. Indeed, as William had written: “He has no profession and not much money, but he is a good steady chap.” 

For a moment, Fred felt a wave of nostalgia for the old days when the family were all together. Six weeks ago, he’d said good-bye to his brother Dan at Tilbury Dock, and boarded the ‘R.M.S.S Oruba’ for the journey to Australia. Dan had embarked the same day, bound for Argentina. Charlie was in India with the army. And the others back home – they thought he’d come out here, make a quick quid, then return home to live in comfort. Would he ever see any of them again?

His thoughts turned to his cousin Tom who had come out years ago. The last Fred had heard, Tom was up the bush somewhere surveying for the railways. He’d have to look him up, once he was settled.

Fred looked again at the solid building in front of him, symbol of the prosperity of the colony. He wasn’t really sure that life in the city would suit him. Checking his pocket for the letter, Fred took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy door. Time to see what Jim Barlow might have to offer.

© Katrina Vincent 2016. Written for “Writing Family History” unit, University of Tasmania.



City of Melbourne Bank, cnr Elizabeth & Collins Sts. Melbourne

  State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/101131

wood engraving by Albert Charles Cooke

originally published in Australian Sketcher



What, if anything, Jim Barlow had to offer is unknown.  But Fred did meet up with his cousin Tom and spent several years working with him before settling on his own land.  Fred was a meticulous diary writer, and in his later years when physical frailty limited his activities, he used his diaries to compile his memoirs.  More stories for another time.


The City of Melbourne Bank was built in 1888, and demolished in the 1940's. Click on the link for a detailed description of the building.

The Bravest Thing God Ever Made …

My tribute to Anzac Day this year comes about as a result of a little book I came across recently when looking through a box of old books:

THE AUSTRALIAN and other verses, by Will H. Ogilvie.  Published in Australia in 1916 by Angus & Robertson.


William Henry Ogilvie (1869-1963) was a Scottish poet and journalist who spent some 12 years in Australia as a young man.  Inspired by the works of Adam Lindsay Gordon, his poems told tales of life in the Australian bush.  Back in Britain during the 1st World War, he overheard a British Officer describe Australian soldiers as “the bravest thing God ever made”, and consequently penned his poem The Australian.

Clement Semmler, 'Ogilvie, William Henry (Will) (1869–1963)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ogilvie-william-henry-will-7890/text13719, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 23 April 2016.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN

“The bravest thing God ever made” –

A British Officer’s opinion.

 

The skies that arched his land were blue,

His bush-born winds were warm and sweet,

And yet from earliest hours he knew

The tides of victory and defeat;

From fierce floods thundering at his birth,

From red droughts ravening while he played,

He learned to fear no foes on earth –

“The bravest thing God ever made!”

 

The bugles of the Motherland

Rang ceaselessly across the sea,

To call him and his lean brown band

To shape Imperial destiny;

He went, by youth’s grave purpose willed,

The goal unknown, the cost unweighed,

The promise of his blood fulfilled-

“The bravest thing God ever made!”

 

We know – it is our deathless pride!-

The splendour of his first fierce blow;

How, reckless, glorious, undenied,

He stormed those steel-lined cliffs we know!

And none who saw him scale the height

Behind his reeking bayonet blade

Would rob him of his title-right –

“The bravest thing God ever made!”

 

Bravest, where half a world of men

Are brave beyond all earth’s rewards,

So stoutly none shall charge again

Till the last breaking of the swords;

Wounded or hale, won home from war,

Or yonder by the Lone Pine laid,

Give him his due for evermore –

“The bravest thing God ever made!”

  

Private Leonard James POSTLETHWAITE died 3 May 1917

Private Mark SMITH died 25 April 1918

Private William Humphrey GRADY died 4 October 1917

Private William Joseph BYRNE

Driver James Joshua PERRY

Staff Nurse Eleanor Anne PERRY

Private John Patrick PERRY

Private Percy Victor Bristow VINCENT

 

Private Louis Adrian VINCENT

 

Bombardier Leslie Moore VINCENT

 

Private Victor Valentine VINCENT

Private William Dale VINCENT died 22 July 1916

 

Private Arthur James VINCENT died 8 June 1917

 

Private Hubert Claude VINCENT

Private George White VINCENT

 

Lance Corporal Roy Curtis KENNEDY died 4 October 1917

 

Driver Ernest Vincent WHITE

 

Private William Henry DOBBIE

 

Private George Ernest Vincent WOODBERRY

 

and all Australians who served. 

LEST WE FORGET.

Memory Lane

Today I took a stroll down Memory Lane.  Back in the day when I was an impoverished student nurse, some friends and I decided the time was right to move out of the confines of the hospital Nurses Home, and into a shared rental abode.  We scrounged around for household items and furniture, begging and borrowing from family and sourcing whatever else we needed from the local second-hand shops.


One purchase I made was an old travelling trunk.  It was battered and it smelled, but I liked it.  I don’t recall what I paid for it, but it wouldn’t have been much.  So I set about cleaning it up, and in the process destroyed whatever value it may have had.  I scrubbed it, peeled out the old torn lining and, I am now ashamed to admit, scraped off all the old paper travel stickers.  I then painted it dark green, lined it with wallpaper and polished up the big brass lock and leather handles.



©2016 Katrina Vincent

                                                              
That trunk then followed me through a succession of share houses and family homes over the ensuing almost 40 years. Initially it did duty as clothes storage, then later, when we had real wardrobes, it became a place for sewing needs and handcraft projects. Always, it sat tucked under the window in the bedroom, or against the wall in the family room, until our last move to our current home 10 years ago, where it was relegated to an inaccessible part of the shed.


The old trunk was dragged out today so I could sort through it and probably throw out whatever has been stored there for the past 10 years.  What a treasure trove of long-forgotten items it revealed!  And what memories were rekindled as I sorted through the contents!


A collection of 1950’s knitting patterns handed down from my mum - for baby layettes, tea-cosies and socks.  Did I really think I would ever make any of those?  But it gave me a little pang to see mum’s handwriting again in notes she’d written in the margins.


Down the bottom, my old high school sewing box; my name written on the side and ‘Form 1C’ – year 7 in current terms. Inside that, a half-constructed hexagon quilt I’d started making out of scrap and recycled fabrics as relief from studying for HSC back in 1974.  Totally mis-matched and unattractive, yet still I could recall the origins of the different fabrics.  That one was from the first formal dress I ever made, that one from a favorite but worn out shirt, even one from old pyjamas.  Maybe I will finish it one day!


A bag of wool, leftovers from various projects.  As I looked at each ball, I remembered what each had been for. The blue cardigan I’d loved and worn for years; the cable vest I knitted for my husband back when things were just getting serious; the matching fairisle jumpers I made for both of us.  Kept them all, thinking I’d crochet an afghan rug one day.


Fabric – scraps from completed projects and whole lengths for projects never started.  The cream and brown print I used to set up the nursery for our first baby. Tucked in a folder of projects saved from magazines was a page torn from The Woman’s Weekly of February 1985:  “Super Special Baby Bonanza - A checklist for new mothers”, complete with my pencilled ticks in the check boxes.  Our daughter was born in November 1985.




©2016 Katrina Vincent

                                                                       
How ironic that I was sitting there remembering the excitement of preparing to welcome her into the world at the same time that I am excitedly preparing to welcome her home from an extended overseas trip in 2 days time!


With its contents spread out around me on the floor, I looked again at the trunk.  I wondered where it had travelled in the world, and what stories it had been a part of.  The brass plate on the lid polished up well to reveal the company name:

Travelling Goods

 W.W. Winship

71 Summer St.

Boston

                                                            

Manufacturers name plate
©2016 Katrina Vincent

W.W. Winship was a prominent luggage making company established in Boston in 1776 and trading until 1973 when it was sold to the London Harness Company.


A bit more polish on the brass lock showed:

Eagle Lock Co. Terryville, Ct. 

Pat’d. Dec.6. 1892

©2016 Katrina Vincent

                                                                               

The Eagle Lock Company, based in Connecticut, was established in 1833 and traded until 1975.





Needless to say, nothing much got thrown out today.  I packed everything carefully back in and closed the lid.  Tomorrow I’m off to the glaziers to arrange a sheet of table glass to fit the top, and my dear old trunk can once again serve a useful purpose, this time as a coffee table in our family room.

 

Grandfather's Violin

 

Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis

Faciebat Anno 172(?)

1885

 

Grandfather's violin

 

 

Thus reads the label inside my grandfather’s violin.  It tells us that the violin was made in the style of Stradivarius in the year 1885.  Exactly where and when it came into grandfather’s possession we don’t know.  But in 1885, Charles Pilkington was 19 and leaving Ireland for America.  Possibly the violin was purchased on his travels, and returned to Ireland with him some years later, but that is just speculation. 

 

Charles Osburne Pilkington

 

We do know that music was important to the family.  Letters and diaries relate many a musical evening when family and friends gathered together.  This tradition continued in the isolated coastal community where grandfather and his brothers settled in Australia.
 

Grandfather didn’t bring the violin to Australia with him in 1903; perhaps he wasn’t certain he would stay, or wanted to get settled first.  It was sent out to him 2 years later with his brother Fred.  Nance, his sister in Ireland, later wrote to Fred:

 

“I forgot when writing to Carl to ask him if the violin travelled out safely.  Did you tell him it was little Pongo’s blanket that made the green bag for it? and his little white hairs were stuck all over it.”

 

The violin passed first to my father, and then to my niece.  It has a lovely mellow tone and she plays it beautifully.  I never knew my grandfather, but the generations were linked at our 2013 family reunion when Caitlin played old Irish airs on his beloved violin.