A Thankyou to the Captain
As an avid Trovite, I love reading the old newspapers (as so many of us do). And yet, I am still amazed at the very cool stuff you can find in the old newspapers.
Take for instance one of my recent finds. A friend asked me to see what I could find on the “Lord Raglan” 1854 voyage to South Australia.
So after some general Googling to find out the basic details (the ship left Plymouth, Devon 16 July 1854, and arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 23 October 1854), I found a copy of the original passenger list on the State Library of South Australia website. I also found references to it on the Passengers in History site, and The Ships List.
Anyway so then I headed off to Trove , and I came up with a thankyou message that the passengers had written to the Captain of the Lord Raglan ship, and they put it publicly in the the newspaper. How cool is that?
It’s great to know that Captain Flanagan and his crew looked after their passengers on the long voyage to a new life.
Another newspaper entry I found relating to the Lord Raglan, quotes the following …
The fine new ship Lord Raglan, 923 tons register, Captain Flanagan, for Adelaide, and the Appoline, of 500 tons, for Melbourne, having embarked their respective complements of emigrants from the Government dept, at Plymouth, sailed on Sunday. The Lord Raglan belongs to Messrs. W. Nicholson and Sons, of Sunderland, and has been fitted up on a most excellent plan, the result of the experience of Captain Lean, R.N., the Government emigration officer in London. Among other advantages, one-third of each bed can be turned up from the sides of the ship, so as to admit of a free passage two feet wide, all round her, and thus secure an effectual means of cleansing and ventilating the vessel every day. Her emigrants, numbering 369 souls, were under the charge of Surgeon Superintendent W. Brett.
This was from the South Australian Register, 21 October 1854, pg. 2.
Note: Trovite = a person who loves hanging out on the Trove website.
3 Responses to “A Thankyou to the Captain”
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Great research, Alona. What a great idea to fold up part of the bed for cleaning. I hadn’t read of that before
I have included your blog in INTERESTING BLOGS in FRIDAY FOSSICKING at
https://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com/2018/08/friday-fossicking-24th-august-2018.html
Thank you, Chris
For anyone interested in the 1854 emigrant voyage of the ‘Lord Raglan’ from Plymouth to Port Adelaide, a transcript of the journal of one of the emigrants on that voyage is available in the State Library of South Australia. In 1999 I published a transcript of the emigrant journal of my great grandfather, Thomas Davies, titled “Voyage to the Land of Promise: Thomas Davies’ Diary on his Voyage to Australia” (ISBN 0-646-08356-2; 97pp, Perfect binding, with 3 Figures & 5 Indexes/Lists).
Thomas Davies was an emigrant on that particular voyage – the maiden voyage of the ‘Lord Raglan’ – and served as the ship’s plumber and one of the Constables. His original diary, covering the period from 27 June 1854 (the day he left his home in Pimlico, London) until 25 October, the day they were towed up the river into Port Adelaide, is in the National Library of Australia in Canberra (Manuscripts Section – MS 200).
For anyone interested in a copy of the transcript ($25 including postage and packing in Australia), contact me (Les Davies) via the owner of this Blog page (alona@lonetester.com ).