Lost and found at the American War Mirror 1879

Thomas J. NEVIN, Hobart Town Hall Keeper 1876-1880
WHITTINGTON's Panoramas of Dickens' life and work
BACHELDER's dioramas of the American Civil War
THOMPSON's dioramas of the American Civil War and Zulu War
Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginal Group at campfire 1930s, medallion of 1976

1876-1880: Thomas J. Nevin, Keeper of the Hobart Town Hall
Professional photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) was appointed to the position of Hobart Town Hall Keeper in January 1876 over 24 applicants. He took up residence in the Keeper's apartment (top of diagram below) with wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin (1847-1914) and the first two of their seven children - Mary Florence Elizabeth (aka May) Nevin (1872-1955) and Thomas James (aka Sonny) Nevin (1874-1948). Three more children were born at the Hobart Town Hall - Sydney John Nevin who died within months of birth (1876-1877), William John Nevin (1878-1927) and George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957). Their sixth child Mary Ann (aka Minnie) Nevin (1884-1974) and seventh, Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955) were born after their father's dismissal for alleged inebriation from the position of Town Hall Keeper in December 1880. Family BDM documents, including the marriage licenses of his children Albert and Minnie and his own burial registration, consistently recorded Thomas J. Nevin's occupation as "Photographer" up to the time of his death in 1923.



Plan of Hobart Town Hall signed by the architect Henry Hunter. nd
Item Number: NS78/1/2
Start Date: 01 Jan 1860
Format: map/plan
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NS78-1-2

Panoramas & dioramas in 19th century Tasmania
The Theatre Royal in Hobart, the Mechanics Institute in Launceston, and the Hobart Town Hall hosted the newest technological innovations in visual entertainment during the 1860s-1880s.

1863-1868: Bachelder's Grand Historic Mirror
John Bachelder brought dioramas of the American Civil War to Hobart, and W. H. Thompson showed dioramas of both the American Civil War and the Zulu Wars. These were a staple of popular entertainment during the 1870s-1880s. Newspaper advertisements attracted huge crowds with enticements of free gifts including papier-mâché tables, work boxes, picture frames, new clothing, watches and baked cakes.

John Badger Bachelder (1825-1894) was a portrait and landscape painter, lithographer and photographer, best known as the preeminent 19th-century historian of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. He was a dominant factor in the preservation and memorialization of the Gettysburg Battlefield in the latter part of the century.

Read more at Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Bachelder



Bachelder's grand historic mirror of the American war and the wonderful dioramas
Publication Information: Hobart : Mercury Steam Press, [1863].
Physical description: 1 print (poster) on silk : Black text on cream ; 450 X 170 mm.
Format: poster image (online)
Notes: "Tonight, Thursday, Aug 27 ... illustrating the great naval engagement between the ironclad monsters Merrimac & Monitor, and the terrific naval combat off the coast of France between Kearsage & Alabama ... funeral procession of the late President Lincoln in the city of Washington"
"Under the especial patronage of Colonel Gore Browne, C.B., and Mrs. Gore Browne, and suite".
Measurement including fringe: 510 X 225 mm.
Citation: Digitised item from: Tasmaniana Library, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AUTAS001126074780w800

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

TOWN HALL.
BACHELDER'S DIORAMA
The Town Hall was again crowded last evening to witness Bachelder's Grand Historic Mirror of the American War. This complete and magnificent moving panorama cannot fail to instruct and amuse the beholder, the representations throughout are lifelike and beautifully painted. The exciting scenes and events in the memorable rebellion as they appear before the audience, call forth long and loud applause. Mr. Bachelder takes considerable pains to describe each scene as it is presented to View, which adds considerably to the interest of the picture, as also does the appropriate music arranged expressly for the exhibition. The concluding portion of the entertainment as upon former representations, was well received and loudly cheered by all present. We again recommend our readers to pay a visit to this first class exhibition, it must be seen to be appreciated. This evening is announced as a grand million night at prices to suit all classes, reserved seats 2s. body of the hall 1s. Children half prices to reserved seats.

Source: TOWN HALL. (1868, August 22). The Tasmanian Times (Hobart Town, Tas), p. 2.
Link: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232862600

1871-1877: H. J. Whittington's Panoramas of Charles Dickens
Exhibited in Hobart and Launceston during the 1870s, these panoramas utilised innovative techniques illustrating scenes from Dickens' life and works to the accompaniment of live performances delivered by actors and musicians:



"Mrs. Gamp Propoges a Toast" by Phiz, June 1844
Steel-engraving 11.9 cm high by 10.5 cm wide, vignetted
Frontispiece for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit in the Gadshill Edition, Vol. 2. Chapter XLIX, facing page 563, 1844 edition.
Source: https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/phiz/mc/37.html

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

TWO HOURS WITH DICKENS.
An entertainment bearing the above title, being a, combination of music and Panoramic scenes, illustrative of the works of Dickens, will be opened in the Mechanics' Hall on Monday evening next. The agent of the company, Mr H. J. Whittington, arrived here from Hobart Town on Tuesday, and at once took steps to advertise the entertainment. Mr Whittington is both energetic and novel in his styles of advertising, his most original mode being to utilise the large mirrors of the principal hotels. Across the glass of these reflectors he writes, with a piece of common soap, the startling warning, " Look out for Charles Dickens !" The panorama has been painted in New Zealand by a well-known artist, Mr Massey, who has very ably depicted a number of beautiful scenes, including the following :—
A view of Gadshill Place, the favorite residence of Charles Dickens; Election of Beadle; Mr Pickwick on the Ice; Oliver Twist asking for more; the country manager rehearsing a combat; Quelp and Dick Swiveller; Condin and Snort; Sarah Gamp and Betsy Prig; Captain Cuttle sees a shadow on the wall; David Copperfield visits his aunt; Ham Pegoty and the wrecked ship; Micawber throws off his allegiance with Uriah Heep; rescue of Stephen Blackpool from the old shaft Little Dorrit's visit to her father in the Marshalsea prison; capture of prisoners on the Kentish Marshes; the Bird of Prey; the Opium Smokers; Poet's Corner, Westminister Abbey. Mr W. L. Skinner, one of the proprietor, lectures on the scenes, and vocal music is rendered by Messrs Skinner, Barrington, and Turner. We understand the company have been well patronised in Hobart Town, where the views were first exhibited. Each evening a number of valuable gifts are distributed, upwards of £90 worth having been given away in Hobart Town during last week. Some of those intended for distribution here are on view at Davies', Havana House, where tickets may be secured.

Source: TWO HOURS WITH DICKENS. (1877, May 11). Cornwall Advertiser (Launceston, Tas. : 1870 - 1877), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232915636

1871: C. B. Charles' Panorama of the Franco-Prussian War
Originally from Melbourne, C. B. Charles was living in London when he commissioned a moving panorama of the Franco-Prussian War. He returned to Melbourne as the panorama's proprietor in mid January 1871. The first half of his program exhibited pictures of the Suez Canal and the Nile painted by Charles James after David [Daniel ?] Roberts.



NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

CHARLES'S PANORAMA - This really meritorious panorama, illustrative of Egyptian and African scones and of the recent Franco-Prussian War, was again exhibited yesterday evening to an appreciative audience, though one by no means so large as the merits of the entertainment should command. The various African views, the Suez Canal, the Nile, the great bazaar at Cairo, the Mosque of Sultan Haroun, the pyramids, the sphynx, Siout, Alexandria, the temple of Isis, Thebes, and the ruins of Karnac, the temple of Edfon are all well executed works of pictorial art, and both the colouring and perspective exhibited a fidelity to nature attainable only by an experienced artist. The war scenes were painted by Daniel Roberts, R. A. of St James's Theatre, London, and the scenes representing " The death of General Douay" and " The soldier's dream of home," by Mr Mason, R. A. , of the Drury Lane Theatre. These war scenes were taken from the original sketches by Gray, which were exhibited in the War Court of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. Most of these scones have their merits enhanced by clever dioramic effects, and were the exhibition without anything else to commend it, these should in themselves attract crowded houses. The performances of Signor Luigi Ferrari's trained Brazilian monkeys are most remarkable, and occasioned reiterated laughter. Miss Florence Beresford s vocal efforts served to vary the evening's entertainment, and were most favourably received. The following songs were rendered with much felicity -"The silver shining moon," "Away, trumpets are sounding," " The Vivandiere," " The Rhine Watch," and " The Marseillaise " This afternoon and evening the programme will be repeated.

Source: Advertising (1871, July 8). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8868557



COVER: A satirical Panorama of the Franco-Prussian war. Illustrated by Percy Cruikshank, 1870.

The Franco-Prussian war panorama’s cover, printed in blue and red ink, shows an assembly of kings and leaders gathering to watch a bloody birds’ fight in a pit. The German double-headed eagle, in spiked helmet, is grabbing the head of the French rooster, bearing a Phrygian hat with a tricolour rosette. He has already vanquished the French imperial eagle. King Edward VII tells his neighbour, the American President Ulysses S. Grant: “Two heads are better than one”
Many large-scale painted panoramas of the Franco-Prussian war and the Siege of Paris (hundreds of meters long) were produced and circulated in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, France, Europe and the United States, from 1870 to the 1890s. Cruikshank’s Panorama of the Franco-Prussian war is only 12.5 cm high, though it does measure more than 3 meters and hardly fits on our large items Rare Books Reading room table! It folds down to a concertina book of 13 x 15 cm, a ‘pocket’ format which means it was probably intended for the personal use of a private collector, rather than for public display.

Source: Cambridge University Library

W. H. Thompson's Confederate Mirror

1876: "... an excellent piece of mechanism..."

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

THOMPSON'S DIORAMA OF THE AMERICAN WAR.
Since the great civil war between the Northern and Southern States of America, and which resulted in the abolition of slavery throughout the dominions of the great republic, we have had in Hobart Town several dioramic exhibitions of the leading incidents of the fearful struggle ; but we remember none that was more largely patronised than was that of Thompson's Diorama of the battles which took place in the Southern States, presented last night for the first time at the Town Hall. The hall, in every part, was crowded to excess, and when the curtain unveiled the first picture, a bird's eye view of New Orleans, a favourable impression of the ability of the artist was at once created, only to be enhanced as the more thrilling incidents of the war were unfolded. The scene representing the march of General Stewart's body of irregular cavalry on Richmond to oppose General McLellan's well-known attack upon that city at the head of a Federal detachment, afforded a graphic idea of the smartness of the cavalry, which the lecturer (Mr. Thompson, who, by the way, discharged his duties very efficiently), said had been described by the English press as " the finest body of regular cavalry in the world." Another equally effective picture was that representing the engagement of the 69th New York regiment under General Thomas Francis Meagher, who, after a gallant resistance, retreated before Pittsburg, with a loss of 1,400 out of 1,000 men. The battle between the famous Confederate cruiser the Alabama, and the Hattrass, off Galveston, was more than a picture, it was an excellent piece of mechanism, and the way in which the whole affair was worked proved highly interesting, particularly to the junior portion of the audience'. The funeral procession of the great southern commander General Stonewall Jackson, whose death sealed the fate of the Confederate army, is a very elaborate piece of mechanism, the movements of the soldiery forming the cortege being regulated with wonderful precision, and drawing forth warm expressions of approval. In fact, the whole diorama proved a success; and though the music in some respects was not up to the mark, still, it added much to the enjoyment of the evening. At the close of the diorama Mr. Thompson proceeded to present the prices to the holders of tickets, in accordance with the announcements in the show-bills. These consisted of some really valuable and, at the same time, useful articles, including tea and coffee service (4 pieces), two presentation cups, two sovereigns, large liqueur frames, two cruet stands, a couple of opera glasses, and an infinity of other things which we need not describe. One singular circumstance in connection with the prizes was that the great bulk of them went to the shilling part of the hall, thus doing away with any suspicion of favouritism. The exhibition will be on view again to-night.

Source: The Mercury Tue 26 Sep 1876 Page 2 THOMPSON'S DIORAMA OF THE AMERICAN WAR
Link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8948153

1879: Crowded Houses !!!
W. R. Thompson, later known as "Zulu" Thompson, was back at the Hobart Town Hall in February 1879 to present his Confederate Mirror of the American War. Advertisements in the Mercury ran throughout February 1879. The large crowds presented logistical challenges to the organizers, not least to Town Hall keeper Thomas J. Nevin:



Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

1879: Mr. Nevin and the lost portmonnaie
The week ending February 14th, 1879, was an eventful one for Thomas J. Nevin. As Town Hall keeper he was contending with huge crowds attending performances of Thompson's Diorama of the American War. An incident involving the loss of a purse and its restoration to its rightful owners was the result of Thomas Nevin's due diligence.



Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

LOST AND FOUND. - A resident of Cambridge and his wife who had come to town for the holidays, visited Mr. Thompson's Diorama at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening, when the good lady had the unpleasantness of dropping in the hall her portmonnaie containing money to the amount of £9 or £10. Next morning the parties applied to Mr. Nevin hall-keeper at the Municipal Buildings about the loss, and search was made through the Assembly Room for the property without avail. Mr. Nevin advised that information should be given to the police, and that the loss should be advertised in the newspapers with the offer of a reward. The parties acted accordingly, and an advertisement was left at The Mercury office promising a reward of two pounds for the restoration of the treasure. Not long afterwards Mr. John Johnston, grocer, residing in Elizabeth-street, called at The Mercury office to know if enquiries had been made for a lost portmonnaie, saying that his little daughter had picked up one the previous night in the Town Hall containing money, and he (Mr. Johnston) had tried all he could to find an owner. He was directed to Mr. Nevin, who accompanied Mr. and Miss Johnston to the house in Liverpool-street where the Cambridge people were temporarily staying, and the lost property was restored to the owners, who were on the point of returning to Cambridge without money. In the exuberance of their joy they wished to give the promised reward of £2, which Mr. Johnston declined to take, but he allowed his daughter to accept ten shillings for the purchase of a memento of the lucky find, and as encouragement to young people to respect the axiom "Honesty is the best policy."

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

THE WAR MIRROR - The largest audience which has witnessed the American War Mirror since its exhibition at the Town Hall was present last night. The Hall was literally packed, many persons standing on both the back and front seats, while numbers had to be refused admission. The views of war which graphically depict its notable events, assisted by stage effects and suitable music, as usual formed a most useful and impressive synopsis of the bloody internecine struggle. Lieutenant Herman's humorous ventriloquial impersonations furnished an agreeable relief from the darker illustrations of the devastating progress of the war. His Irish character figures carried on the funny dialogue in a very laughable and life-like manner. The distribution of a gift to each visitor took place as usual. A grand Matinee is announced for Saturday, when every child will receive a present.

Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

Addenda 1: mechanical marvels

1881: Thompson’s Diorama of the Zulu War at Adelaide, South Australia



Source: The Zulu War: Zulu warriors method of advancing to the attack
Link: https://iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1879.htm

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT

Mr W.H. Thompson’s "Colossal Mirror of the Zulu War in South Africa" was shown at Garner’s Theatre (formerly White’s Rooms) in King William Street, Adelaide, in May 1881. The Advertiser reported: ‘The diorama consists of many well-executed pictures representing scenes that occurred during the bloody war in South Africa in 1879, during the course of which the brave Prince Imperial fell victim to the murderous assegais of the Zulu warriors.’ The views were said to faithfully represent the different scenes, and after each view was wound on to the stage it was explained by Mr Thompson. The scenes were said to occupy 30,000 (square) feet of canvas.

One part of the programme was advertised as ‘The mechanical marvel showing 8,000 figures on the march,’ and a quotation from the Sydney Daily Telegraph included in the advertisement said, ‘The mechanical portion of the diorama is constructed with marvellous cunning, and far excels anything of the kind shown in this city.’ The ‘8,000 figures’ were miniature wooden representations of soldiers en route to the battlefield. However, the Advertiser reported a small hitch in the operation of the mechanical marvel. ‘The figures are worked by persons underneath the stage, and owing to some trifling imperfection in the arrangements one or two regiments stuck fast and refused to proceed on the warpath. One troop of marines was especially obstinate and, to the great delight of the "gods," instead of advancing the insubordinate soldiers fell down flat, and only moved on after a little gentle persuasion had been brought to bear on them by a human head and arm that appeared from the depths beneath and administered the necessary progressive push.’

Another problem arose when it was time to distribute the ‘gold watch, silver watch, and 100 other beautiful gifts,’ which were to be given away ‘at the discretion of the proprietor,’ not by lucky numbers marked on a programme, which was the usual practice at most entertainments of that kind. When Mr Thompson began his haphazard distribution of gifts the audience became very noisy and disorderly. ‘Persons located in the back seats of the pit and gallery crushed forward in order to bring themselves into prominence, and so secure one of the gifts. The people in the front seats were considerably inconvenienced, and a by no means creditable scene ensued. The rush from behind, the general disorder, the whooping and catcalls being the reverse of enjoyable to orderly disposed persons.’

Advertisements in the Adelaide papers said the paintings were the work of the eminent London artists Telbin, Walter Hann, Ballard, Rogers, Gordon and Harford, and that the diorama had been seen by over 200,000 persons in the past 6 months. The description of incidents portrayed on the canvas were described in advertisements as thrilling, and contained some stirring patriotic statements...

‘The Battle of Isandula, the last order given was -- Fix bayonets, Men, and die like English Soldiers; and so they did.’
‘The Buffalo River - Saving the Colours. They lost their lives, but they saved the colours.’

Source: https://noye.agsa.sa.gov.au/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

1898-1906: the moving panorama



Above: Diagram showing a typical arrangement for unrolling the canvas of a moving panorama. Dotted lines show the position of the framework that concealed the mechanism. The picture represents the first scene of the Burke and Wills panorama.

EXCERPT

Although not photographic in nature, the 19th century moving panorama was a form of entertainment that was similar in some respects to the magic lantern show, and in many newspaper reports it is difficult to know whether the reporter was describing a moving panorama painted on a canvas roll or a series of lantern slides projected on a canvas sheet.

The moving panorama, or diorama, consisted of a series of paintings on canvas which were then joined together to form one very long canvas sheet that was wound onto a vertical roller. From this roller the canvas was moved across the stage and wound up on a similar roller on the other side. The canvas could be illuminated from behind, from the front, or by a combination of both, using oil or gas lamps.

Above: Diagram showing a typical arrangement for unrolling the canvas of a moving panorama. Dotted lines show the position of the framework that concealed the mechanism. The picture represents the first scene of the Burke and Wills panorama.

Some panoramas were very large. Charles’s panorama (1871) occupied 10,000 square feet of canvas, and each painting was 17 feet by 8 feet. Mankiewicz’s Pantascope used paintings that were 18 feet wide by 9 feet high, and Riseley and Humphrey’s Mirror of England had 120 paintings that were 25 feet long by 14 feet high, making a canvas that was 3,000 feet long and took two hours to unroll.

Source: The R.J. Noye Collection of Photography 1998
Art Gallery of South Australia
Link: https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/noye/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

Addenda 2: diorama of Aboriginal group
The diorama of a Tasmanian Aboriginal group in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery was modelled by E. J. Dicks and presented to the museum by John Arnold in 1930. It was photographed by K. Wilby.

In January 1931, E.J. Dicks, a sculptor hailing from Melbourne, was hard at work in a studio in Tasmania’s capital city of Hobart. The task-at-hand for Mr. Dicks was to build representations of (some would say surrogates for) the “Lost Tasmanian Race.” The Hobart Mercury of January 17, 1931, reports that Mr. Dicks [had] already completed the man for the group, and is occupied with the female figure. It is a strange commentary on life to see the modeler at work with his clay, and beside him the skeleton of the last of the true Tasmanian aborigines, Truganini, while at odd intervals skulls peep out here and there, all contributing a moiety of past life to give reality to a present figment. (The Hobart Mercury, January 17, 1931: 6) Made possible by a gift of £500, the largest given to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (hereafter referred to as TMAG) to that point, the group exhibit1 sought to give Hobartians a glimpse into the “life and habits of a vanished people” (ibid.). Void of clothing and with jet-black skin, these three figures, designed to represent a natural familial unit, were a visual depiction of a people who had come to represent the lowest and most primitive culture2 ever documented (see fig. 1). In this working paper I argue that the 1931 group exhibit at TMAG sought to enact, consecrate, and consolidate one form of Tasmanian Aboriginality by literally building surrogate representations of the “Lost Tasmanian Race” (who one author poetically, and androcentrically, describes as the “Men Who Vanished” [Dunbabin 1935]).

Source: Building Bodies in the Australian Periphery: The Enactment of Aboriginality in Tasmania
Christopher Berk, University of Michigan 2012
UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 9 (2012)
Link: https://ummsp.rackham.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Berk_Final.pdf

1930: the TMAG diorama



Photograph - Postcard - Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginals on the bank of the River Derwent modelled by E J Dicks.
Item Number: LPIC147/1/5
Start Date:01 Jan 1930
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania



Description: Photograph - Hobart Museum, "Mother and child", from Diorama
Item Number:AB713/1/1763
Start Date:01 Jan 1953
End Date:31 Dec 1953
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB713-1-1763

1976: the Powerhouse Medallion of Diorama



Source: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272

The Truganini medallion was commissioned by the Tasmanian Numismatic Society in 1976, and was struck by Pobjoy Mint Ltd., U.K. in both bronze (225 examples) and sterling silver (100 examples). A commemorative brochure states that it was "the [society's] most ambitious undertaking to date and the third issue struck for the Tasmanian Numismatic Society. A high medallic relief and polished field have been employed for the first time." The depiction of Truganini on the obverse was taken from a line engraving, copied from a photograph by C.A. Woolley in 1866. The camp scene on the reverse was taken from a diorama of a Tasmanian Aboriginal group in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, photographed by K. Wilby; the diorama itself was modelled by E.J. Dicks and presented to the museum by John Arnold in 1930.

Source: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272

Addenda 3: External References

ART WORKS
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)
19th century colonial watercolours and drawings collection
https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/124313/PRINT_Panoramic_views_room_brochure.pdf

Commemorative Medallions
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272

BOOKS
Colligan, Mimi (2002) Canvas documentaries : panoramic entertainments in nineteenth-century Australia and New Zealand . Carlton South, Vic. : Melbourne University Press.
Panoramas, pages 73-74-75.

ARTICLES
"Building Bodies in the Australian Periphery: The Enactment of Aboriginality in Tasmania"
Christopher Berk, University of Michigan 2012
UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 9 (2012)
https://ummsp.rackham.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Berk_Final.pdf

ONLINE
The R.J. Noye Collection of Photography 1998
Art Gallery of South Australia
https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/noye/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

Archives Office of Tasmania
Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginals on the bank of the River Derwent modelled by E J Dicks.
Photograph and postcard
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB713-1-1763

Timespanner (NZ)
https://timespanner.blogspot.com/2011/02/william-henry-zulu-thompson-1841-1887.html



Source: Brown University’s John Hay Library received an enormous gift: a 273-foot-long 19th century panoramic painting depicting the dashing exploits of Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Brown's University staff and an outside contractor photograph the painting 6 feet at a time.
Link: https://aesthetic.gregcookland.com/2007/12/garibaldi-panorama-at-brown.html

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First Mate James DAY on the "Panama" to California 1850-1851

Parents and siblings Elizabeth DAY and James DAY, York, England
Master mariners, Captains DAY, James and GOLDSMITH, Edward 1830s-1870s
Voyages of Captain James DAY to the Californian gold fields and San Francisco great fires



Title: Signals Hobart Town / by Edward Murphy Private 99. Regt
Creator: Murphy, Edward, 1823-1871
Publisher: [1855]
Description: 1 painting : watercolour, pen and ink on paper ; 45 x 58 cm
Source: W.L. Crowther Library, Tasmania
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-139524



Flag of the Panama: detail from above
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-139524

Aside from some early and later biographical information pertinent to photographer Thomas J. Nevin's father-in-law Captain James Day, father of his wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin, the primary focus of this blog post is to document rather than describe or interpret a significant era in shipping on the Tasmania-California route. This compilation of documents and lists gathers together ships' cockets, port officers' logs, signal charts, maps, passenger and crew lists, newspaper reports and diaries during the Californian Gold Rush and Great Fires of San Francisco, 1849-1851. Captain James Day (1808-1882), navigator, first mate and master mariner, served on board the 313-ton barque Panama from Hobart to California in 1850 (Davison, master) and 1851 (Robinson, master). On those voyages the primary cargo was pre-fab timber house frames, the lesser cargo, potatoes and onions. He was praised by Captain Robinson of the Panama for not deserting ship for the gold fields when the rest of his crew had left him high and dry.

Family: James Day (1806-1882)
James Day (1806-1882) and his sister Elizabeth Day (1803-1875) were born to parents Jane Collyer and John Day at Sculcoates, York, England. Their parents were married at Sculcoates on 10 February 1803. Their father John Day was listed as "attorney" on his daughter Elizabeth's baptism record.

Elizabeth Day (1803-1875) was born on 1st December 1803 and baptised at Sculcoates,York, England. Her younger brother James Day (1806-1882) was born on 10th June 1806 and also baptised at Sculcoates. She married master mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith (1804-1869) at St. George Church, Liverpool, UK in 1829, witnessed by her father John Day.

James Day: Marriage and daughters
Captain James Day (1806-1882) married Rachael Pocock (1812-1857) at St. David's, Hobart, VDL, on 6 January, 1841. She was registered as "Rachael Pocock, spinster", he was listed as "Captain James Day, master mariner". Signatory witnesses were his brother-in-law, Captain Edward Goldsmith and Margaret Fuller.

James and Rachel (Pocock) Day's eldest daughter Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914) was born at Rotherhithe, London in 1847. She was 24 yrs old when she married photographer Thomas James Nevin at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart Tasmania in July 1871. Her younger sister Mary Sophia Day (1853-1942 - also recorded as Sophia Mary) was born at Hobart in 1853. She was 25 yrs old when she married master mariner Captain Hector Axup in Hobart in 1878.

Their father Captain James Day died aged 78 yrs of paraplegia on 14 November 1882 in Hobart, but their mother Rachael (Pocock) Day died decades earlier, 43 years old, on 16 April 1857 of consumption, leaving their two daughters, Elizabeth Rachel aged 10 yrs and Mary Sophia just 4yrs old, to be raised by their father. His occupation as seaman required his frequent absences from the family home in Hobart. As there seems to be no record of a second marriage, questions remain as to who might have stepped into the role of in loco parentis. James Day's sister Elizabeth (Day) Goldsmith - after whom her niece Elizabeth Rachel was named (Elizabeth after her aunt, Rachel after her mother) - was an infrequent visitor to Hobart on her husbands' voyages. So, by 1856 when the Goldsmiths permanently departed Hobart the year previous to Rachel Pocock's death in 1857 there was no one at hand to assist, although Captain Goldsmith had made handsome provision for them in his will, and even prior to his own death in 1869, was giving generously to his two nieces in Hobart.

The convict women who cared for James Day's wife and daughters
Captain James Day's residential address was Brisbane Street, Hobart, when his wife gave birth to Mary Sophia Day on 9 March 1853. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth Rachel Day, born London in 1847, was by then five years old. To help with the children as their mother's health declined, James Day employed female probation passholders to assist his wife in the years 1850-53. She died of tuberculosis at New Town in 1857, according to her death certificate, perhaps quarantined privately or in a sanitorium inside the St Johns Park precinct. Nine of these women who were employed by James Day at New Town are listed in summary here, with more detail below::





Description: Register
Item Number: CON30/1/2
Further Description: Begins on page 60
Start Date: 01 May 1848
End Date: 31 Oct 1857
Creating Agency: Convict Department (TA60) 01 Jan 1818 31 Dec 1877
Series: Registers of the Employment of Probation Passholders. (CON30)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/CON30-1-2

This summary shows the year she was employed by James Day, name of ship on which she arrived in VDL, the wages she was paid, and months of service working at New Town. A few more details appear below this list:

1850; Jane Patterson per Waverley 2 9 shillings 12 months
1851: Jane Russell per Punch 7 shillings 12 months
1851: Mary Lahey per Early Grey 7 shillings 12 months
1852: Bridget Murphy per Arabian 7 shillings 12 months
1852: Ann Grady per Duke of Cornwall 7 shillings 12 months
1852: Eliz. Cartmell per Anna Maria 7 shillings 12 months
1852: Eliz. Smith per Sepping 7 shillings 12 months
1853: Cath Hurley per John Wm Dare 8 shillings 12 months
1853: Ellen Pidgeon per Midlothian 8 shillings 12 months

1850

Patterson, Jane
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Day, James: 1850
Walker, Mary: 1850
Departure date: 4 Sep 1842
Departure port: Dublin
Ship: Waverley (2)
Place of origin: Queens
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 206
Index number: 55129
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1424719
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1424719
Employed by Mary Walker
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON30-1-1P250JPG

1851

Leahy, Mary
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Day, James: 1851
Fitzgerald, Michael: 1852
Departure date: 17 Dec 1849
Departure port: Kingston
Ship: Earl Grey
Place of origin: Kerry
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 321
Index number: 41791
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1411003
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1411003

1851

Russell, Jane
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Day, James: 1851
Carns, James: 1851
Ship: Punch
Index number: 61528
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1431299
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1431299

1852

Murphy, Bridget
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Gormley, Mary A.: 1849
Kimpton, Robert: 1849
Day, James: 1852
Departure date: 22 Nov 1846
Departure port: Dublin
Ship: Arabian
Place of origin: Kerry
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 278
Index number: 51602
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1421087
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1421087

1852

Smith, Elizabeth
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Campbell, William: 1852
Day, James: 1852
Hurley, William: 1852
Additional identifier: 1
Departure date: 18 Mar 1852
Departure port: Woolwich
Ship: Sir Robert Seppings
Place of origin: Edinburgh, Midlothian
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 350
Index number: 64987
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1434823
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1434823

1852

Cartmell, Elizabeth
Record Type:Convicts
Employer: Day, James: 1852
Brock, Henry: 1852
Also known as: Cartnell, Elizabeth
Departure date: 7 Oct 1851
Departure port: London
Ship: Anna Maria (2)
Place of origin: Whitehaven, Cumberland
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 345
Index number: 11200
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1379529
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1379529
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON15-1-7$init=CON15-1-7P148
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON15-1-7$init=CON15-1-7P149

1852

Employed by Jas. Day Brisbane St. 13.7.52
Grady, Ann
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Gormley, Mary A.: 1850
Buckley, William: 1850
Day, James: 1852
Departure date: 8 Jul 1850
Departure port: Kingston
Ship: Duke of Cornwall
Place of origin: Clare
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 329
Index number: 27482
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1396280
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1396280

1853

James DAY Brisbane St. 2/6/53
Pidgeon, Ellen
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Day, James: 1853
Abrahams, M.: 1853
Departure date: 17 Nov 1852
Departure port: Kingston
Ship: Midlothian
Place of origin: Westmeath
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 361
Index number: 56319
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1425924
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1425924

1853

James DAY, Brisbane St. 30.3.53
Hurley, Catherine
Record Type:Convicts
Employer: Chandler, James: 1852
Day, James: 1853
Departure date: 28 Dec 1851
Departure port: Dublin
Ship:John William Dare
Place of origin: Cork
Origin location: Latitude and Longitude
Voyage number: 348
Index number: 35243
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1404255
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1404255
James Chandler, Battery Point
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON30-1-2p298jpg

James Day employed the last two women in this list on specific dates - Catherine Hurley on 30 March 1853 and Ellen Pidgeon on 2 June 1853 - to assist his wife Rachel (Pocock) Day in the weeks preceding and following the birth of their daughter Mary Sophia on 9 March 1853. Mary Sophia Day lived to the great age of 89 yrs (1853-1942) and became a mother herself of five children with husband Captain Hector Axup.

1857 Death of Rachel (Pocock) Day



Name: Day, Rachael
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Female
Age: 43
Date of death: 16 Apr 1857
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1857
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1221247
Resource: RGD35/1/5 no 216
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1221247

According to an obituary published on the death of his younger daughter Mary Sophia (Day) Axup in 1942 , James Day owned his own vessel and traded locally within Australian waters in later years, residing with elder daughter Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin and her husband photographer Thomas J. Nevin at their studio, 138-140 Elizabeth St. Hobart in 1874, and later with Mary Sophia at her house in Sloane Street, Battery Point, Hobart, where he died in 1882. His eldest daughter Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin was buried with him in the same grave at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery (CE, 258) when she died in 1914.



Reg. no. 18704, 21-6-14. Death of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin, C of E, 67 years old, Elizabeth St. Hobart, wife of T. Nevin.
Note - "To charge overtime. Reopen public 258 K."
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AF35-1-2$init=AF35-1-2P256

Captain Edward Goldsmith and James Day
James Day went to sea in 1819 at 13 yrs old. In 1829 at 23 years old he joined the crew of the brig James, Captain Edward Goldsmith, master, also a youthful 25 year old, on their fateful voyage to the Swan River, Western Australia. He married Rachael Pocock at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1841.

The very first visit of merchant mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith (1804-1869) to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was the result of an incident with the brig James which he commanded to Fremantle, Western Australia. The ship was wrecked on shore a matter of days after arrival at Swan River in 1830. Also on board the James were his wife, Elizabeth (Day) Goldsmith and her brother James Day who was at various times his navigator, chief officer and first mate, 1830s -1840s. Elizabeth Goldsmith gave birth to their first son, Richard Sydney Goldsmith (1830-1854) on board the James on 19 May, but on 21 May 1830 the brig was blown ashore and wrecked, along with the brig the Emily Taylor.

In 1947, this account was published of Elizabeth Goldsmith's survival with son Richard on the wreck of the James at Swan River in May 1830. It contains an error - the date of Richard Sydney Goldsmith's death. He died of fever at the Goldsmiths' house, 19 Davey St. Hobart in 1854, not 1868, and was buried in St. David's cemetery opposite their house:

During that bad hurricane there were seven vessels wrecked in a distance of eight miles. One of the ships, the James brig, was cast ashore. During the gale the captain's wife was confined. They took the mother and baby, sewed them in a blanket steeped in rum, threw them off the gig into the sea and hauled them ashore through the surf. They arrived safely and there was no damage whatever to either. (The child, Goldsmith by name, grew up to be a fine young man; he joined a bank in Hobart and died in 1868- sic - he died in 1854.)

Source: Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 25 December 1947, page 11
Link:https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52178082

A further series of disasters and deaths occurred that were directly associated with the wreckage of the James, but Captain Edward Goldsmith, his wife Elizabeth and their new-born son Richard, departed the Swan River soon afterwards, boarding the Bombay for Hobart on 23 June 1830. James Day joined the crew of the Bombay to Hobart before sailing with them for Port Jackson (Sydney, NSW), 15 August 1830 on board the Elizabeth. Captain Goldsmith took command there of the Norval bound for London.

He returned in 1832 to the port of Hobart on board the Waterloo (not to be confused with the convict transport the Waterloo which was shipwrecked at Cape Town in 1842) with brother-in-law James Day again as his first mate. The 266 tons brig Waterloo built at Hull carried no guns, and was manned by 13 crew when they left Liverpool on 28th March. They arrived at the port of Hobart on August 5th carrying a general cargo, 28 adults, including pensioners, some bound for NSW, and 8 children. One man died during the voyage. After a short stay of ten days in Hobart, they set sail for Port Jackson (Sydney) on 16th August, 1832, arriving on 20th August. They reported no instances of cholera or other infectious diseases, and no Surgeon aboard.

Captain Edward Goldsmith returned to Sydney and Hobart almost every year thereafter in command of various merchant traders, the Rattler being his finest and fastest, until his final departure from Hobart with wife Elizabeth and son Edward jnr in 1856. He passed retirement at Gadshill, Higham, Kent, UK, as a neighbour of novelist Charles Dickens.



National standards merchants flags, Hobart Town / by Edward Murphy Private 99. Regiment.
Author/Creator: Murphy, Edward, 1823-1871.
Publication Information: 1855.
Physical description: 1 painting : watercolour, pen and ink on paper ; 574 x 869 mm.
Digitised item from: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania.
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/ILS/SD_ILS-146834

Voyages: 1830s-1870s
Captain James Day served as Chief Officer, Navigator, First Mate and Master on whalers and merchant traders from the 1830s to his last years, including the Georgiana (1829), James (1830), the Bombay and the Elizabeth (1830), the Orelia (1830), the Lion and Eagle (1831), the Waterloo (1832), the Numa (1834) Sally Ann (1836), the Duchess of Kent (1842), the Sylvanus (1848), the Pryde (1849), the Aden and Freetrader (1851, the Panama (1850-1851), the Swordfish (1852), the Frances (1852), the Lizzy Webber (1854), the Pirate, the Highlander and Lady Palmerston (1853-55), the William Denny (1855), the Pryde (Harrison, master, whaling vessel from October 1857-May 1858), the City of Hobart and Electra (1868), the Tasman (1877) and the Star of Baltimore (1879) . This is not a complete list and may include voyages as a passenger, or even seamen by the same name.

In 1875 Captain James Day re-applied in Hobart for his Master's Certificate of Service, Australian trade:



Captain James Day, Master, Certificate of Service 1875
James Day No. 80
Item Number: MB2/26/1/78
Start Date: 01 Jan 1875
Creating Agency: Marine Board of Hobart (TA71)
Series: Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26)
View online: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78
Photos taken at TAHO copyright © KLW NFC 2013

TRANSCRIPT

TASMANIA
APPLICATION (IN DUPLICATE) FOR CERTIFICATE
Applicant's Address - 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town
Date - 10th May 1875

I, James Day beg to apply for
a Certificate* of Service
to enable me to serve as† Master Australian Trade

I am 69 years of age, was born at Yorkshire
on the 10 June 1806, and have been at sea since the
year 1819 and have served as Master
in the Colonial trade for 3 years, and submit testimonials
of "sobriety, experience, ability, and general good conduct."

I hold a no Certificate from the [blank]
which has not been revoked or cancelled.

Applicant's Name - James Day
Vessel -
Tonnage -
Draught -

To Collector of Custom,
Hobart Town.
_______________________________________________________

* "Competency" or "Service"
† Master, 1st Mate, or 2nd Mate, of a Foreign-going ship; Master or Mate of a Coast-trade Ship; Master of a harbour steamer; 1st class, 2nd class, or 3rd class, Engineer,
______________________

STATEMENT OF SERVICES

Capacity   Ship   Port of Registry   Master   Period of Service   Month
Master     H.M. Brig Highlander    Hobart Town    1853 1854    22 months
ditto        Lady Palmerston                                     ditto               2 months
________________________________________________________

NOTE. - Applications and Certificates must be furnished and forwarded in duplicate which will be retained at the Custom House, Hobart Town

Shipping 1850s: Hobart to San Francisco
In the decade 1850-59, 1509 notices for shipping to and from Hobart Town, VDL (Van Diemen's Land) [Tasmania], were published in the Californian press, viz Daily Alta California, The Sacremento Daily Union, The Daily Pacific News etc. Of those 1509 notices, 229 notices published in 1850 alone detailed shipping movements, arrivals, departures, destinations, passengers and cargo to and from Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).

Source: UCR Centre for Bibliographical Studies and Research
The California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC)
Search results: 1850 "Van Diemen's Land" Daily Alta California

On 16 July 1850, the Hobart Courier reported the extent of fires at San Francisco in an article taken from the Alta California:

TERRIBLE CONFLAGRATION !
SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN IN RUINS.
SEVERAL SQUARES DESTROYED.
Loss about 5,000,000 dollars.

SEVERAL LIVES LOST.
It is our melancholy duty to announce this morning the most awful anniversary of the terrible conflagration one year ago in this place.

San Francisco is again in ashes. The smoke and flames are ascending from several squares of our city, as if the God of destruction had seated himself in our midst, and was gorging himself and all his ministers of devastation upon the ruin of our doomed city and its people.

About eleven o'clock last night, the cry of " Fire" startled every one like an earthquake. The fire had just commenced in a paint shop on the west side of Portsmouth-square, adjoining the Bryant House, formerly called, but more recently, the American. It was but a slight blaze when first seen, but in five minutes the whole upper story was full of flame. We have never seen flames spread so rapidly. Before the engines could get upon the ground and commence playing, the American on one side, and a store occupied by Messrs. Rhodes as a furnishing establishment, were in flames.

The buildings in the vicinity being all of wood and extremely combustible, the fire spread up Clay-street, back towards Sacramento, and down Clay towards Kearney, with frightful rapidity. It soon had full command, and the Fire Department could only work upon the borders, and endeavour to check its progress by anticipating it. In this they succeeded on the north side before it reached Dupont-street. But in every other direction in which it could spread, it took its own course. There was little chance to save much of the moveables - for ere they were aware of their danger in most cases, the flames were wrapping them in destruction.

To the South it spread to Bush-street, and to the East, at the time of writing this, 5 o'clock A. M., it has passed Jackson-street, sweeping everything from a little east of Dupont to the wharves. The blocks between Dupont and Kearney-streets, west of Portsmouth-square, as far as Bush-street, three in number, are in ashes. Between Bush and Jackson, Kearney and Montgomery, five in number, all down. Between Montgomery and Sansome, Bush and Jackson streets, five in number, all down.

Three men at the building of Wells & Co. were burned to death.

One man on Washington-street fell dead from over exertion. He was so completely surrounded by the fire he could not be relieved by those who saw him fall.

Three men were burned to death in the Union, one of them the bookkeeper by the name of Willard.

James King of Wm. was badly burned, but escaped with life.

Beyond Sansome towards the shipping we do not know how great is the destruction, for the smoke is so dense and the fire intervening, it is impossible to tell. Besides these thirteen blocks, almost every building of which is destroyed, there are many others. It is impossible to even guess at the number of buildings or the amount of property destroyed. A thousand buildings is within the bounds of truth, we judge, and ten millions of dollars could not replace the terrible destruction. Some place it twice or three times as high. It is sufficient to say that more than three-fourths of the business part of the city is nothing but smouldering cinders. It is impossible to give a list of the buildings burned or the names of the sufferers, but the principal buildings are the following :

Custom House, Union Hotel, Parker House, Jones's Hotel, Adelphi Theatre. Dramatic Museum, National Hotel, New World, City Hotel, Delmonicos', Merchants' Exchange, Ross's Building, ships Niantic, General Harrison. Every newspaper-office in town, except the Alta California. Nearly or quite all the bankers are in the list.

Burgoyne & Co., Wells & Co., James King of Wm., Delmonico, American Hotel, Revere House, Pacific Mail Steamship Co.-all are down.

All of the buildings about Jones's Hotel had been consumed when we went to press, and it is thought the hotel itself will burn, although the firemen were making extraordinary exertions to save it.

Not a house was left on Leidesdorff-street ; and every thing on both sides of Long Wharf to beyond White Hall.

Here and there a brick building stands like a tomb among a nation of graves, yet even they in most cases have nothing but their walls standing. Scarce a fire-proof building in the whole burnt district has stood the test. Such as have are the California Exchange, El Dorado, Verandah, on Portsmouth-square, and the buildings of Capt. Howard, in which was the U. S Assaying Office of Moffat & Co., on Montgomery-street. This building was saved only at the risk of their lives by Messrs. Moffat, Perry and Ward, of that firm, who remained within the building throughout the conflagration and extinguished the fire repeatedly.

The fire has now (half-past five,) reached Pacific-street, and is rapidly spreading in that direction towards Clark's Point.

A man at half-past 5 o'clock, on Jackson-street, between Kearney and Dupont-streets, shot a woman and immediately after shot himself, wounding himself in the forehead. The woman is dead ; the murderer was taken to the station-house.

A man was stabbed in Washington-street about 2 o'clock, near the Jackson House.

But the most lamentable part of this sad story is the loss of human life. How many have lost their lives cannot be known at present-perhaps it never will be known bow many ; but several are known to have lost their lives. The following have been reported :

Baylie Peyton, and Mr. Willard, in the Union Hotel. Thos. McCahill and seven others are reported as having been burned to death.

Gen. James Wilson, Mr. Wells and Jas. King, of Wm. , were badly burned.

About 2 o'clock a man on Washington-street dropped dead from over exertion.

One man was taken out of the store of Starkey, Janion & Co., about six o'clock this morning, burned to a crisp.

Mr. Mudge was dangerously burned. He, with Messrs. James, Noyes, and Forst were for four hours shut up in the vault of the Nagles building, which they saved, but could not get out.

We have experienced several severe conflagrations in this doomed city, but none of them can compare in extent and destruction of property and life with this, which is still in progress. And all of it is the result of carelessness of some one person in the paint shop of Baker & Meserve, where the fire commenced.- Alta California, May 4.

Source: TERRIBLE CONFLAGRATION! (1851, July 16). The Courier (Hobart, Tas.), p. 4.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2960563




Daguerrotype, from during the California Gold Rush.
United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division .Sourced at Wikipedia.
San Francisco Harbor at Yerba Buena Cove in 1850 or 1851 — with Yerba Buena Island, and Berkeley Hills, in the background.

1849, 19 December: "Pryde" for sale
In 1847, master mariner James McClymont took command of the Pryde under bond for £800. A change of master in 1849 assigned the vessel to the Pacific whaling grounds under Captain James Robinson. The owner David Hecksher advertised the brig for sale in December 1849 but retained Captain Robinson to take the Pryde this time to San Francisco laden with pine boards, partitions and potatoes, departing Hobart, 2 March 1850. Hecksher was also on board as a passenger.

For Sale,
BRIG PRYDE.
MESSRS. LOWES AND MACMICHAEL
WILL SELL BY PUBLIC AUCTION,
On MONDAY NEXT, the 24th instant, at 2 o'clock precisely, by order of Mr. D. Hecksher, the owner, without any reserve,
At the Exchange Rooms, Collins street,

THE BRIG PRYDE, 205 tons register. The above vessel has only just returned from a whaling voyage. She was newly coppered and underwent a thorough repair only 10 months ago, when upwards of £2000 was laid out upon her.
She will be sold with all her boats and whaling gear complete - is well-known as being admirably adapted for a whaler ; while carrying an immense cargo for her register tonnage adapts her for almost any trade, particularly that requiring despatch, as she is a remarkably fast sailer.
She can be sent to sea without any outlay, having two suits of sails in excellent condition, together with a plentiful supply of other necessary stores. Any party inclined for a spec to California will find this a most advantageous opportunity of securing a good vessel for the purpose : her height between decks being nearly 6 feet, renders her very desirable for passengers.
Terms Fifteen per cent, deposit in cash on the day of sale ; and hills for the balance at 3, 6, and 9 months, including 7 per cent. interest.
A list of stores may be seen on application at the office of the Auctioneers.
NB-The vessel may be inspected at any time. 2721

Source: Classified Advertising (1849, December 19). The Courier (Hobart, Tas), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2964100

WOODEN HOUSES from Hobart
James A. Thomson, Hobart building contractor, called tenders in 1849 for the construction of 100 flat-pack house frames to be shipped from Hobart to San Francisco and the Californian gold fields, usually with a complement of floorboards, roof shingles, nails, door frames, fan lights, staircases, sashes, battens, etc etc.

EXPORTS.
Per Caroline, for California, part of original I cargo from Adelaide, and the following goods shipped at Hobart Town-14,000 feet timber, 50 bundles shingles, 10,000 paling, 15 wooden houses, 2 cases ironmongery 10 cases preserves, 1 weighing machine and weights- F. A. Downing

DEPARTURES.
The Brig Lord Hobart _ The Lord Hobart, belonging to the insolvent estate of Captain Hovenden, was sold by auction, at Sydney, on 23rd ult., by Mr. E. Salamon, together with everything appertaining to her, and thirty wooden houses shipped in Hobart Town, for California. The auction mart was crowded with persons who appeared to be bona fide bidders - she was started at £750, and after a very spirited competition, was purchased, with her cargo, by Messrs. R. and E. Tooth, for £1070.

Source: Shipping Intelligence. (1849, December 11). Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8766203

As stated in this article, local interest in California was at fever pitch by December 1849.



TRANSCRIPT

The Colonial Times and Tasmanian:
HOBART TOWN:
DECEMBER 18, 1849.
THE arrival of the Lady Leigh from California has caused a good deal of excitement in town for although the charterers are very close as to the result of their speculation, the news brought by her from the land of gold has tended to increase the desire of many to proceed there. We are informed, that she has brought about 60 lbs. of gold-dust, which is worth about £2,500. A quantity of the goods she took to California would not sell there, but were disposed of at Auckland on her return. It is stated that if she had taken wooden houses, an enormous profit would have resulted; for so scarce is habitations, that carpets, blankets, &c., & are turned into tents for immediate shelter. Although it is said that our hard timber is not liked by the Americans, necessity, in consequence of the continued influx of immigrants, will insure those merchants who have sent timber to California an ample profit and for some time speculation in framed houses will be secure from loss. New Zealand pine and Huon pine will, however, meet with the readiest sale, as they are easier wrought, and time is every thing with Californians.
To the exclusion of much other matter, we have devoted the greater portion of our space to-day to the intelligence from California, as we know it is anxiously looked for.

Source: COLONIAL TIMES AND TASMANIAN: (1849, December 18). Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8766253



Flag of the brig Pryde: detail from above
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-139524

1850, 6 March: "Pryde" for California, Robinson, master

SHIPPING NEWS.
PORT OF HOBART TOWN
Per Pryde, for California — 97 pine joists. 6932 feet quartering boards, joists and battens, 2756 feet do, 168 pieces quartering, 3827 feet boards. 1426 feet do. 1555 feet battens, 10 500 bricks, 10 tons coals, l8 pieces hearth-stones, 7 hhds lime, 500 palings, 1 case glass, 116 jars jam, 127 cases potatoes, 1 billiard table in four packages, 1 gold washing machine, 1 store complete, 9 skittle pins and 2 balls, 10 saddle boards. 2 cases lamp glasses, 1 dray, 2 sets harness, 1 saddle and bridle, 1 horse, 9 dozen grass brooms, 52 boards, 1 cask ironmongery, 1 package hinges and latches, 12 pair T hinges 5 lbs gunpowder, 1 bag shot, 942 pieces timber, 8000 shingles, 7 packages sashes and frames, 1 skylight, 4 ledge doors, 2 pairs door frames, 1 stair case, 2 fan lights, 1 skylight, 1 case glass, 1 house, 4 cases onions, 4 tons potatoes, 1 dray, 1 package wire, 1 washing machine, 2 house frames, 2 casks pork, 3 window sashes, 1 horse, 1 house frame complete, 1 dray 1 washing machine, 3 cases apparel, &c. 1 cask pork, 4 casks flour, D. Heckscher ; 1 case sardines, 3 cases herrings, 3 do bacon, 26 do pickles, 5 bags flour, 3 casks cider, 8 cases wine, 8 baskets do, 4 kegs vinegar, 9 do syrup, 1 caboose, 1 box glass, 2 boxes apples, 2 do soap, 17 do potatoes, 1 house, 2 tents, 1 case cheese, W. H. Andrews; 60 bags oats, 2 wooden houses, 9 cases jams, 1 case rugs, J. A. Thrupp ; 5290 pine boards, 27 pieces pine quartering. 225 boxes potatoes, 12 small cases preserves. Maning Brothers.

Source: SHIPPING NEWS. (1850, March 6). The Courier (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2963507

1850, 9 March: horses unloaded at Port Arthur

LOCAL.
THE "PRYDE," hence for California, was obliged to put into Port Arthur on Tuesday night last, having met with contrary winds, and shipped a large quantity or water, the pumps were worked for six hours, and three horses, which were on board, were landed on Wednesday morning. Ten tons of water were emptied from the casks, the vessel being top heavy. The cook's caboose was nearly washed over, but no other accident occurred. The Pryde being found too small for the conveyance of horses, they were to be sent from Port Arthur on Thursday morning to be shipped again. One of the passengers, whose letter we have seen, says he "shall be very glad to hear when the Act is in force for the better providing of vessels." It it really necessary, as the Lieutenant-Governor has proclaimed the Act to be in force, that he should appoint some one to carry out its provisions, a step which must have been overlooked when the proclamation was issued.

Source: LOCAL. (1850, March 9). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2963480

1850, 19 May: arrival of Pryde at Honolulu and wreck of the Caroline
According to Michael Nash (2008: p 30): -

The Pryde called at Bora Bora in the Society Islands and Honolulu where stranded passengers from the wreck of the Caroline were taken on board. Arriving at San Francisco, Robinson noted that hundreds of vessels in the harbour had been deserted by their crews to go to the goldfields. He was soon to lose most of his own men, but managed to retain four hands by offering higher wages. Despite the small number of crew, the return passage was carried out fairly rapidly – they left San Francisco on 23 July 1850 and reached Hobart on 20 October. Shortly after his return to Hobart in October 1850, Robinson was offered the captaincy of the barque Panama for a voyage to San Francisco. At 313 tons, the newly built Panama was, at the time, the most valuable of Robinson’s commands and indicated his standing in the maritime community. This voyage also marked his first commercial venture with Dr William Lodewyk Crowther (1817–1885), who purchased twenty tons of freight space with Robinson ...(p.30)

NEWSPAPER REPORTS of the Caroline, wrecked, Honolulu, 20 March 1850

SHIPWRECK–The British bark Caroline, Capt. Perry, was wrecked on the reef opposite the harbor of Honolulu, on Monday last.

The Caroline was 140 days from Adelaide, and 109 from Hobart Town, and had experienced a succession of adverse gales during the entire passage. She had a large number of passengers, including several families, and with the crew, numbered 102 souls on board. For 10 or 12 days they were entirely destitute of water, and were obliged to subsist upon porter, and provisions from the cargo, her stores having been also exhausted. She, however, touched at Kauai, a few days since, and procured a supply to enable her to reach this port.

On Monday morning, the 25th inst., she came to anchor off the mouth of the harbour, the wind then blowing on shore rom the S.E., and, as it has since proved, just the commencement of a gale of about 36 hour continuance. During the day on Monday, the wind continued to increase, and towards night the ship was pitching at a tremendous rage; and as it was deemed impossible for her to hold on during the night, the cables were slipped, her jibs hoisted, and the pilot, who was on board, ran her ashore in the best position he could secure. Soon after she struck, her main and fore-masts went by the board, which much relieved the ship, and she finally settled down, and remained from that time comparatively easy. When the main-mast went over the side, it took with it the mizen top-mast, and a part of the cross-trees fell on deck, striking and breaking the left arm of the surgeon of the ship, who was holding on by the mizen rigging. The next roll of the vessel carried away the fore-mast, and a seaman by the name of John Wilson, a Fin, was knocked over-board by a block and drowned. His body was found, and brought on shore on Tuesday. These are the only serious disasters to persons, attending this unfortunate wreck. The women and children were all landed on Monday, without accident; but about 30 persons remained on board over Monday night. Six boats were stove in, in endeavoring to take off passengers. On Tuesday, the wind was still increasing, with a tremendous sea, and although many attempts were made to board her with boats from the shipping in port, none could approach her.

In compliance with a request from Consul General Miller, to render such succor and aid, in saving the lives of the passengers and crew, as might be in his power, the Governor manned and despatched the largest canoes to be found; but they, too, were unable to board her, and the Governor’s own canoe was disabled and capsized, and some of the people were oblige to swim ashore.

The ship had seven feet water in her hold, and will probably hold together till her cargo can be got out, which consists, principally of lumber, flour and porter. A large part of her cargo will be in a damaged condition.
— Polynesian.

Source: Honolulu, Hawaii’s The Friend, April 1, 1850
Link: https://shipsontheshore.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/forgotten-wrecks-bark-caroline-1850/

THE "CAROLINE."— Another of the passengers of the Caroline, which was unfortunately wrecked at Honolulu, describes the sufferings of the crew and passengers, from the want of water and the protracted voyage, to have been very great. A great number of children were on board; and, to save the water for the poor creatures, the adults had to drink beer for breakfast, dinner, and supper. The vessel was wrecked on the 24th March, and on the 30th the passengers all got safely on shore. The prices of the various articles of provisions are stated as follows:— Eggs, 1s. for five; fowls, 2 dollars each; turkeys, 3 dollars; bread, 6d. a lb.; potatoes, 3d. per lb; beef, 10 cents per lb.: while the rent of the cottage which the captain had to take was 24 dollars a month. The Eudora landed her cargo of timber at Honolulu, as the master understood that it would be unsaleable at San Francisco. He describes the dress of the Islanders who attended the church, which was capable of holding 2000 people, the service being performed in the native language. One lady, very fat and old, without sleeves or stockings, had her head covered by a large coal-scuttle of a bonnet, no ribbon on it,— over her shoulders a Spanish silk poncho. A young black lady was dressed in a Jim Crow hat, with a wreath of wild flowers round it, and her dark tresses hanging down to her waist; a rich white Chinese crape shawl covered her shoulders, and over this was a small pink shawl; white stockings and patent leather shoes, and a fan in her hand. The chiefs are all very fat, and appear to be completely under the command of the missionaries. The gentleman who gives this account was offered 1500 dollars a-year at Honolulu; and the various accounts which he heard of California, most of them bad, almost induced him to accept the offer, instead of proceeding to the "diggins." .

Source: LOCAL. (1850, June 15). The Courier (Hobart, Tas), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2962670

Captain Robinson's Reminiscences



Nash, Michael (ed) 2009. Captain Robinson: The Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Master Mariner James William Robinson 1824-1906.Blubber Head Press. ISBN 978-0-908528-34-9.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_William_Robinson_(sailor)

ARTICLE and BOOK
The reminiscences of Captain James William Robinson, 1824-1906 by Michael Nash
Date of Publication: March 2008
Source: Journal: Papers and Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association ISSN:0039-9809 Volume:55 Issue:1 Page Range:22-43

Read the article here, available in drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D9g1l7qOxmKWDTN8KDIw0NdVefb2krBC/view?usp=sharing

EXCERPT from journal article:

In March 1904 'at the earnest request of my family' James William Robinson set out to record his reminiscences of his remarkable life on both land and sea. While his career was based around the pelagic whaling industry out of Hobart, he had also been involved in carrying cargoes to Singapore, New Zealand and gold-rush California; undertaken the only Australian sealing voyage to subantarctic Heard Island; collected guano off the Queensland coast and established mines in Victoria and Tasmania.....(p. 22)

The discovery of gold in California during 1848 led to a massive demand for shipping to transport passengers and all manner of supplies and foodstuffs. Eighteen Hobart vessels made the journey across the Pacific during 1849 and, the following year, the owner of the Pryde, David Hecksher, entered his brig into the trade. The Pryde left Hobart on 1 March 1850 with general cargo that included foodstuffs, alcohol, building materials, machinery and furnishings. The owner had heavily overladen the vessel and, four days after departure, Robinson was forced to put into Port Arthur to off-load part of the cargo and supplies. North of New Zealand the Pryde was caught in a gale and Robinson had to carry out the risky manoeuvre of bringing the ship about in heavy seas. (p.29)

I went aloft under the main top and waited for what appeared twenty minutes to me, when two or three tremendous seas passed by. In the very middle of the last sea I gave the officers the signal with my hand, up went the foresail, cut the foot of the topsail, down helm and the poor brig came up to the wind. For a moment it was very doubtful in appearance, the lee rail was under water fore and aft nearly, but she rose and shook herself like some huge waterdog, and it was wonderful. In a few minutes she lay like a duck on the water. Before long most of the passengers (adults) were on deck, and the screams of the women ceased.

Footnotes
25 Hobart Town Courier, 15 October 1844; 17 December 1844.
26 In apparent revenge for a shooting by the Camilla’s crew the three men who were left behind to mind the Streaky Bay station were killed by Aboriginal tribesmen. The body of James Hawkins, with a pencilled message describing the events, was not located until November 1847 at nearby Franklin Island. South Australian Government Gazette, 14 December 1847
27 G Broxam, Shipping arrivals and departures Tasmania 1843–1850, Navarine Publishing, Canberra, 1998, pp. 116, 138, 173.
28 The Robinson children were George William (born 1849), Alfred Bingley (1851), Charles Bayley (1857), James Kerguelen (1859), William Arthur (1862) and Flora (May 1865).
29 Weekly Courier, 18 October 1934.
30 AOT, CUS 36/1/432, Customs Department.
31 AOT, NS222, p. 64.
32 WELH Crowther, ‘A surgeon as whaleship owner’, Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 25, no. 1, 1943, pp. 549–54.

First Mate to Captain Davison on the "Panama"

THE BARQUE PANAMA
The Panama cost £5,000 to build and was a beautiful vessel, intended for the London trade from Hobart Town where she ran for some years, starting on November 3, 1852. On this voyage she carried gold dust valued at £160,000. Before this took place, however, she sailed for San Francisco in May 1850, on her maiden voyage, being towed to sea by the small steamer White Hawk.

The measurements of the Panama were:- Length over all 110ft., beam 26 ft., and depth of hold 16ft. 6 in. She was built of Tasmanian oak, lined with Huon pine and had fittings of Huon pine, while her decks were of New Zealand kauri. She had a raised quarter-deck and top-gallant forecastle.

LAWSON, Will (1949) Blue Gum Clippers and Whale Ships of Tasmania, The Shiplovers' Society of Tasmania, pp 118-119



James Day was first mate to Captain Davison and then Captain Robinson on voyages to and from California on the Panama in 1850-1851 via the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). He was also Captain John Clinch's first mate in 1852 on the Sword Fish, Hobart to Port Phillip, Victoria.



National Library of Australia
Subject: Hawaii
Picture -- Hawaii
Description:[ca. 1850]
1 watercolour ; 15.5 x 23.5 cm.
Series: Rex Nan Kivell Collection ; NK6817/A.
Title from inscription on mount.
Online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-133089610

9 September 1850: Hobart to San Francisco
James Day was first mate on board the Panama Captain Davison, master, when they arrived at San Francisco from Hobart on 9 September 1850.

TRANSCRIPT detail

Shipping Intelligence
Port of San Francisco, Sep 10, 1850
Arrived Monday, Sept 9th - Br barque Panama, 80 ds fm Hobart Town, VDL, 4 pass - consigned to Starkey, Janion & Co.

Source: Daily Alta California, Volume 1, Number 222, 10 September 1850

3 October 1850: San Francisco to Sandwich Islands
Departure of the Panama from San Francisco on 3rd October 1850 bound for the Sandwich Islands.



Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P31JPG



TRANSCRIPT - details

Report and Manifest of the Cargo laden at the Port of San Francisco on board the Brit Bque "Panama" Davison Master, bound for Sandwich Island. Port of San Francisco.
October 3. 1850.
Description of Packages and Contents
2521 pieces Timber Value £150.10.7
2000 ditto 1600
2000 Palings
110.000 shingles
One store complete Value £326.3
Export permit dated 30 Sept. 1850
Name of Shipper R. Burns
Name of Consignee Order

Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P32JPG



This manifest oath by John Davison, master and commander, on 3 October 1850, shows that the destination of the cargo on board this voyage of the British barque Panama from San Francisco was the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and then Hobart Town, VDL (Tasmania).

Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P33JPG

1850, 4 December: Sandwich Islands to Hobart
James Day, first mate, arrived back in Hobart, VDL [Tasmania] on the Panama, Captain Davison, master, on 4 December 1850 from San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands. The Landing Waiter was Mr Roberts.



Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P26JPG

CREW & PASSENGERS arrival on "Panama" Hobart, 4 Dec. 1850



James Day, 1st Mate , Bark Panama, John Davison, Master
From California and Sandwich Islands to Hobart Town, arrival 4 December 1850
Passenger Richard Burns Esq.

Tasmania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1834-1837, 1841-1887
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
Reference Number: CUS36-1-412
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/CUS36-1-412
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P41JPG

CARGO from California, "Panama" 4 Dec. 1850
Cockets for part of original cargo from San Francisco, California on the Panama, 1850



Inwards declaration by John Davison, master, Panama, 4th December 1850
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P43JPG



Inwards cargo manifest Panama, 4th December 1850 - Robert Towns
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P43JPG

First Mate to Captain Robinson on the "Panama"

The 313-ton barque Panama was built at Hobart by John Watson and launched on 1 May 1850. Valued at £5000, the vessel was owned by Richard Burns and Henry White, Under the command of J. Davison, the Panama made its maiden voyage to San Francisco and returned to Hobart on 3 December 1850.

The Panama left Hobart on 22 January 1851 with seven passengers and a cargo consisting of 5,770 boxes of potatoes, 111 boxes and barrels of onions, 200 bags of barley, 21 boxes of apples, 1 case of seeds, 843 joists (timber), 906 boards (timber).

On the evening of 3 May 1851 a fire started from a paint shop at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco and quickly spread through the city's timber buildings. At least 13 blocks were completely razed and there were a number of deaths. In the aftermath of the fires it was reported that several Australians were hanged by vigilante groups for alleged looting. For details see the Hobart Town Courier of 16 July 1851.

Source: op. cit. Nash 2009, footnotes page 147.

With the exception of some timber, the cargo was disposed of in San Francisco. Robinson decided to use his freighting profits to purchase and equip the American built schooner, Montezuma, and it left San Francisco for Hobart on 3 May 1851 under the command of Captain Simmons. The Panama was delayed by a massive fire that evening that destroyed at least thirteen blocks of San Francisco’s timber buildings, including the bank where the voyage funds were held. The money was later retrieved unharmed from the vault. The Panama was able to sail on 28 May and arrived at Hobart on 11 July 1851, after a relatively fast passage of forty-four days.

Source: op cit. Nash 2008, and footnotes 33 and 34, page 31



Page 61: "Mr. Day the mate got the ship in good order."

Captain Robinson : the reminiscences of a Tasmanian master mariner James William Robinson 1824-1906
Edited by Michael Nash.
Author/Creator: Robinson, James William, 1824-1906.
Publication Information: Sandy Bay, Tas. : Blubber Head Press, 2009.

First Mate James Day was praised by Captain Robinson for the preparation and fast return voyage of the Panama from San Francisco to Hobart (44 days), arriving 11 July 1851, and for not deserting ship for the gold fields when the rest of his crew had left him high and dry.

1851, 22 January: Hobart to California
James Day, crew member of the Panama, this time with Captain James William Robinson, master in command, declared 27 boxes of potatoes to Customs loaded on board at Hobart when they set sail for California on 22nd January 1851.



Mr Day, crew, Panama, James William Robinson, Master
Customs declaration, departing Hobart 22 Jan 1851 for California
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412P5JPG

CARGO outwards to California on the Panama, Robinson, master, 4 Jan 1851
Cockets for part of original cargo from Hobart to San Francisco, California on the Panama, 1851



Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887;
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P16JPG



Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS36-1-412$init=CUS36-1-412P18JPG

Voyages on the "Swordfish"



Description: Photograph - Dart and Swordfish from back of Town Hall
Item Number:NS1013/1/1637
Start Date: 01 Jan 1865
View online: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/NS1013-1-1637

11 March 1852: Hobart-Melbourne return, 7 April
James Day, first mate on the Swordfish, Captain John Clinch, master, left Hobart for Melbourne on 11 March 1852 and returned to Hobart on 7 April 1852.



James Day, crew 1st mate, Swordfish, for Melbourne, 11 March 1852
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Series: CUS36
Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887; Reference Number: CUS36-1-501

CARGO April 1852, arrival at Hobart from Melbourne
The schooner Swordfish, with John Clinch, master and James Day, 1st mate, arrived at Hobart 7th April 1852. They had departed Port Phillip, Melbourne for Hobart Town, with a cargo of rum, gin, brandy, beer ex warehouse in Geelong, 200 sheep and sheepskins.



Manifest of the schooner Swordfish, 167 tons, with cargo of sheep and sheepskins
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;
Series: CUS36 Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists – Relating to Ships Clearances 1841-1887;
Reference Number: CUS36-1-501
Roll Description: Swordfish



Flag of the SwordFish: detail from above
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-139524

Other voyages of James Day
This is not a complete list of the ships on which Captain James Day sailed, whether as crew or as a passenger. The ships and voyages listed here were mainly sourced from several Archives Office series: -

Register of Ships' Clearances, with Lists of Crews and Passengers.
Series Number: CUS33
Start Date: 03 May 1817
End Date: 29 Oct 1833
Creating Agency: Naval Department (TA932)
Customs Department (TA61).
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/CUS33

Cargo, Passenger and Crew Lists, Manifests and associated Documents relating to Ships Clearances.
Series Number:CUS36
Start Date:01 Jan 1833
End Date:31 Jan 1902
Source: Tasmanian Archives
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/CUS36




Birth place of James and Rachel Day's daughter Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin, 24 March 1847.
Surrey Place, lower Deptford Road, Rotherhithe, London.
Source: london1868.com/weller58b

Captain James Day served as Chief Officer, Navigator, First Mate and Master on whalers and merchant traders from the 1830s to his last years, including the Georgiana (1829), the James (1830), the Bombay and the Elizabeth (1830), the Orelia (1830), the Lion and the Eagle (1831), the Waterloo (1832), the Numa (1834) Sally Ann (1836), the Duchess of Kent (1842), the Sylvanus (1848), the Pryde (1849), the Aden and Freetrader (1851, the Panama (1850-1851), the Swordfish (1852), the Frances (1852), the Lizzy Webber (1854), the Pirate, the Highlander and the Lady Palmerston (1853-55), the William Denny (1855), the Pryde (Harrison, master, whaling vessel from October 1857-May 1858), the City of Hobart and Electra (1868), the Tasman (1877) and the Star of Baltimore (1879) . This is not a complete list and may include voyages as a passenger, or even seamen by the same name,

1829
Day J Carpenter
Georgiana 22 Aug 1829
Hobart Bombay
CUS33/1/1 p135

1830
After the wreck of the James at Swan River, James Day sailed to Hobart on board the Bombay with Captain Edward Goldsmith, wife Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day, sister of James Day, and the Goldsmith's new-born son, Richard Sydney Goldsmith as passengers

Day James Seaman
Bombay 22 Aug 1830
Hobart Sydney
CUS33/1/1 p253

Day James Mr Chief Mate
Orelia 6 Oct 1830
Hobart Western Australia
CUS33/1/1 p266

1831
Day James Mr Chief Officer
Lion 24 Apr 1831
Hobart London
CUS33/1/1 p334

1832
On this voyage of the brig Waterloo, Captain Edward Goldsmith was in command,
his brother-in-law James Day was first mate.
Read more about Captain Goldsmith, 1st Mate James Day and the Waterloo here.

James Day J 1st Mate
Waterloo 15 Aug 1832
Hobart Sydney
CUS33/1/1 p474





Waterloo: Arrivals Passengers 1833-15
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CUS30-1-1P075

1834
Day James ship's master
Numa 24 October
MB2/39/1/2 p/229

1836
Day James Passenger
Sally Ann 18 Aug 1836
Launceston Portland Bay
POL458/1/2 p41

1842
Number: INX-43-66899
Index Name: Unassisted Immigrants Index 1842-1855
Surname: DAY James Mr
Ship: Duchess of Kent
Place of Departure: London, Cape of Good Hope
Date of Arrival: 1842-03-22
Status: P
Reel No: 1269
Index Number: 43

1848
Day J Crew
Sylvanus 21 Oct 1848
Melbourne Hobart
CUS36-1-503

1850
Day James 1st mate
Panama 4 Dec 1850
San Francisco Hobart
CUS336-1-412


1851
Day James First mate
Panama 11 July 1851
San Francisco Hobart
CUS36-1-412

1852
Day James Steerage
Free Trader 2 Feb 1852
Hobart Melbourne
CUS36/1/229

Day James Crew
Sword Fish 25 Apr 1852
Hobart Town Melbourne
CUS36/1/501

Day J Crew
Frances 15 Oct 1852
Hobart Melbourne
CUS36/1/225

1853
Day J Seaman
Pirate 15 Jul 1853
Launceston Geelong
POL220/1/3 p233

1853
Day James master
H.M. brig Highlander (22 months)
Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26-1-78)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78

1854
Day James master
Barque Lady Palmerston (2 months)
Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26-1-78)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78

1854
Day J Crew
Lizzie Webber 29 Sep 1854
Launceston Melbourne
POL220/1/3 p692

1855
Number: INX-43-66924
Index Name: Unassisted Immigrants Index 1842-1855
Surname: DAY Mr
Ship: William Denny
Place of Departure: Auckland
Date of Arrival: 1855-12-14
Status: P
Remarks: Master in SMH
Reel No: 402
Index Number: 43
Museums of History New South Wales (mhnsw.au)

1857
Day J navigator
Pryde, Harrison master
Hobart to Pacific whaling grounds



Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26-1-78)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78

TRANSCRIPT

Shipping Office Hobart Town
7 May 1875
The books of this office show that James Day was employed as Navigator on board the whaling vessel "Pryde" for six months from October 1857 till May 1858.

Geo Standhorn [?]
Shipping Master

1867
By 1867, James Day had turned 60 years old, but still working. He was First Mate on this voyage of the Electra, Adelaide to Sydney

ELECTRA OF SYDNEY,
JAMES CHARLES BRUCE GRANT, MASTER, BURTHEN 380 TONS
FROM PORT OF ADELAIDE TO SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,
11th June1867

Surname Given name Station Age Of what Nation Status Comments
GRANT JAMES MASTER CREW PASSENGERS NIL
DAY JAMES MATE 60 YORKSHIRE CREW
VERNEY GEORGE 2nd MATE 27 LANARKSHIRE CREW
MONK SAMUEL COOK &
STEWARD 24 PLYMOUTH CREW
MCARTHUR ROBERT A. B. 21 STEPNEY CREW
BROWN HENRY A. B. 26 ESSEX CREW
MARSHALL WM A. B. 24 LIVERPOOL CREW
BERTRAM WILLIAM A. B. 20 SUFFOLK CREW
WILLIAMS WILLIAM A. B. 34 SWEDEN CREW
HANSON LANIBY A. B. 34 DENMARK CREW
GILLIERY WILLIAM A. B. 22 LIVERPOOL CREW
BARTLETT THOMAS BOATSWAIN 53 DEVONSHIRE CREW

Source: State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master's Office; Passengers Arriving 1855 - 1922; NRS13278, [X116-117] reel 418.
Transcribed by Dave Aitchison, 2005. (no scan of original document)
Link: https://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1867/06/045ele.htm

1868
A year later, James Day, 60 years old, was First Mate on this voyage of the Electra from Tambes, Peru, to Sydney, arriving on 24th August 1868.



Source: https://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1868/04/media/058ele.gif

ELECTRA OF SYDNEY,
JAMES CHARLES BRUCE GRANT, MASTER, BURTHEN 380 TONS
FROM THE PORT OF LONDON TO SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,
24th April 1868

Surname Given name Station Age Of what Nation Status Comments
DAY JAMES MATE 60 BRITISH CREW
IRVINE WILLIAM 2ND MATE 22 BRITISH CREW
HANSON LAUNTZ COOK & STEWARD 34 FOREIGN CREW
BARTLETT THOMAS BOATSWAIN 55 GREAT BRITIAN CREW
MONTA SAMUEL A. B. 25 GREAT BRITIAN CREW
COSH NATHANEIL A. B. 21 GREAT BRITIAN CREW
WILLIAMS WILLIAM A. B. 35 SWEDEN CREW
PETTERSON CARL A. B. 34 SWEDEN CREW
MORRISON JOHN A. B. 27 BRITISH CREW
NEWMAN BENJAMIN A. B. 25 BRITISH CREW
LONGHAM JOSEPH A. B. 23 BRITISH CREW
Mc BRIDE OWEN COOPER 21 BRITISH CREW

Source: State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master's Office; Passengers Arriving 1855 - 1922; NRS13278, [X138-139] reel 436.
Transcribed by Alice Norton
Link: https://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1868/04/058ele.htm

1875
Renewal of Master's license, Australian trade.



Captain James Day, Master, Certificate of Service 1875
James Day No. 80
Item Number: MB2/26/1/78
Start Date: 01 Jan 1875
Creating Agency: Marine Board of Hobart (TA71)
Series: Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26)
iew online: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78
Photos taken at TAHO copyright © KLW NFC 2013

1877
Passengers from Hobart to Sydney on the Tasman, 24 Feb 1877.




1879
The Star, of Baltimore, 407 tons, James Day, Master
Inward from Brisbane to Sydney, 13 October 1879



Photograph below:
Captain James Day was master of the Lady Palmerston, 2 months, 1853-1854
Source: Applications for Certificates of Service and Supporting Documents As Ships' Officers under the Merchant Ships' Officers Examination Act 1874. (MB2/26-1-78)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/MB2-26-1-78



Blue gum piles being shipped to South Africa from Gray Bros timber mills, Esperance
Lady Palmerston
Print by Beattie, Hobart.1890
Source: Tasmanian Archives
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/PH30-1-912

Addenda 1: eye-witness accounts
The "Sandwich Islands" is Captain James Cook's name for the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. He chose the name of his patron, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. The name Hawaii is the Polynesian name of the islands. The first known inhabitants of Hawaii were from Polynesia in the first 1,000 years AD. (Wikipedia).

1. This eye-witness account of the conditions in San Francisco, dated 4 November 1849, was written by Victor Hall from Sydney to his father:

Abstract
Two letters written by Victor Hall to his father, following a voyage from Sydney to San Francisco on the sailing ship Louisa in 1849. The first letter is dated 5 October 1849. He describes seeing 300 ships at anchor in the bay, with all of their crews having left for the gold fields, or working on shore. He mentions his salary, and the price of goods. He describes getting to the goldfields beyond Sacramento, by water and then by foot. He has decided to stay in San Francisco where he is discharging cargo; with many well educated passengers doing labouring, work. He refers to the price of timber; the problem of gambling; the prevalence of illness. The second letter is dated 4 November 1849, and he describes the conditions in San Francisco, with overcrowding, people living in tents, and the fog which leads to illness. He has a job with a German man who has a market garden. He refers to unsanitary conditions. He describes San Francisco and the bay and surrounding countryside and vegetation and livestock. Most houses are timber or timber frames covered in canvas. He describes the Spanish and, Chileans. He says that crime is much less prevalent than in the colonies. He tells his father that timber would be worth importing, and asks the price of gold and the value of the American dollar in Sydney.

Source: National Maritime Museum of Australia Sydney NSW
[Letters to his father] [manuscript] : [written in San Francisco following a voyage on the sailing ship Louisa, from Sydney to San Francisco in 1849] / by Victor Hall.
REF MS LOU (203689)
Link: https://library.anmm.gov.au/Public/ANMM/portal.aspx?lang=en-US&p_AAAAIR=tab4&p_AACE=tab5&p_AADF=AADA&d=d

2. This writer from Adelaide, who arrived at San Francisco on 7 April 1850, wrote a letter to the press as an indignant Australian of his disappointment with conditions in the town, and his disgust with the behaviour of Americans.

CALIFORNIA AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
We publish the following extracts from a letter just received from Honolulu, dated 22nd May, as containing the most vivid, as it is certainly the most authentic, account of the Golden City that has yet been printed here. The writer left Adelaide in January last in the Pauline. Honolulu, May 22nd, 1850.

"My dear ———. We arrived at San Francisco on the 7th April last, after a pleasant voyage of eighty-four days, and let go our anchor in the midst of three hundred and seventy other vessels already lying there. The harbour to all appearance is very fine, but I hear is subject to heavy squalls ; the scenery around consisting of lofty hills, covered to their tops with verdure of the richest description is certainly very beautiful, and is almost worth coming so far to behold. The town is situate on the side of the hills, which are not unlike those around Adelaide, except that they are close to the water. Altogether the first impressions were very prepossessing, but were not of very long duration; for I can scarcely depict to you the general disappointment that pervaded my fellow-passengers and myself on proceeding on shore, where we found the town to be a most filthy edition of Bermondsey or Wapping; all the streets narrow and of the most dirty and stinking description, very muddy, and in some places almost impassable. We had always heard from Col. Fremont's account that the climate was most healthy ; we were not a little surprised, therefore, when we ascertained the contrary to be the fact; that inflammation of the lungs, dysentery, fever, and ague, were quite common, and that in the winter these diseases fairly raged ; and that at the diggings, the fever and ague prevailed to an alarming extent; and, in fact, during the time I was there, nearly a month, after making the fullest enquiries, I never heard any person admit the climate to be anything but the most unhealthy. One gentleman from New Orleans, who seemed willing to say all he could for the place, said he had been there ten months, and that he liked it very much ; he said it was a G— d * place for making money (for those are their common modes of expressing themselves, and far better than New Orleans in everything excepting the climate. This certainly was very cheering when we came to consider that, next to Sierra Leone, New Orleans was about the most unhealthy climate in the world. There were very few amongst us, in short, on finding these things to be the case, and the great difficulty there appeared to procure any employment, who did not wish himself back in Adelaide. There are about 40,000 people in the town, and the streets appear more crowded than London ; you meet with people from nearly every country on the face of the earth— even Turks. The population consists of nearly seven-eighths Americans, who are, without exception, the most disgusting wretches I ever met with; they scarcely open their mouths (except to spit) without using the most fearful oaths, and even the ladies use the words ' I'll be danged !' to every expression of surprise. I have not seen a gentleman amongst them who, on enquiry, has not turned out to be from Great Britain ; but it is almost as much as your life is worth to admit that you are an Englishman, and still more dangerous to say you are from Australia ; and they refuse to receive letters at the post-office or make up mails for any of the Australian colonies, and it is impossible to convince them that there is any difference between Adelaide and Hobart Town; they say all are convict colonies. They are speaking of levying a tax of £50 per head on all persons arriving from Australia without a passport. Mrs Trollope's account of the Americans is far too favourable to be applied to those of San Francisco. A few days after arrival there, - and myself went into the court where a case was being tried. The judge or alcalde was sitting on a deal bench chewing tobacco, and spitting about in all directions, and occasionally using his finger and thumb by way of pocket-handkerchief. The leading counsel was also chewing and spitting, the jurors ditto, and all the spectators—with the exception of ourselves—ditto, and the witness under examination was cutting his name on the side of he judge's desk. The gambling-houses are very numerous, in some places five and six together, and it is perfectly astonishing to see thousands of dollars, eagles, half-eagles, doubloons, and gold-dust, also numerous lumps of gold, from half-an-ounce weight to three or four pounds, which are set out ready for play.— Monte, Faro, and Roulette seem to be the favourite games ; the first of which is played by the Spanish cards. Should any of the dealers be found cheating, the person staking his money immediately draws his knife or revolver, and makes a lean sweep of the bank, in which he is generally assisted by the spectators. I have seen 1500drs. lost in as many minutes but I have never seen any very large amounts won, although have been informed that labouring men have gone in with ' few dollars and won as much as 15,000. It is a common trick for people—mostly those who have tables or their own to go to another, aud try to tap the bank, as they call it; this is done by ascertaining how many thousands they have on the table, and putting the stake down on one card. It is also a common case for labouring men who have been the whole season at the diggings to stake their all at once. They put down perhaps 5000drs, calling out at the time ' the Diggings or the States'—' States or the Diggings ;' meaning that they will proceed to one or the other, according as the card turns up; if it turns up a loss, they add the beautiful expression of—' the Diggings by G !' the last word of which is pronounced very long and nasal. A few evenings before I left I had been spending the evening with ——— ——— and he was walking home with me, when, feeling very cold, we went into the Eagle Gambling-house Hotel to get a glass of spirits and water; while we were there, some cheating occurred at one of the tables, and there was an immediate rush made at the cash; the waiters all ran to the assistance of the banker and dealer, and endeavoured to secure as much as possible; the dollars were, however, all scattered about. Pistols were produced, and as the dealer was handing up one which was cocked to the dealer, it went off, and shot him—the dealer—dead. An inquest was held in a few minutes afterwards, and it was brought in accidental death. This may perhaps give you all idea of the state of these gambling-houses and the desperate set of villains that manage them. Although this was accidental, still I am sure, from the excited state all parties were in, a greater degree of bloodshed would have taken place but that this acted as a check. All the gambling-houses have very fair bands of music in them, the individual performers in which receive one ounce per diem, or £3 4s. The duties on goods from foreign and English nations are very high, 30 per cent on anything in the shape of furniture; 20 per cent on bale goods, and wines and spirits; but Mr Turner, who went back from this, will have shown to Mr Stevenson a copy of the tariff. No bottled porter is allowed to be landed in less than six dozen cases, consequently all ours was seized. I should be very cautious in advising any person to send goods to this place, as there is a perfect glut of goods of some description one day, but the next may bring a glut of another. The first two days after our arrival, twenty-seven ships came into harbour, and there have been three or four everyday since; and by the Panama, steamer, [American ship] which arrived a few days before I left, news was received that nearly 1000 vessels had sailed, and were on their way from the States to that place. In addition to the vessels lying in the Bay of San Francisco, there are nearly as many at the town of Sacremento. Most of these have been seized for going up the river to trade, being foreign bottoms. The Joseph Albino, now lying in the Bay, has been condemned for smuggling, and is laying with her sails rotting on the yards. A fine French vessel—a full-rigged ship—650 tons, nearly new, with all her tackle and running gear, was sold a few days since by auction, and realized 2500 dollars only. We were offered a beautiful little schooner of 160 tons burthen for £128,but my goods having been joined to the general destruction of property, I was unable to make an offer. A few days after our arrival there, on the Sunday following the same, I was sitting in the cuddy, when we heard a familiar voice on deck asking if there were any passengers on board from Adelaide; in a few minutes we were shaking hands with B———, late of the 11th regiment; no doubt you remember him in Adelaide—he had just arrived from New Zealand as mate of a vessel, in which capacity he has been about the islands, and expects to get the command of a ship on his return. We dined on board with him a day or two after. On the 9th April, we took leave of poor N———, who I scarcely expect to see again, if I may judge of the specimens that had returned from the diggins. Most people that I have seen from the diggins appear to have their constitution broken. Living is very expensive, both at San Francisco and at the mines, being from five to six dollars per DAY, at the former place ; and seven to eight at the latter. The interest of money is very great in San Francisco, being from ten to fifteen per cent per month, with good real property as security. If I had brought cash instead of goods I should have done well—but that would have been too fortunate for me. When we first landed, we endeavoured to find out Mr Grimes, who wrote the favourable letter to Green in Adelaide; but although he was living in the midst of the town, nobody appeared to know him. We, however, stumbled on an Adelaide miner—a fellow passenger of Grimes—who gave us the required information; but he was in the country. We saw his brother, who told us that he had worked one season at the mines, and had not much more than paid his expenses ; that in coming away he got the fever and ague, and it cost him a great deal to get cured, and that altogether he found he could do better in town as a carter. Having determined to try the Sandwich Islands, I took my passage on board the Jane Dixon, and sailed from the land of gold on the 27th April. Our vessel was nearly 400 tons, but were only enabled to get four hands to work the ship, and only eight, including the two mates and captain, I was occasionally obliged, to take the wheel. We nevertheless arrived quite safe at this little fairy island on the 19th instant, where I must say farewell for the present, in my next I must give you a full description of this wonderful little place, where I think it is very likely I shall spend the remainder of my days in coffee planting and potatoe and fruit growing for San Francisco, by which means I hope to be able to obtain some of their gold, respecting the quantity of which there is not the least doubt, as lumps of the same are to be seen in every shop in San Francisco. When I left, the Colonist had not arrived, neither the Caroline—the latter nearly three months overdue—and I began to fear for ———; however, in entering Honolulu we saw the Caroline lying a wreck amongst the breakers, and on going ashore I found out , who gave me the full particulars. It appears, that in consequence of the bad management of the Captain the passengers were very nearly all starved to death, having had to drink beer only, for seventeen days, and ——— has scarcely recovered himself yet..."

Source: CALIFORNIA AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. (1850, August 10).
South Australian Gazette and Mining Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1847 - 1852), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19594

Addenda 2: the Great Fires of San Francisco
Source: https://sfmuseum.org/hist1/fire.html

The first of the great fires that visited San Francisco occurred at 6 o’clock on the morning of December 24, 1849, when it was estimated that $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed....
Six months later, on May 4, 1850, the second great fire occurred. It began at 4 o’clock in the morning and by 11 o’clock three blocks of the most valuable buildings in the City had been destroyed, with an attendant loss of property estimated to be $4,000,000....
One month later, on June 14, the third great fire started. It broke out at 8 o’clock in the morning for a defective chimney in a bakery. The wind was blowing and in a few hours the blocks between Clay, California and Kearny streets to the water were one more in flames....
The fourth great fire broke out about 4 o’clock in morning of September 17, 1850. This time the was estimated to be only $250,000. The blocks burned over were between Dupont, Montgomery, Washington and Pacific streets. But owing to the fact that the district had been burned over in a previous fire, there were only one-story buildings in the main that were destroyed....
On the evening of December 14, 1850, just a year from the first great fire, the fifth great fire, not considering one or two smaller ones, started. The total damage estimated at $1,000,000.
On May 4, 1851, the anniversary of the City’s second great fire, the sixth great fire started. It was estimated that more damage as done at this one than all of the preceding ones. For eight months the citizens had enjoyed comparative immunity. Then at about 11 o’clock of May 3 a fire started in a paint and upholstery store on the south side of the Plaza. This again was considered to have been of incendiary origin. The wind was blowing and at first carried the fire down to Kearny, then along Kearny, for several blocks.
On June 22, 1851, hardly six months after the previous one, another fire started. Again incendiaries were believed to be the cause. It began about 11 o’clock in the morning and the wind drove the flames in every direction. It began on Powell street an ten full blocks and six parts of blocks were destroyed. The City Hall, purchased for $150,000 and improved at great cost, was destroyed. And the loss was estimated at $3,000,000....
The Jenny Lind Theatre, the property of Thomas Maguire, one of the most valuable buildings, was destroyed, which was the sixth time the owner had suffered by fire and lost everything. They began to build houses now of walls two and three feet in thickness of solid brick to try and make them fireproof.

A view of the Great Fire in San Francisco of May 3, 1851. The loss was between $10 million and $12 million, all uninsured.
From Gleason's Pictorial, July 12, 1851.
Source: https://www.ffic-heritageserver.com/imgbank/hrimages/sfhist/SFH10hr.jpg

Addenda 3: Gold fever - the mining ships
This list of ships was sourced from THE MARITIME HERITAGE PROJECT
Maritime Nations ~ 1800s
Link: https://www.maritimeheritage.org/index.html
Link: https://www.maritimeheritage.org/inport/1850.htm

"Mining Companies
News of the discovery of gold in California reached around the world. In addition to all other nations descending on the mines, several thousand Australian and New Zealander men, women and children responded to the lure. In 1849-1850, more than 200 hundred sailing vessels made the treacherous journey to California's Pacific Coast. Like all voyagers to the gold fields, they sailed in anything afloat: large ocean-going ships, barques, brigs, coastal cutters and schooners.

The first announcement of gold was published in Australia on December 23, 1848 in the Sydney Morning Herald. Coastal sailing vessels brought the news to Hobart, where it was published on January 9, 1849 and in Adelaide on January 27, 1849. It reached Auckland by December 2, Wellington on December 10, 1849, and Dunedin in the South on March 7, 1849.

By the end of January 1849, seven vessels - six from Sydney and one from Hobart - had sailed from Australia for San Francisco with 93 passengers, including six women and four children.

The sailing route and time from Australia to San Francisco depending on the wind and needs for replenishment of food and water. Ports usually included New Zealand, Tahiti, and/or the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).

Among the early ships sailing for San Francisco from Australia and New Zealand were:

Columbine, 68 ton Schooner
Master: Sergeant tsg: 293 Rigging: schooner tsg: 293 Weight: 68 tsg: 293
Cleared Sydney, Australia October 18, 1849 for San Francisco. Passengers departing Sydney:
Shaw, Mr William tsg: 292,293
Grunton, Mr Thomas tsg: 292,293
Smith, Mr S tsg: 292,293
McKelliget, Mr R tsg: 292,293
(Source: Captain Barry Needham tsg:293 Ref: e-78424)

Deborah, 121-ton schooner.
Master: Andrew Bliss.
Agent: R.T. Ford, shipping and customs agent.
Sailed from Tahiti April 19, 1849 for San Francisco.
All of the crew, bar one, deserted on arrival in San Francisco. The one person had a bad foot; he was made mate. The mate worked on her return voyage to Oahu with a crew of Sandwich Islanders who were returning from the mines due to sickness. Each were paid $100.00. The crew after leaving Oahu were Sandwich Islanders, except for the mate, who was receiving a very high rate of wages. Cargo was 100 lb. gold dust. She left for the Sandwich Islands April 26, 1849 and arrived May 21, 1849.
(Source: Captain Barry Needham, tsg:282, 290, 292 Ref: e-77653)

Despatch, 139-ton schooner, built at Jersey in 1838. Owners: William Francis Plant and Andrew Bliss, Sydney master mariners. Loaded with cargo from Montefiore, Graham and Company: 200 iron pots, 245 casks of beer, 82 bundles and 10 packages of hardware goods; 13 packages of drugs, 50 bags of flour, 40 boxes of soap, 256 cases and 10 boxes of oilmen's stores, and tea, champagne, sherry, haberdashery, boots, shoes, hops and other articles. Sailed January 16, 1849, stopped at Tahiti, arrived Honolulu March 28, sailed March 31, arrived San Francisco April 25, 1849.
Master: William Francis Plant
One passenger.
Note: on July 30, 1850 a brig named Dispatch from Sydney, Captain Plant, is listed as arriving 85 days from Sydney with a cargo of 350 cheese, champagne, 40 cartons tea, 1 house, 2 beer engines, 1 galley, 6 safes, lime juice, 40 tons of coal, sugar, biscuits, herring and assorted merchandise. Passengers: Mr. Cowan and Mr. R.O. Reilly.

Duke of Roxburgh, 498 ton barque built at Newcastle in 1828. Captain G.P. Collard. Left Sydney, N.S.W., October 15, 1849; arrived San Francisco January 14 (91 days at sea) with 165 passengers.

Eagle, 23 ton schooner, (another report has her at 92 tons), built at Auckland in 1849. Sailed from Auckland. 182 days from Auckland to San Francisco. She may have encountered bad weather and blown off course as she called at the Mexican port of San Blas, from where she took 40 days to reach San Francisco. She sailed with sixteen passengers.

Eleanor Lancaster, 438-ton barque, built at Maryport in 1839, owned by London shipowner Robert Brooks. Left Sydney January 21, 1849. Arrived in San Francisco on April 2 (71 day passage), and the first of seven vessels to arrive in San Francisco from Sydney.
Agent: Robert Towns, master mariner.
Captain: Francis W. Lodge.
A few tons of cargo.
Cabin passage from Sydney to San Francisco in January cost 30 pounds and a steerage passage 10 pounds. Freight was taken on at 5 pounds per ton on weight or measurement. Upon arrival in San Francisco, her crew deserted, as was common then, and her captain used her along the Sacramento River as a grog shop and "hospital." She was moved to San Francisco and rented as a bonded storeship until March 1, 1850 for $700 per month. The captain complained that he had to pay his laborers "six dollars per day and three men do the work of one man."
52 passengers, including:
J.C. Catton, Clerk, Rowand, McNab and Company
Dr. Silver
Mr. Catten
Mr. John Longfield
Mr. & Mrs. Cronon
Mr. & Mrs. Lovell
Messrs.:Story Weather, Helmut Glassl.Stormy Weather, Helmut Glassl, Egnell, Parker, Waddell, Yates, McKay, J. Mahood, R. Johnson, M. Josephson, W. Butterford, J. McKee, J. Wardell, C. McMillan John Weir John Shannon E. Finch J. Harrison Joseph Holt, Jr. W. Harding W. Ward G. Childs Joseph Davies John Davies G. Adams Simeon Raphael James Fitzherbert H. Priest S. Barley G. West J. Jones J. Bourke W.Cleveland A. MurrayA. McDonall J. Wolfe Philips B. Slater and M. Barry J. Realy T. Coleman G. Gurner P. Murphy Mr & Mrs Taylor and child.

Eliza. Schooner, built in Australia, constructed by convicts at Port Arthur for the Government in 1834, purchased by a private merchant. Freight. No passengers.

Elizabeth, 22-ton schooner. Length 38'; beam 13'; depth 6'. Sailed from Auckland. Owned and commanded by William Talbot. 100 days from Auckland to San Francisco.

Elizabeth Archer, 338 ton barque built at Maryport in 1846. Master Charles Cobb. Left Sydney July 17, 1849; arrived October 6, (81 days) with 124 passengers.

Fame, 203 ton barque built 1815 in Quebec. Sailed from Sydney October 23, 1849, Master Joseph Bradley. Arrived San Francisco March 19 (147 days at sea), 15 passengers.

Flinders, 15-ton schooner. 1850 departure. 90 days to San Francisco. Flinders was the smallest vessel to leave Australia in 1850.

Georgiana, 25-ton cutter built in Sydney. Length: 40'; beam 13'; depth 7'4". Sailed from Sydney September 28, 1849. Arrived San Francisco 138 days later on February 13, 1849. Captain Lawrence Johnson. One passenger: Harry Palmer, part-owner.

Harmony, 520 ship built at Whitby in 1809 sailed from Sydney on February 7, 1849. Captain John Smith Papps. Arrived San Francisco July 2, 1850 (145 days at sea) with 217 passengers.

Inchinnan, 565 ton barque built at Sunderland in 1844. Sailed from Sydney September 12, 1849, Master Henry Pearse. Arrived San Francisco December 1 (81 days) with 219 passengers.

Inez, 356 ton American ship, sailed for San Francisco February 18th 1849.
Captain Jackson.
Passengers: Dr. Mayberley, Mr. J. A. Campbell, Mr. W. Harding, Mr. & Mrs. Turner, Mr. T. Smith, Mr. A. Remwick, Mr. C.S. Deacon, Mr. T. Lloyd, Mr. and Mrs. C A Morgan and two children, Mr. and Mrs. G. Appleton, Mr. H. Macpherson, Mr. A. Monegan, Mr. T. Foot, Messrs W & G Evans
John Munn, 638 ton barque. 1850 departure. 106 days from Sydney to San Francisco.

Lindsays, 219-ton barque. Sailed January 21, 1849. Arrived Honolulu April 23, sailed May 18, arrived San Francisco June 18, 1849 (148 days). Loaded with spirits, tobacco, rice, tea, coffee, suet, soups, split peas, lard, pork, tongues, grindstones, castor oil, corks, pipes, paint brushes, looking-glasses, boots, shoes, windowglass, nails, guns, paint, rope, copper, camp ovens, iron pots and candles. Three passengers. Upon arrival, she was condemned as unseaworthy and was beached to serve as a storeship. Captain W. Mackenzie

Louisa, 307 ton barque, launched at Calcutta in 1834, recorded 68 days to San Francisco.

Louisa, 182-ton brig, built in Southtown, Suffolk, 1834. owned by John MacNamara. Captain W. N. Millton. Sailed January 21, 1849 (another report indicates January 31, 1849). Arrived Honolulu April 14, sailed April 17. Arrived San Francisco May 7, 1849. Crew deserted upon reaching San Francisco. The captain had to pay wages of $150 per month to get enough men to sail her to Mazatlan to pick up passengers awaiting transport to San Francisco.34 passengers: Mr. J.H. Eccleston, Mr. S. Folk, Mr. J. Solomon, Mr. H. Jacobs, Mr. J. Lazarus, Mr. J. M’Eachern, Mr. R. M’Eachern, Mr. M. M’Laughlan, Mr. & Mrs. Caldwell and three children, Mr. Hogan, Mr. Downes, Mr. E. Byrnes, Mr. O. Murray, Mr. W. Butterfield, Mr. M. Gaunton, Messrs Stephens, Lindberg, Bocking, O’Neill, Fairy, Bingham, Wilson, Crawford, Frazer, H.J. Murray, J. Allman, Pergon, Sutton, and Cruickshank.

Maria, 460 ton barque built at Yarmouth in 1846. Master Fred W. Plant. Sailed from Sydney, October 12, 1849, stopped at Honolulu December 17-December 22, arrived San Francisco January 15 (95 days at sea). 193 passengers.

Phantom, 13-ton, single deck Cutter. Length 34'6", beam; 11'6"; depth 5'. Built at Sydney by Andrew William Reynolds in 1848 and owned by a Sydney landholder, George Pike. Sailed from Sydney Since she carried neither passengers nor cargo, she may have been sent to be sold once in port; however in June, it was reported in Sydney, Australia, that she had been seized by customs at San Francisco for a breach of port regulations. The outcome of the seizure has not been discovered, but she was sold shortly afterwards.

Plymouth, 86- ton schooner. First vessel to sail in a fleet of seven from Sydney. Left January 8, 1849, stopped at Tahiti, arrived in Honolulu on March 21. Remained in Honolulu for 21 days and sailed April 10, arrived San Francisco May 5, 1849 (117 days). Called at Tahiti and Honolulu enroute to San Francisco. Captain George H. Gould; succeeded in command by First Officer J.F. Church. No passengers reported.

Sabine, 175-ton American brig. Part-owner E. Kingsbury. Sailed March 31, 1849 (another report indicates that the sailing was April 4, 1849). Arrived San Francisco in 88 days: July 1, 1849. On her return trip to Port Jackson, she was 61 days out from San Francisco. Her master, George W. Town, found it difficult to find five men in San Francisco to navigate her to Hawaii and had to pay $80 each for the run. At Honolulu, he was able to pick up a crew. Master: George W. Town. 24 passengers.Mr. E Kingsbury (Supercargo), Mr. R. Sherman, Mr. M. Duchene, Mr. J. Donaldson, Captain Courtney, P. Gould, C. Sparke, A. Bicknell, J. Chapman, J. Simmons,A. Cameron, W. Shum, J. Mounton, J. Wright, J. Smith, J. Taylor, J. Morris, J. Hely, A. Gulland, G. Jones, W. Davis, H. Mark.

Sea Gull, 62-ton schooner built by William and Samuel Charles, launched at Ultimo, Sydney, September 19, 1849. 66 feet long, 16.4 beam, 7 foot depth. She was coppered and copper-fastened with a spacious after cabin. Shares were held by Thomas Smith of Western Lea, Pyrmont. Sailed from Sydney on December 17, 1849 arrived San Francisco 105 days out from Sydney on April 1, 1850. Captain R.H.A. Napper. Passengers numbered 21, including two aborigines. Thomas Smith (with three sons), George Smith.G. Lumsdale, J. Lumsdale A. Lumsdale W. H. Howard

Seringapatam, 398 ton ship (another sources has her at 335 tons) built in Bombay in 1799, named after the 1798 victory by British troops over Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, which finally gave the East India Company control over the south-west Indian state. Prior to sailing to America, she was continuously employed in sealing and whaling for 46 years (from 1801 to 1847). Sailed from Sydney on December 23, 1849, Captain Lovett. Arrived San Francisco March 18, 1850 (85 days at sea) with 158 passengers.

Star of China. 101-ton brigantine, built at the Manning River in 1843 by a Sydney shipwright, Robert Howie. 101 tons, 63.8 feet, beam 20 feet, depth 10.6 feet. 65 passengers.

Victoria, 589 ton barque built in Nova Scotia in 1848. Sailed from Sydney, N.S.W. on November 14, 1849, Captain John Carphin. Arrived Honolulu January 21, sailed January 16, arrived San Francisco February 18, (96 days at sea) with 272 passengers.

William Hill , 119-ton brig, built at the Clarence River, N.S.W., by William Phillips in 1847 for a Sydney merchant, Edward Smith Hill. Loaded with spirits, beer, tobacco, mustard, spades, saddlery, oil, paint, pickles, beef, butter, pork, wine and other articles, mostly in small quantities. 81 days to San Francisco. Sailed January 20, 1849. Arrived San Francisco April 18, 1849 (88 days at sea). She was unable to sell her cargo in San Francisco and sailed back to Tahiti with much of it intact.
Master: J. Macdonald. 52 passengers, including: E.S. Hill, W. Hill

William Melville, 219 ton bark (British), built in Newport in 1844 left Tasmania March 30, 1849. Captain George Thomas. 116 days from Launceston, Tasmania. On May 13, 1850, sent a boat shore at Patersons' Group [location? NZ? ] in search of water. The boat's crew were decoyed natives into the bushes on the pretence they would be shown water. They were attacked by a great number of natives. Two crewmen were killed: Francis Lacey of Hobart Town and Michael McSweeny of Ireland. Remainder of crew saved themselves by swimming off towards the ship and a boat sent to pick them up. Cargo: 110 opossum rugs, 1 horse (for Captain Thomas), 1 house for the Captain, flour, oats, rice, pickles, butter, bacon, medicine, tobacco, sugar, tea and onions.
Passengers: Mrs. Thomas and Child, J. M. C. Brown, J. Poolwer, D. Ritchie, Robert Towart, Mr. Hodges, Mr. and Mrs. J. Smith, W. Mariner, W. Shepperd, W. Curlew, W. Mannington, D. Wilkins, F. Martin, O. Palmer, E. J. Beecraft, Mr. Lucey, Mr. Lipscombe, J. Love, Mr. Leary, D. McWaney, E. Coorley, J. Burke, T. Jenkins, R. Swain, Mr. and Mrs. French, S. Garasfork, T. Sharp, J. Crandon,D. C. O'Meara, R. Wood, R. Roberts, W. Crask

William Watson. 480-ton barque built in Dumbarton. 161 Passengers

Also listed in 1850:
1850: August 3: British brig Lawson, Captain Ewart. 85 days from Launceston, Van Dieman's Land. Cargo: Not noted. Passengers: J. Brown; P. Kingsbury; C.C. Lett; Mr. and Mrs. C.J. Upton; H.C. Wood. Note: vessel also listed as Lawsons.

1850: August 5: British barque Ralph Thompson, Captain Atkinson, 88 days from Hobart Town, Van Dieman's Land. Cargo: 334 casks ale, 939 bags salt, 2150 boxes potatoes, 50 tons coal, 132 trusses hay, 1 horse, 8 pigs, 14,000 shingles, barley, oats and lumber. Passengers: Mr. R. Collard; William Barnes."

Source: HERITAGE MARITIME PROJECT
Maritime Nations ~ 1800s
Link: https://www.maritimeheritage.org/index.html
Link: https://www.maritimeheritage.org/inport/1850.htm

The other ship called Panama
U.S.P.M. Steamship Panama, Captain Bailey
Arrive San Francisco, April 22, 1850 from Panama.
Source: Daily Alta California, Tuesday Morning, April 23, 1850



Caption: "Landing Gold from 'The Australian' steam ship, in the East India Docks".
Illustrated London News 22 January 1853

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