![Thomas Keir diary - 16 December 1863 entry [National Library Micro-MS-0837]](http://mermaid1864.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/19-18631216-ViewScan_0110-k.jpg "7-18631126-ViewScan_0098-k")
Wednesday 16th Up in the morning
about 5 A.M. and had a salt water bath
with the ships pump. a beautiful morning
with a fine breeze from the south east
Venus is a morning star very bright
in the evening east. passed a barque going
in the same direction latitude at noon
3°37’ north, longitude about 25° west
STANDARDISED
Wednesday 16th
Up in the morning about 5am and had a salt water bath with the ship’s pump. A beautiful morning with a fine breeze from the south east. Venus is a morning star very bright in the east. Passed a barque going in the same direction. Latitude at noon 3°37’ north, longitude about 25° west.
HENRY SCHOFIELD DIARY
16th v fine
Saw some flying fish, a hot day. For dinner plum pudding & boulli. 6 knots per hour & lightening at night, and a steamer past us about 12 Oclock homeward bound. A young man named Tom Bowman[1] was found with a married woman in the watercloset by the Doctor at night. For tea currant cakes with butter. I slept on deck all night.
Notes
1. Thomas Bowman was an 18 year old farm labourer from Yorkshire, travelling with his family.
Further reading
Hawkins, William Webster, 1842-1918 : Diary. Ref: qMS-0934. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Digitised and available online.
The diary covers the years 1864-66, and includes an account of his trip to New Zealand from Plymouth on the Wild Duck and subsequent life and travels in Kaikoura Peninsula and Marlborough.
“The morning bath on deck”, illustration by William Webster Hawkins, 18 Oct 1864 diary entry aboard the Wild Duck [qMS-0934, National Library of New Zealand]
