![Thomas Keir diary - 24 December 1863 entry [National Library Micro-MS-0837]](http://mermaid1864.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/23-18631224-ViewScan_0114-k.png "7-18631126-ViewScan_0098-k")
Thursday 24th – Beautiful morning with
a fine breeze. Got extra allowance today for
our christmas pudding, and preparations are
[page]
going on for the festivities. The single /women\ are getting
a christmas tree constructed for the occasion
A Mrs Burnell has this morning presented
her husband with a child, the first birth
we have had aboard[1]. The moon is full
and the night is beautiful, and clear. The
wind has fallen and the sea is quieting
down, and the scene is truly beautiful. We are
fast approaching the sun and it is very
warm, but the breeze modifies the heat so
nicely that we don’t feel it so oppressive.
The thermometer this forenoon stood
82° in the shade.
STANDARDISED
Thursday 24th
Beautiful morning with a fine breeze. Got extra allowance today for our christmas pudding, and preparations are going on for the festivities. The single women are getting a christmas tree constructed for the occasion. A Mrs Burnell has this morning presented her husband with a child, the first birth we have had aboard. The moon is full and the night is beautiful, and clear. The wind has fallen and the sea is quieting down, and the scene is truly beautiful. We are fast approaching the sun and it is very warm, but the breeze modifies the heat so nicely that we don’t feel it so oppressive. The thermometer this forenoon stood 82° in the shade.
HENRY SCHOFIELD DIARY
Dec 24th fine
Mrs Burnell delivered of a child at half past 11 Oclock last night. I drempt that I was at home. Got water pork suet raisins & fresh potatoes. For dinner rice pudding pork pea soup. Made a plum pudding & [spice?] loaf for Christmas day and some scones. Going about 6 knots. 30 deg W long. Dancing & singing.
Notes
1. Maria Caroline Rose Burnell’s birth on 23rd December at 11.30pm was recorded in the ship’s log by the captain:
Eliza Burnell wife of Henry G. Burnell was safely delivered of a daughter.
Eliza and Henry Burnell do not appear in the list of assisted emigrants nor as named cabin passengers, so have paid for their own passage in steerage.
Further reading
Clarke, Alison. “Childbirth on nineteenth-century migrant voyages to New Zealand“, New Zealand Journal of History, 50, 1 (2016); digitised version; University of Auckland.
![Sleeping Infant, National Gallery of Art [Wikipedia]](http://mermaid1864.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Sleeping-Infant-probably_British_19th_Century_NGA_57684-Wikipedia.jpg)
Sleeping Infant, National Gallery of Art [Wikipedia]
