3 January 1864

Thomas Keir diary - 3 January 1864 entry [National Library Micro-MS-0837]

Sunday 3d – Beautiful morning with a fair
wind latitude noon 35°53’ south longitude
18°1’ west. so that my watch has lost 17 minutes
since leaving England. The nights are getting cooler
we have nothing on our beds but the counterpane
and last night I felt cold, and will be induced
to draw to the blankets soon. At 9 A.M. the
old woman’s body[1] was committed to the deep
Reading for today the life of Richard Baxter
A present I got before leaving Dundee from my
esteemed friend Geo[rge] Alexander. At times my
thoughts would wing their flight to Bonny Scotland
and my imagination was revelling in the scenes
likely being enacted in the quite home, the centre
of my affections, where I have spent so many
happy days, in company with my own dear Jessie[2]

[page]

walking arm in arm in the beautiful twilight of our
northern latitudes. how vividly the hedges, the den
and the other grate walks which we frequented
now rise before my minds eye, although here sur-
rounded by 500 human beings, in the middle of the
boundless ocean, thousands of miles from my
native land. Oh! how I long for a pressure from
that soft hand, and a seat on the grassy bank
under the spreading oak, with our hearts and hands
united by the close ties of real affection.

STANDARDISED

Sunday 3rd

Beautiful morning with a fair wind. Latitude noon 35°53’ south, longitude 18°1’ west. So that my watch has lost 17 minutes since leaving England. The nights are getting cooler we have nothing on our beds but the counterpane and last night I felt cold, and will be induced to draw to the blankets soon. At 9am the old woman’s body was committed to the deep. Reading for today the life of Richard Baxter, a present I got before leaving Dundee from my esteemed friend George Alexander. At times my thoughts would wing their flight to Bonny Scotland and my imagination was revelling in the scenes likely being enacted in the quite home, the centre of my affections, where I have spent so many happy days, in company with my own dear Jessie, walking arm in arm in the beautiful twilight of our northern latitudes. How vividly the lodges, the den and the other grate walks which we frequented now rise before my minds eye, although here surrounded by 500 human beings, in the middle of the boundless ocean, thousands of miles from my native land. Oh! how I long for a pressure from that soft hand, and a seat on the grassy bank under the spreading oak, with our hearts and hands united by the close ties of real affection.

HENRY SCHOFIELD DIARY

Jan[uar]y 3rd v fine

Lent Keer Arabian nights, borrowed Rose Douglas of him[3]. 8 knots per hour, 36 Lat 18 Longitude. 8th Sunday. An Irishwoman died last night aged 61 & put overboard at 1/2 past 8 O’clock this morning.

Notes

1. Jane Hughes (56) from Co Down, Ireland, mentioned by Thomas Keir in his diary entry for 2 January.

2. Jessie Niven was Thomas’s wife who had remained in Scotland.

3. Rose Douglas; or Sketches of a Country Parish: being the Autobiography of a Scotch Minister’s Daughter, by Sarah R. Whitehead, first published in 1851. This is the same book as Thomas Keir was reading on 29 December, so Henry Schofield and Thomas were likely sharing books (and Henry referring to Keir as “Keer”).