8 February 1864

Thomas Keir diary - 8 February 1864 entry [National Library Micro-MS-0837]

Monday 8th – Amost a calm in the morning,
turned out a most beautiful day, the sea very smooth
and /of a\ fine blue color. The evening brought a nice breeze
from the port quarter. The longitude at noon was
about 144° east to the southward of Tasmania. The
prisoner got his release today, but he had to beg the
officer’s pardon. seamen busy getting the ship in good
order, painting, scraping &c

STANDARDISED

Monday 8th

Amost a calm in the morning, turned out a most beautiful day, the sea very smooth and of a fine blue color. The evening brought a nice breeze from the port quarter. The longitude at noon was about 144° east to the southward of Tasmania. The prisoner got his release today, but he had to beg the officer’s pardon[1]. Seamen busy getting the ship in good order, painting, scraping, etc.

HENRY SCHOFIELD DIARY

8th fine

Washed my jacket & towel. Sailor set free from prison. Scraping & painting masts. Dinner pie pork & pea soup, tea bread & cold pork. Talking with Wells[2] & Carthew[3] about New Zealand. Learning a sailor to read & learning me to plait. Going about 5 knots per hour 144 deg Long. Reading ships papers to Earnshaws.

Notes

1. John Hood (26) from Newport, Wales. The captain recorded in the ship’s log:

At noon called all the Crew aft and on John Hood apologizing to the Officers for his conduct I let him return to his duty.

2. Wells has been previously mentioned by Schofield. He doesn’t appear in the list of assisted emigrants nor cabin passengers, so likely paying his own way in steerage.

3. William Carthew was another steerage passenger paying his own way. He was a 20 year old miner from Cornwall. [“Provincial Commercial Industrial”, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District], (The Cyclopedia Company Limited, 1897); digitised publication by New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.]