The Life of William Hodge

put it in or else go to prison. So go forward and tell the rest of the crew what I said. So my mate and me came forward. But before we let any of the other hands know how we succeeded, I proposed that we should go aft again and ask if he will kindly pay us off on half pay as that would be better than nothing, as if we bolted we might stand a chance of getting three months. Anyhow aft we goes and called the steweard and told him we wanted to see the captain once more. So of course we was prepared to stand a bit of abuse so out he came and wanted to know what was wanted this time. And we told him that we was willing to forfeit half our wages if he would pay us of with the other half. And he asked us if we was speaking for all hands forward. And we told him we was. All right he says. I will pay all hands off in the morning. so you can go forward and tell the rest of the crew. So I can assure you we got no abuse from him as we expected and he was just quiet civil. and as quiet as a lamb. So when the rest of the crew got the news about the halfpay they were simply delighted, and all hands commenced to pack up all their belongings, ready for the morning to go to the shipping office. The [?very] officers packed up also. As every seemed to be heart sick of her. Anyhow when the morning came we had our breakfast, then of for the shipping office, and the captain came and paid us all on halfpay. Well now the captain thought he was doing a favour to the owner, by paying us on halfpay But instead of that he got discharged himself for doing such a thing. So the old ship was cleaned out port and aft so the owner shipped a new captain, officers and crew on a nine months articles, as in those days they could nearly do as they pleased as far as running old traps like those. Anyhow she was towed from her anchorage under the cranes and moored to the wharf by her new crew and was loaded to the scuppers with coals and sailed for Dunedin and never was heard of any more as she had gone down with all hands and my mate and me jut thought it was a Gods Blessing that we got out of her in time, and there was

two of those old ships lost that winter, bound to Dunedin with coals that was in 1873 as there was no plimsol (sic) mark to load ships to in those days and that was before so many steam colliers came about. And we also met the old captain that got discharged for paying us of with half pay and he shook hands with us, as he said it was through us that he got discharged and that we all ought to be thankful that we had escaped being drowned. I don't suppose the owner would lose much, as those old ships was always well insured. So we stayed on shore for a week or two when we heard of a gold rush that broke out at a place called Scone so three of us packed up and away we went and took our own tent and gear with us and tramped for about a week. But when we got there we found plenty of men there and we found it was only a storekeepers rush so down we came again to a town called Maitland where we got a train to take us to Newcastle. So that saved us a bit of walking. So we went to the same sailors boarding house as there was no sailors home in Newcastle in those days so we lived a week there when one day me and my mate was sitting at the door on a [form?] when a captain came and said he wanted a couple of hands and we asked him what ship and he said the Barque Adeline Burke a collier belonging to Howard Smith in Melbourne, trading between Newcastle and Melbourne. So we agree to ship with him, so we got to the shipping office, and signed articles for six months, and he had all the rest of his crew who signed on in the morning so we got on board and found she was a different ship to the one we left and also in a better trade. So we put our six months in very comfortable trading between Melbourne and Newcastle so we got paid of in Melbourne and they layed her up for a month as Howard Smith had plenty of coals in stock so we all went to the Sailor's home in Spencer Street at that time so while we was living there the captain of a barque came in for a crew called the Wodonga. She had came from the Mauritius with a cargo of sugar which was all discharged and his ship ballasted ready for seas. So he wanted a crew

to take her to Newcastle to load coals for Port Adelaide and all hands to get paid off there. So I shipped with him on those Articles. So next day all hands got on board. And the Tug towed us down the Yarra. And we set sail. And sailed down Hobsons Bay. And out through Port Philip heads. As the Captain was exempt and wanted no pilot. And we had a nice fair wind right down to Newcastle. in five days. and the Tug Bungaree towed us to an Anchorage and anchored to wait our turn to get under the cranes. Anyhow our turn came after about eight days and we got towed under the cranes and moored. And commenced loading coals for Port Adelaide. So we got loaded. And towed out clear of the Nobbys. And set sail for Pt Adelaide and got there in about fifteen days. As we had some strong head winds against us. And all hands got paid of. And the most of the crew went to live at Scotts Boarding House. So I lived there a couple of weeks. And I shipped as a deckhand on board of a Barque belonging to Port Adelaide called the Athena. And sailed for Sydney with a cargo of wheat. and discharged that cargo in Sydney. And took in Ballast. And sailed for Newcastle to load coals for Wallaroo. And after arriving at Newcastle there was a good many ships waiting their turn to load. So we just had to wait our turn along with the rest. So in about three weeks we hauled under the cranes and got loaded with coals for Wallaroo. And sailed. And arrived in Wallaroo in about three weeks. We discharged the half of our cargo of coals in Wallaroo. And took the other half to Pt Adelaide. And when we got to Port Adelaide another ship called the J. C. Hall belonging to the same owner loaded as much wheat as she could get down the river with. And anchored in the Gulf to wait for the rest of her cargo. As in those days the Torrens River was not dredged deep enough to allow ships to load a full cargo. As they had to take part of their cargo of wheat outside in the Gulf. And we just happened to come in half loaded with coals. And all the Lighters which was very few in those days was all loaded for the mail Steamer at Glenelg.

So they loaded the one [?shous] and bags of wheat on board of our ship, and towed her out alongside of the [?J.L. Hall] as she was bound to London. So when we got all the wheat into her she commenced to get underweigh and the captain found the Boatswain or leading seaman was not on board so our boatswain shipped in the J.L. Hall bound to London and I took his place on board of our ship. So we towed back to the wharf at Pt Adelaide and discharged our coals then commenced to load flour for capetown South Africa, and after loading flour we made space on deck for fifty rams and four reaping machines the first reaping machines that arrived in South Africa so we sailed and everything went well and arrived at Capetown dock in eight weeks with the loss of only one of those sheep that was in the year eighteen seventy three. So we discharged our cargo and took in Ballast then took in thirty three horses for the Island of Mauritius for sailing hips in those days had to carry some strange cargos,. So everything went well and arrived at Mauritius in seventeen days, then discharged our horses all in good order and also our ballast and commenced to load sugar for Sydney as there was no sugar grown in Australia in those days SO we got loaded with sugar and sailed for Sydney and after an uneventful passage to Sydney of seven weeks we arrived and discharged our cargo of sugar, took in stone ballast and sailed for Newcastle to load coals for Pt Adelaide. And arrived in Port Adelaide in three weeks and discharged our coals and commenced loading coals for algoa Bay or Port Elizabeth on the east coast of Africa and after loading flour we sailed for Algoa Bay East Africa and as there was no Harbour in Port Elizabeth we had to lay out to an anchorage with two anchors down and about fifty fathoms of cable chain on each bow. And that passage from Pt Adelaide was just two and a half months and Algoa Bay in those days was not a fit place for a ship to lay in as it was open to the Indian Ocean. Anyhow we discharged our cargo of flour into lighters and they landed it through the surf on to the beach. Anyhow we was six weeks

before we got clear of our cargo, then took in ballast which took another two weeks, and sailed for Mauritius for another cargo of sugar, and arrived at Mauritius in Seventeen days. And got loaded with sugar for Port Adelaide, and sailed and arrived in Port Adelaide in thirty days after an uneventful passage, that would be about the latter end of 1874. So we got discharged of our cargo of sugar, then commenced to load flour for Algoa bay South Africa once more. for it was a dreadful port to go to. Anyhow we had to face it again. so we got loaded and sailed again for Algoa Bay and made a quick passage of twenty eight days, discharged our cargo and took in ballast and sailed for the Mauritius I may say that the Mauritius is an Island belonging to Great Britian (sic) in the Indian Ocean which supplied Australia with sugar, before sugar was grown in Australia, and arrived at Mauritius and commenced loading sugar for Port Adelaide and got loaded and sailed an made a lovely passage in twenty four days and I may say that the same crew was in that ship for nearly three years, without a shift, and I may say that we never lost a rope yard all the three years I was in her with a good captain, officers and crew. So when we arrived at Pt Adelaide, an old friend of mine came on board and asked me if I cared about going mate of a small coaster that had just came round from Melbourne for a Port Adelaide firm. So I aggreed (sic) at once. As I intended to get married and thought I would be more at home. So I told the captain and he paid me of (sic). So I started mate of this little vessel and found she was just the thing. She was trading in the Spencers Gulf trade in the summer, and used to run to Melbourne with wheat, then go to the river Forth Tasmania and load potatoes in bulk for Port Adelaide. So when we arrived in Port Adelaide I got married and settled down in the coasting trade and everythign went smoothly I was only six months in the Mimosa, as that was her name, when I passed for mate and that allowed me to take charge of any sailing vessel, under one hundred tons. So I took charge of a ketch rigged vessel called the Lillie