Life on a Newcastle Bulk Carrier in 1905

On the morning of 6 April 1905, the port of Newcastle NSW, was a very busy place. Sailing ships and steamships from all parts of the world jostled for a share of the port’s trade. The BHP steelworks had not yet been built but the autumn air was heavy with a billowing blanket of acrid, choking smoke from industry and innumerable household fires.

The freshening off shore breeze carried it across the Hunter River, enveloping the shipping filling the congested waterway.

Tugs and tenders also added their contribution as they fussed about like an army of ants, seeing to the needs of the deepwater ships in port. Ships working cargo lined the wharves from the foot of the town across to the new Dyke berths on Bullock Island creating a virtual forest of masts and yards. On the north side of the river, along the Stockton foreshore, idle ships lay up to three and four abreast, empty and riding high, waiting for their turn to go alongside and load.

Out in the stream, several deeply laden ships swung from buoys, shortening cable, taking on the last of their cargo and making final adjustments to their gear before putting to sea. One of these was the three masted ship Chipperkyle, fully laden with coal for Mollendo, Peru. Mid morning she slipped her buoy and accepted a tow down the river to the breakwaters. As her crew climbed aloft, her Master could not resist the temptation to taunt the young captain of a nearby vessel, challenging him to a race to their next port. This ship was Wavertree, of 2200 tons and it was the 25 year old Captain Bert Brew’s first command since gaining his Master’s Certificate. No doubt the old hands in Wavertree were laying bets on whether their new skipper would make the grade.

Nobbys Signal Station recorded Chipperkyle passing clear of the breakwaters at 0935 followed by Wavertree an hour later.[1] As soon as she cleared port Chipperkyle put on all possible sail, including her royals and skysails, and quickly disappeared over the horizon. Late one afternoon, several days later, after passing the islands called the ‘Three Kings’ which lie just north of New Zealand, Wavertree’s Master noticed that the barometer was dropping rapidly. Although the sky was clear and there was no hint of trouble he quickly ordered sail to be shortened to three lower topsails and the foresail. Not long afterwards a severe gale blew up from the south west and during the night the weather deteriorated to such an extent that the ship had to be hove to with just enough sail to give her steerage-way. Luckily she rode out the storm without damage and in the morning, when the weather had moderated, Wavertree made sail again and got underway.

The ship had been saved by the foresight of her Master. However about 0800 he was called up on deck only to see a large amount of wreckage floating on the surface of the sea. This undoubtedly had come from Chipperkyle because the ship and her crew were never seen again while Wavertree reached Mollendo safely.

Wavertree was a big British three master. She had first called at Sydney in January 1891 and again in June 1892. She was then worked around the globe before returning to the United Kingdom. When Bert Brew joined her as Mate on 10 February 1904 she was lying in the Tyne, Newcastle, in the north of England. After a hard, slow voyage during which she suffered some damage rounding Cape Horn, the ship arrived in San Francisco on 14 July 1904. There she lay idle for several months, swinging to her anchor and riding empty and high out of the water. Those members of the crew, who had not deserted, were set to work to make good the damage suffered and to paint the ship from truck to waterline.

For the officers such as Bert Brew, being stuck in port on an idle ship was depressing. He had been a First Mate for less than a year and he wanted to get to sea again and progress to becoming a Master himself. Besides he was 24 years old, there was a lot of the world he still wanted to see and a lot of things he still wanted to do.

Bert’s world changed in the middle of October 1904 when a telegram arrived from the owners appointing the Master, Captain Tilston, to the big Leyland ship Speke. This ship was lying at Port Los Angeles in Pugent Sound near Seattle to the north. The company had secured a cargo for her and she had to sail without delay. Tilston left immediately to join Speke and take her to Sydney. Unfortunately, 16 months later, while he was in command, she was lost on Philip Island on a trip from Sydney to Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the owners secured a cargo of coal for Wavertree in Newcastle, NSW. But she had been left without a Master and it would take months to get a replacement from England. The only solution was for the First Mate to take the ship to sea. The owners told Bert that he must first obtain a provisional Master’s Certificate of Competency. He lost no time in making arrangements to attend a navigation school in San Francisco. Each morning, for some weeks, he was rowed ashore in one of the ship’s boats to attend classes and returned to the ship in the evening.[2] Shortly afterwards he called on the British Consul to be examined. The Consul assembled a panel of Masters from British ships in port and together they subjected Bert to a rigorous verbal examination about his ability, experience and knowledge of the sea and the ways of seamen. They were suitably impressed and granted him a provisional Master’s Certificate of Competency. It allowed him to take the ship to a British port where he could formally qualify in the normal way for the full certificate.

The next day, filled with excitement at being in command for the first time but sobered by the enormity of his unexpected new responsibility, he recorded his appointment as Master of Wavertree in the ship’s logbook. The entry he made for 19 November 1904 reads;

I have been appointed to take command this day, in place of Capt. Tilston who left on 29 October 1904. I was examined yesterday before the British Consul, Capt. Barker of the ship ‘British Isles’ and Capt. Matson and passed satisfactorily. [3]

The 25 year old wasted no time in getting his new command to sea. He worked quickly to find a new Mate, sign on a full crew and finalise preparations for getting underway. Eight days later, on 27 November, he sailed in ballast for Sydney, Australia.

The voyage from San Francisco to Sydney took a little over two months, the ship arriving on Tuesday 31 January 1905. Bert immediately reported the circumstances of his temporary appointment to the maritime authority and made arrangements to be formally examined. On 2 February 1905 a temporary Master, Captain John Simpson, took Wavertree in ballast north to Newcastle to load coal. This enabled Bert to sit for the examinations in Sydney and to fully qualify for his Master’s ticket. He was successful and on Friday 3 March 1905 he was awarded a Certificate of Competency as Master of a Foreign Going Ship. It was issued in Sydney by the NSW Department of Navigation and was numbered 570. On 7 March Captain Bert Brew was reappointed Master of the ship Wavertree and he hurried to Newcastle to take command. He had barely a month to complete the loading, sign on a crew, and prepare the ship for sea. To complicate matters, while waiting at Stockton, he met a local girl called Maggie Menzies. A romance developed and three years later they were married. In due course Bert’s ship was ready for sea and on Thursday 6 April 1905 Wavertree sailed from Newcastle for Mollendo in Peru, under the command of her new Master, still very conscious of his inexperience.

Life on board Wavertree was never easy and the long dreary months at sea, the poor amenities and the dreadful diet took its toll. The food provided on British ships was considered by seamen of the time to be very poor in comparison with that provided in the ships of other nations.

It included plenty of protein and vegetables but there was no variety. As well as this, if a voyage took longer than expected, or the owners were niggardly in what they provided, some items might run out. It was not uncommon for an overdue ship to arrive with the crew near starving. There was plenty of meat in the allowance, alternating between beef and pork each day but the only addition to this diet was half a pound of flour and one third of a pint of peas on alternate days. In addition there was a small daily allowance of condensed milk, tea, coffee and sugar. The flour mostly came in the form of ship’s biscuits or ‘pantiles’, the challenge being to shake the weevils out of the biscuit before eating. Sometimes the cook made the biscuits more palatable by making them into ‘cracker hachis’. First he crushed the pantiles into crumbs and then mixed in some water or milk and any left over fat before baking the lot in the oven in the galley. The regulation allowance was set out in the Crew Agreement signed by each member of the crew at the beginning of a voyage.

Needless to say, the catching of a shark or porpoise or some other fish made a welcome change to ship board fare.

Wavertree arrived at Mollendo on Saturday 10 June 1905 after an otherwise uneventful trip of three months. To the absolute frustration of her young Captain, she then lay idle for more than five long months. The competition from steamships was overwhelming and it was almost impossible for the owners to find charters for their sailing ships. They finally had to face the fact that there was no cargo for the ship in Mollendo and they were forced to send her back to Newcastle, NSW, in ballast, in the hope of obtaining a further charter of coal at that port. Accordingly Wavertree sailed for Sydney on 27 November 1905 but it was a long slow trip and Wavertree was not a happy ship. The long period of idleness in Mollendo had soured tempers. A series of entries in the ship’s log tells the story. The trouble began when one man refused to work as directed, claiming he was sick.

He was taken before the British Consul at the Port who agreed with the Master that the man was fit enough to work. At this the seamen told the Consul what he thought of him, whereupon he was thrown into a Peruvian gaol. The ship’s log records;

M. Dreker (AB) returned on board to resume duty after being in goal 21 days @ 5/- per day (£5.5.0) for insolence to HBM Consul Mr Smart and $19.80 goal expenses. (£2.1.3)

The following seamen on being called to heave short and get the vessel underway, would not turn out as they said they were too tired. On being told to muster aft refused to do so. (14 names).

Finally the ship put to sea but two of the seamen were unrepentant. They were to prove to be a running sore for weeks;

D. Murphy and M. Doyle, ABs, refused to muster aft at 8.0pm and on being asked the reason said they would not work but they got tobacco.

D. Murphy and M. Doyle (ABs) were called aft and still refused to work, they were put in irons and placed in the sail locker, their allowance being one lb of bread and one gallon of water per man per day.

On opening the sail locker this morning to give the prisoners their food, M. Doyle (AB) was found to be free of his irons. On being asked what he had done with them he replied that if the ship had made a straight course, they would be dead astern. Both prisoners refused to take any exercise.

M. Doyle and D. Murphy (ABs) again refused to take any exercise today and said they would (not) turn to. As these two men tried their utmost to get the rest of the crew to combine with them and refuse any further work, before being put in irons, I think it necessary for the safety of all concerned to keep these men confined until such times as the vessel arrives at her destination when the matter will be finally settled in a court of law. Before coming aft to be put in irons E. Murphy (AB) was heard to say before the undersigned, that he would leave a mark on the skipper to go to court with. Both men denied having knives or any weapon with them and on searching today knives were found concealed in the stringers.

The name of the Chief Officer or Mate did not appear in any of these entries in the log because, in accordance with custom, he was off watch during the day and trying to get some rest. However it is clear that he was getting fed up with the behaviour of the two men and when their trouble making began again, he decided to take matters into his own hands. At the end of January 1906, when the ship was south east of Fiji the ship’s log records;

At 9.0am this morning E. Murphy and M. Doyle (ABs) commenced drumming on the bulkhead of sail locker and singing and kept it up with short intervals up to noon thereby keeping the Chief Officer awake the whole of his watch below.

At noon the whole of the starboard watch came aft and asked could nothing be done to keep these men quiet as every time any of them passed the port threatening and abusive language was used to them. I then promised that on the next occasion this happened I should have the ports screwed up. I cautioned Murphy and Doyle and they promised to make no more noise. At 4.0pm as soon as the Chief Officer was relieved from his watch they commenced drumming again and on his going to the port they used the most filthy and abusive language, on which he threatened them with a boarding pike. About 5 minutes after the drumming was again resumed and on his going to the port again a boot was thrown at him, on which he discharged his revolver to frighten them which had the desired effect.

The Master had taken his ship almost due west, then south of west. The ship passed close to Pitcairn Island before nearing the Cook Islands and Tonga. Passing just north of Norfolk Island, the ship finally reached Sydney on Monday 3 March 1906. It had been a long voyage of nearly four months. A week later Bert took the empty ship north to Newcastle where he left her and was appointed to the command of another Leyland ship, Halewood but that is another story.

At that time the shipping British firm of RW Leyland & Co. of Liverpool owned and operated as many as eight large sailing ships. Oswald Mordaunt & Co. of Southampton had built Wavertree of iron in 1885 under the name Southgate. She was acquired by Leylands in 1888, renamed Wavertree [5] and put into the Australian trade. Wavertree, like her sister-ships in the Leyland fleet, were quite large bulk carriers by the standards of sail. She was 279 feet (85m) long and had a beam of 40.2 feet (12.2m). Her deadweight tonnage was 3300 tons[6] which made her more than three times the size of James Craig. Wavertree was a fully rigged ‘ship’ with square sails on all three masts and was classified ‘100A1’ at Lloyds for insurance purposes which meant she was built to the highest standards. Her official number was 91286 and her identification flag code was KFBL. While she was never considered a fast ship, she sometimes made very good passages. Under favourable conditions, Wavertree frequently logged 15 knots in a force 6 or 7 wind on the ‘quarter’.

The ship suffered her share of misfortunes plying the oceans of the world; she had seven Masters in her first 20 years who drove her hard. Her lot in life seemed to have been nothing but ‘dirty weather and damage’. She was severely damaged by fire in Sydney in 1892 and she grounded near Hamburg in 1899. In 1900 she left Valparaiso for Astoria, Oregon where she again went aground. From there she went to Australia and on to Antwerp arriving in 1901. She then proceeded to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn suffering damage to deck fittings and losing a number of sails in a series of gales. In 1902 she found her way to Algoa Bay in South Africa where she was extensively damaged by an Indian Ocean storm before grounding while under tow. Her working life came to an end when she was dismasted off Cape Horn in 1910, long after Bert Brew had left her. The ship lay derelict in the Falklands Islands until 1911 when she was towed to Punta Arenas in Chile where she became a storage hulk. In 1948 she was used as a sand barge in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1968 representatives of New York’s South Street Seaport Maritime Museum saw her and bought her. Two years later she was towed to New York where she is now undergoing full restoration. This grand old lady of the sea is now open for public inspection and there are rumours that in 2000 this beautiful example of working sail in its heyday will once again put to sea. Perhaps one day we will see her back in Sydney and Newcastle, the Australian ports she frequented all those years ago.

[1] Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Port of Newcastle 1905, State Archives, Sydney, NSW

[2] Letter from Captain Henderson who was a seaman in the British Ship Madagascar in 1904 when he met Bert Brew, when he was First Mate of Wavertree

[3] Log Book of Wavertree, South Street Seaport Museum, New York

[4] Log Book of Wavertree, South Street Seaport Museum, New York

[5] South Street Seaport Museum (1969), Wavertree, An Ocean Wanderer, New York

[6] Lloyd’s Shipping List 1904