Voyages Through Life: The Story of John Dunlop Allison

Voyages Through Life:

The Story of John Dunlop Allison

Published by John Skyrme Allison.

Copyright 2013 John Skyrme Allison.

Smashwords Edition.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Schooldays

‘Ayr in the 1850s’

‘Steam versus sail’

II. First voyage - Bombay (Mumbai)

‘Living conditions aboard’

‘Heaving the log’

‘The maintopmen’

‘Navigation’

‘Heaving the lead’

‘The British Raj’

III. Second voyage - Calcutta - tramp to Glasgow

IV. Third voyage - Calcutta - deaths at sea

‘Guns’

V. Back to school, then to sea again - Rangoon

VI. Belgium - study for Master’s exam

VII. Bombay and Calcutta (Kolkata)

VIII. The prize fight - New York voyage

IX. Quebec

X. My sweetheart

First voyage to South America

‘The nitrate trade’

XI. New Zealand adventures

‘Sickness at sea’

‘Burial at sea’

‘The Otago gold rush’

‘The Maori Wars’

XII. Back to sea - South America - contraband!

XIII. Batavia and the drunken Captains

XIV. Calcutta - mugged in the street

XV. Madras (Chennai) and Bombay

‘Storms at sea’

Cyclone off Mauritius…and a mutiny

‘Coaling ship’

New York and Mediterranean voyages

XVI. The Suez Canal

‘The Battle of Tel el-Kebir’

Shipwreck at Tuticorin

XVII. A new command

Shipwreck off Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

‘Diving suits in the 19th Century’

XVIII. Marine surveyor

Family life in Calcutta

Retirement…and an earthquake

What is life?

Epilogue

A marine ancestor

Glossary of terms

Acknowledgements

Introduction

John Dunlop Allison was born in 1842. He was a mariner all his working life, which spanned the final era of sail into the early days of steam.

This is the remarkable account of his life, of wars and wives, of gold fever and greed, of death and disease, of storms and shipwrecks all over the world. He appears to have written his story in about 1909, as he approached ‘the allotted life of man, three score and ten’, although he actually lived another twenty years and died in Calcutta in 1928 aged 85. His hand-written memoirs were miraculously discovered by his great-granddaughter, my sister Julia Eve, at the bottom of an old trunk in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight a hundred years after he wrote them.

Early in his story he says ‘speling has been my trouble all my life and I have tried to correct this terable misfortune’, and his handwriting was difficult to decipher in parts, but I have transcribed his account virtually word for word to the best of my ability, with a bare minimum of editing. However, the smaller ships and place names were even more problematic to verify, so some of them may possibly be spelt incorrectly.

As with modern generations, he could not appreciate the extent to which the world of his age was to change so radically with the passage of time. That which was commonplace to him is quite extraordinary to someone reading about it a hundred years or more later. Therefore, I have compiled, at the end of the story, a glossary of the terms used, to help the reader’s understanding of the language of the time. I have also inserted short sub-stories from time to time within JDA’s account to provide context and historical background. In making these additions I have no aim to embellish or dilute the authentic voice of this spirited and adventurous man of the sea.

— John Skyrme Allison, JDA’s great-grandson. Melbourne, Australia, 2013

‘Life like the wave

You see it pass and not a spark remains

Another comes to fill the place

And so will end the human race.’

Some make a greater noise and splash on the shores of eternity than others,

and some die out before they reach it.

— John Dunlop Allison

I. Schooldays

The Life of John Dunlop Allison

From boy to Master and retirement

I was born at sea on the ship ‘Duke of Portland’ on her voyage sou’ward from Ichebo in Peru bound for Ardrossan with a cargo of guano on the 1st June 1842.\

My father was Captain and part-owner of the ship. At Ardrossan I went through the usual forms of christening in the Scottish Establishment Church and was named after my mother’s brother, John Dunlop of the British Navy. I know nothing much of what happened until I was about five years of age. I had one brother of the same origin who died in his infancy, also one called Tom, but the only one I remember is my brother William, who was about six years older.

My first rememberance of my father and mother was in Hull, England, when my father’s ship had arrived. I may have been about four or five years of age at the time. One thing I do remember was that we had a large Newfoundland dog which I always went about with. As my mother was on her way to meet my father at the ship, I was walking with her dressed in a suit of Scotch kilts with tweed and dubh, and dagger in my belt, also a handsome cairngorm brooch on the plaid which hangs over the shoulder. My father was rather proud of me dressed in my national costume, and I understand that crowds often came round to look at me when my mother took me out with her.

One incident I was told of when I was older by my mother was that one day she was going to meet my father at the ship, and she was passing through the market, when she stopped at a fruit-stall to purchase some fruit for me. She found the woman who kept the stall was Scottish, so she stood talking to her. Then, believing she would be late after spending so much time with the old woman, she went off in great haste, thinking I was following her with the dog. However, on arrival at the ship, after meeting my father, she could not see me, and consequently was anxious about me. Knowing I had a valuable suit of kilts, my father and mother searched over the town for me, but never thought of the fruit-stall in the market. The old woman, seeing my mother had left, kept me beside her, giving me fruit of all kinds. My father and mother ultimately went to the police about me, and shortly afterwards a policeman came and was going to put his hands on me when my dog sprang at him and laid him on his back. I then drew my dagger and was going to attack the policeman, when a Captin Wilkie, who was staying at our house, saw me and called the dog off the policeman. There was quite a crowd around me, no one but the old Scottish woman understanding what I said as I spoke such broad Scotch. I have no doubt Captin Wilkie gave the policeman something, and he took me home.

Ayr in the 1850s

John Dunlop Allison’s connection with the sea began at an early age. As a child, JDA would often walk the short distance from his home in Green Street to the Ayr wharf, sometimes when his father was home from sea and sometimes with his mother, who had concessions to remove ballast and to supply fresh water for ships and fishing boats.

The Industrial Revolution had seen the ancient settlement of Ayr, the birthplace of Scotland’s Robbie Burns, grow in a hundred years from a fishing village into a prosperous town of some 20,000 people. It had also expanded north across the Ayr River to Newtown, where JDA’s family lived. There were several established schools, churches, pubs, a hospital and lunatic asylum (!), offices, a library and parklands, and its cobblestone streets were lit by gas at night.

The newly-built Glasgow & South Western Railway had a freight terminal at the Ayr wharf, where coal from inland mines could be unloaded into bunkers for coastal steamers, or direct onto ships for export across the Irish Sea to Belfast. Other exports from Ayr included locally produced textiles, woollen goods, shoes and ironware as well as fish and agricultural products.

At a personal level conditions in the mid-nineteenth century hadn’t changed so much, except for the rich, who by then had rudimentary plumbing, gas lighting and enclosed horse-drawn carriages to get about in, as well as domestic servants, of course, to do all the cooking, gardening and housework. JDA’s family, whilst not poor, wasn’t in that category by any means though.

Most ordinary folk would think nothing of walking two or three miles to work or school or to shop, although some middle class families had a ‘dog cart’ (so called for a ventilated compartment underneath the rear to carry dogs), which was a small two-wheeled horse-drawn trap.

Neither the penny-farthing bicycle nor even solid rubber tyres had yet been invented, but there would have been the odd ‘hobby horse’, which was an early manifestation of the bicycle, propelled by one’s feet. For special trips, there were ‘hansom cabs’, in which the passengers were undercover, but the doors could only be opened by the cab driver, who sat outside high up at the rear, by pulling a lever once the fare had been paid to him via a hatch in the roof.

Household water had to be hand-pumped from a well, the big luxury being if this were in one’s own garden rather than from a communal well out in the street. A bathtub was usually stored under the kitchen sink, and filled with water when needed, which had to be heated in kettles on the stove.

The lavatory was typically in a small shed abutting a back lane as far from the house as possible to keep the smell away. It had a trap door in the back for access by contractors at night from the laneway. They carried the buckets on their heads so they could readily empty the contents up into a horse-drawn cart (hence the expression ‘flat as a night-carter’s hat’!). Every bed in the house would have a china pot, or ‘commode’, underneath it to avoid stumbling outdoors for night-time exigencies.

For most people the only lighting at night was by candles, although by that time some of the more affluent people had gas lights in the main rooms.

Garden space, if there was any, would have been mostly devoted to growing vegetables, but those with no garden could grow most of their vegetables on community ‘allotments’.

I remember my brother Willie at that time when we came to reside in Ayr. He was apprenticed to a lawyer with a view of following that profession. I was sent to a school not far from our house called the Newtown Academy.

My brother was a great student, and I remember my mother often had to shut off the gas at the meter to prevent him from sitting up half the night studying. I am afraid the same studious disposition did not affect me, and I was often punished for playing the truant.

On the arrival of my father at Cork for orders after another voyage, I went with my mother to meet him. We ultimately left for Greenock, and on our arrival the ship and cargo were seized for debt, my father’s partner having failed. I understand my father came home and made everything over to my mother. For some time he went about taking an interest in town affairs, and as a boy I would often accompany him to the end of the pier at the entrance to Ayr harbour, the trade of which was only small vessels carrying coal and corn.

Well I remember him dressed in a blue overcoat and a tall hat on the back of his head with a telescope under his arm. He was a short broad-shouldered man and always had a cheery word for everyone.

I remember at a tournament in Ayr where there were various kinds of sports taking place. I was standing with him close to the ring when a tall soldier-like man, after being successful in sword play, was walking around challenging anyone to come. My father then jumped over the ring and picked up the glove. Shortly afterwards several gentlemen went over with swords for him to choose from, and my father threw off his coat, which I went and picked up A boy who I did not know, disputed with me for possession of it, and whilst my father was fighting in the ring I was fighting with this boy. Then a great cheer came from the crowd, as my father had unsworded his opponent. He came forward with another gentleman, looking for his coat, but I was still fighting with the boy - the gentleman said as he found us, As the cock crows the young one learns. I believe he was the Marquess of Ailsa. My father was then carried shoulder-high by the crowd. He was an expert swordsman, having served some time in the navy.

We had two white donkeys, one belonged to me and the other to the Hamilton’s. They were stabled in the Hamilton’s garden, and we used to ride about on them. At that time around our house were all green fields, and a part of it, called the Newtown Green, belonged to my father.

The small vessels which came to the port had a concession from my mother to tip their ballast and to get water from our well.

After some time my father took to bed, and the house was divided, the lower flat being let to tenants. Also, a lady who was a school companion of my mother’s came to stay with us. I understand these changes took place because my father was not going to sea and had lost all his money due to the failure of his partner. This was to economise and make a little provision to keep my brother at college.

After a while my brother Willie took a dislike to the law and wished to become a minister. I remember when he was sent off to the Glasgow College to study for the church, so we all went to the station to see him off.

As I grew older I had a pupil teacher who came at night to prepare me for school, but I am afraid he did not have much credit with me as I simply detested all lessons. But, strange to say, I took prizes on examination day. One thing that got me into much trouble at school was one Agness Hamilton. As a boy I was in love with her and I would do anything she told me. To make me