A shipload of single girls
The following story is based upon real life accounts which
appeared in the Scarborough Daily Post in 1920 as part of the
'Sea Dogs' stories by Forrest Frank. This story was told by
Captain John Helm Gibson.
When we arrived in Mauritius a number of the seamen went
down with fever and had to go into hospital, and the rest
taking french leave, Capt Harrison had to ship a Lascar crew to
take the vessel to Madras. As the cook and steward was ill on
board and the senior apprentice was also sick in the bunk, and
the Lascars were not allowed to take the wheel, there was only
me and another boy left for the duty, and we two steered the
Barque all the way from Mauritius to Madras. It was a hard
experience for a young lad, but those were the days of rosy
youth, when nothing mattered. Whilst waiting in Mauritius a
fearful hurricane swept over the sea and along the coast, first
carrying the topmasts out of the ships as they lay at their
moorings and then as the hurricane changed round tearing
the ships adrift from their buoys and sending them charging
and crashing into each other. Terrible damage was done. An
English barque on our starboard side smashing down upon us,
and we had to lash her to our masts, fastening the two ships
together, and we had no sooner done this than a French
barque attacked us on the port side and had to be made fast
in a similar way. By the time the hurricane was over practically
all the vessels were lashed in one tier.
SHIP LOAD OF SINGLE GIRLS
There had been great loss of life at sea and as we were making
repairs a big emigrant ship bound for Australia with 300 single
girls aboard was brought in dismasted and in a bad plight. The
girls were taken ashore and accommodated to the best powers of
the authorities, but I remember, though only a youngster at
the time, the excitement the arrival of the vessel and her fair
passengers created. Jack is ever a squire of dames and in
addition to the merchantmen, British and French, present, HM
frigate Glasgow and HMS Sloop Sheerwater were in port, and
everybody did the amiable. It took the emigrant ship several
months to refit and we had been up the Bay of Bengal and
brought a cargo of rice back to Mauritius by the time she was
ready for sea. Her departure from that port I will never forget.
The liquid moonlight of the tropic night had magically fostered
romantic love in the breast of many a gallant tar and blushing
beauty, and as the ship hauled out the rigging and sides of the
frigate and sloop were thick with men shouting and waving
and throwing kisses, whilst girls swarmed on the bulwarks of
their leaving ship. A small fleet of ships' boats attended the
ship, and I could see girls sliding down ropes into them and
making for the shore. Three hundred were brought to the
port, but I don't know how many went on to Australia.
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