MAID OF AUCKLAND

Diary entry from the Dyason Diaries held at the State Library of Victoria. Isaac Edward Dyason was my Great Grandfather and came to the Bendigo Diggings in 1851 from Adelaide. He was 19 when he wrot this entry and had been on the Diggings and had come back to Adelaide to try and find a better price for his gold - with marginal success. This entry was written in February of 1852 describing his voyage back from Adelaide to Melbourne where this first diary essentially cuts off. Isaa was to take up his pen again in earnest in 1858 and wrote some 6 million words which I will endeavour to transcribe before I die, at age 110, going at my current rate of transcription of the orignals... Lucky me. You may find this diary and the other letters and ephemera on his life at my site https://sites.google.com/site/dyasonletters/gold-digging-letters You can download whatever you want from there. Copyright free! Angus Pearson - So the entries below start on 22nd February 1852 on the Maid of Auckland going from Adelaide back to Melbourne. Left for Melbourne Came on board the Maid of Auckland* on Monday 22nd February, were detained till Wedn Thursday by contrary winds, sailed on Thursday morning, & after knocking about for 14 days about 200 miles from Kangaroo Island bothered with a foul wind, were compelled to put back to Adelaide for supplies, having about 250 souls on board, & requiring a great quantity of water &c. had rather a pleasant party in the cabin & one “lady” a source of amusement being rather inclined to imbibe ‘nobblers’ or as she mildly expresses it, ‘subject to enlargement of the heart’ - she was dreadfully drunk last night [Sunday Mch 7] & caused a great deal of laughter, by attempting to be witty @ the expense of the other lady passenger reached the north arm early on Monday morning & waited for the steamer to tug the vessel to the Port – Captain very much annoyed & dreading the “Chaff”** which awaits him for putting back after being 14 days out *A list of the passengers from the 18 March edition of “The Argus” in attached in the appendix. **Chaff means good-natured ridicule or teasing; raillery.   Tuesday March 9th had a tight race to get on board the vessel today we having gone up the river & on our return found she had weighed anchor several passengers were left behind the Captn was guilty of a degree of rudeness that I should have supposed impossible, one of our passengers had gone on shore leaving his [newly married] wife on board, she naturally anxious, requested the Captn to wait a few moments for a boat that was within a qr of a mile of the vessel & which she supposed her husband might be on board of & he told her he would not & ordered her out of his cabin – contrary winds again until Friday Mch 12, when a fair wind sprung up & we made the heads on Monday Mch 15 & anchored near the heads same night, find we have left about 50 passengers behind – our Captain is a brute & our voyage has   been the most unpleasant I have yet experienced, continual quarrels between the Captain & passengers, he being insulting & mean to a degree, a great deal of amusement was afforded to us by a quarrel between the two [female] cabin passengers, the ‘lady of nobblers’ & the wife of a jew, the latter vowed if she could “get at her, she’d tear her eyes out” but her husband would not allow her to go on deck so a few choice expressions as “drunken beast” &c. passed between them & the Squall cleared off I found much pleasure in the company of the young married lady [Mrs B..y] she being very agreeable & amiable & being able to sing very nicely, we amused ourselves with duets & watching the quarrels of the other passengers Tuesday March 16, ran down to Wms Town in company with several other vessels found a number of vessels in harbour & Melbourne crowded – Hare came on board & I went up to Town with him & another mate   saying 25s pr week for 4 rooms & house expenses in proportion