On board the SS “Westralia”, Capt. Thorpe, Thursday evening, August 11/98.

After leaving Hesleden at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, I got into town about 10:40, went to Cook’s & got my passage tickets, steamer to Dunedin, due there Sunday, rail on Monday up to Lyttelton (Christchurch), steamer from Lyttelton to Wellington, due there Wednesday 17th, then to hairdressers. Next bought a few more photos & a book of views of Auckland, called on Mr. Smeeton, then I met in Queen St. Mrs. Furness & Roy. She told me they were coming down to see me off. I had also been at telegraph office wiring Mr. Cobb, as promised when I left him, & when on board the Westralia, at 2 p.m., I got a return wire wishing me a good send off. Very kind of him, wasn’t it? He included Mr. Bain in it & joked on “Madam Rachel bath” (I’ll keep the wires). By the way, before leaving Hesleden, I photo’d Mrs. F. & the two boys in the garden, & I think it will come out good. Also while passing the minister’s house, only 3 minutes from Hesleden, the bus chanced to stop to pick up passengers, & Mr. Munro was in his garden, so was his wife, so I got off & had a word, but he was going to see me off, so we met again. Well, I got all I had to do finished in good time & went to Mr. Furnesse’s [sic] office & there was Mrs. F. & Roy, so we set off for the wharf, where there was the usual throng on sailing days. [6:22] Mr. Smeeton and the Revd. Mr. Munro were there to bid me adieu, & Mr. Sanderson, who is the manager for this line of steamers, was about till we left & he was kind enough to take me to the Captain & introduce me to him, & to 2 or 3 more of his friends. I photo’d on the deck of the “Westralia” a little group, Mr. & Mrs. Furness & Roy, Mr. Smeeton, & Mr. Sanderson. Mr. Munro had to leave early. The steamer did not get away till 4 o’clock, 2 hours after sailing date. This is the usual thing on most lines, & there were many people seeing their friends off. Mr. Smeeton had to leave before we sailed. I was sorry that they all had so long to wait, however, Mr. & Mrs. Furness would stay till the last, & we waved to each other as far as we were recognizable, & so we parted, maybe never to meet again. I can’t express to you how very comfortable they made me to feel at Hesleden, & I did feel much at home, & they were as homely. I liked Mrs. Furness much. She has a very happy manner & very entertaining, & as we knew some who were mutual friends, we had always a topic for conversation, & I being so recently from home, they were always interested with what news I could give. Mr. Furness was just the essence of kindness & did not know where to stop. I am sure I feel under great obligation to them & hope some time to have the opportunity & privilege of entertaining them in our home.[1] Mrs. Furness, so thoughtful, had my clothes washed & put into order, & Mary, the maid, was very kind likewise. I wish you could see the 2 darling boys. Roy is a very handsome [6:23] boy, & a real boy in every way, & so bright & pretty, & has such charming ways. We got on splendidly, & I shall not soon forget his waving the little red fez from the wharf as we moved off. Wilfred, the baby, is a promising child, fine tempered, & good to do with, & we likewise were great friends. May God bless them both & I hope some day we may see them again. Hesleden is a very comfortable home & happiness seems to dwell within. They have very genial neighbours, every one of whom are seniors by far & this, I think, speaks well for Mr. & Mrs. F. They are certainly highly respected. Mr. Furness is very diligent & attentive to business. Like his respected father, he likes to be in evidence during business hours. His factory is a busy concern, a large machinery plant, manufactures much that he sells & every prospect of great development, quite a different style to that of his father’s place & necessarily requires the closest attention. Did I tell you about a shipment of oranges I saw come in to his warehouse for marmalade making? I took up one & there were dozens equal to it or larger. It measured 23 inches circumference, 21 inches over & weighed 4 ¼ lbs. He bought, one of the days I was there, 50 hogsheads of rum for methylating & essences, & when we were standing on the wharf before I sailed, we saw 10 of these being rolled into a shed, had just arrived by a steamer.

Before I began my voyage, I was very sorry having to leave Auckland & not to have seen Mr. Leask’s brother, but up to leaving, no reply was [6:24] forthcoming to either of my letters or the telegram, the reason, we may, through Mr. James & correspondence ascertain why. I feel satisfied I did my utmost to get into touch with him & I was very anxious for my friend’s sake to see & speak to him.

We had a fine passage to Gisborne, our first port of call where we arrived in the bay yesterday, Wednesday, at 4 o’clock p.m. We got ashore in the steam lighter, which came off for to land passengers & returned at 9 o’clock. Mean time, the Westralia discharged & took in cargo to craft alongside. Gisborne is not by any means an important place. There are 2 refrigerating works & the chief industries are wool & carcase [sic] mutton exporting. I looked around but it soon came in dark & rained at intervals. Visited a cafe & had a nice refreshing tea, spent an hour in the reading room, had a look into the Catholic Church where a mission was going on, & so spent the time till 9, when we set off from the wharf, a great many being there seeing friends off, & the event of the day, evidently. I got 2 good photos of the place which I will fetch home. We weighed anchor at 10:50 p.m. During the early part of the day we passed close East Cape, 9:30, Tolago[2] [sic] Bay, 1 p.m., Gable End foreland. Capt. Cook’s first landing in N. Zealand was at Tolago Bay.

I soon went to bed after ship weighed anchor [6:25] & awoke soon after 6 this Thursday morning, & at 7 we entered Hawkes Bay for the shipping port, Napier. We got ashore in the steam lighter, leaving the Westralia at 8 o’clock. It was a fine morning. I had a good walk all around the very pretty little town, beautifully situated – very, very hilly, with most charming views over large areas of land & water. As I walked through the streets, children were going to school & business was just beginning for the day. It was warm & fine then, but slight showers intervened, beautiful flowers here, home kinds & lillies [sic] again in profusion, fine river called the Tutaikuri but not navigable beyond the wharf. I walked up Carlyle St. & wondered whether it was named after Tamas [sic][3]. The buildings are all wood, some very pretty structures. I went up one of the steep hills to get a view & it was panoramic. Freezing works, & wool & mutton are (like Gisborne) its chief industries. There’s not much scope here for business as inland is not yet populated. I bought a book of views before leaving & I had lunch, then to wharf to join the lighter, lots of people again seeing friends off, & we left at 2 for the bay. Soon we were on board the Westralia, tho’ there was a big swell & it was somewhat difficult getting up the gangway. We steamed away at 3:30, & at 4:30 passed the Foreland called the Kidnappers, a very rugged headland, & here Capt. Cook had a boy kidnapped by the natives.

[6:26]

[1] Inserted on facing page: “Mrs. Furness some years after visited England & I saw much of her at Berwick, W. H’pool & Edinbro’. Roy, the son, came with others to the war (with Germany) & returned home safely.”

[2] Tolaga Bay, North Island, New Zealand

[3] Thomas Carlyle, (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, translator, historian, mathematician, and teacher. Considered one of the most important social commentators of his time.