Diary of voyage from Gravesend to Melbourne on board the ROMAN EMPEROR

Diary of voyage from Gravesend to Melbourne on board the ROMAN EMPEROR

Author Frederick Geard

Date1852

Object number00015758

NameDiary

MediumInk on paper, leather

DimensionsOverall: 15.5 × 12 × 100 mm, 0.5 kg

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection

Collections

Manuscript diaries, journals and logs

Terms

DescriptionVoyage from Gravesend to Melbourne on board the ROMAN EMPEROR, January 28th 1852 to May 10th 1852. The diary details life aboard the vessel ROMAN EMPORER, including the flooding of the ships cabins, heavy winds and weather as well as musical acts and a case of small pox. The author describes the events with a humourous tone and finishes with their settling in Balmain at Waterview House. HistoryThe ROMAN EMPEROR, brought migrants to Sydney Australia and Lyttleton New Zealand, and sailed a number of times in the 1850s and 1860s under Captain Champion (whom Geard is critcal of this diary). Of note in the journal is the authors recounting of daily life on board: "We often find difficulty in killing time, we read, exchange books, and read again, until we have run over with information – discuss politics, religion & Champagne till we are all red in the face then “turn in” & have a long nap , after which wake up with the natural color of our faces restored, and in a most amiable temper dive into some light amusement for the evening...How tired we all are of seeing the same faces day after day, of hearing the same speeches playing the same games & quarrelling the same quarrels. Three months & a half of unvaried scenery is trying and often makes us impatient & disposed to murmur."