Sketch of a sea voyage
Author
Morgan Hayden
Date1859-1861
Object number00000498
NameManuscript diary
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 204 × 124 × 1 mm
Copyright© Morgan Hayden
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection
Collections
DescriptionA diary reminiscence, likely by Morgan Hayden, recounting a voyage from New York to Melbourne on the NEPTUNE. On 21 November 1859 it left New York with manufactured goods to supply gold rush Melbourne and forty passengers seeking their fortune in the 'land of gold' arriving in March 1860. From Melbourne the NEPTUNE sailed to Calleo, Peru, to load a consignment of guano harvested from the nearby Chincha Islands. With this consignment of fertilizer it sailed to Mauritius arriving in January 1861 and from there onto Calcutta, India. The NEPTUNE left Calcutta in May with a cargo bound for Boston, arriving there via St Helena on 14 October 1861.HistoryAn informative account of a long sea voyage over two years,during which the world was circumnavigated twice .This journal has probably been written up from a diary, and intended as a memoir.The author appears to have been a member of the crew, although it is never openly stated. He does, however, mention that 'Sundays and liberty's [sic] days were usually spent in rambling...' thus tending to confirm this supposition.
The NEPTUNE left New York on 21 November 1859 "deeply laden with a valuable cargo consisting of an assortment of almost everything that Yankee ingenuity and skill could produce to supply the inhabitants of the land of gold with the necessaries and luxuries of life.There were also on board forty passengers who were about to seek their fortunes in that far off land of gold."
On 18 March 1860, the Australian coast was sighted ' the first land we had seen for
three months', the route having been across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
'The same night we were safely anchored in Melbourne Harbour after a passage of one hundred and twenty days — Melbourne is a very beautifully situated and thriving city at the head of Hobsons Bay in the colony of Victoria... ' The NEPTUNE spent over a month in Melbourne before setting sail for Calleo, Peru.
From Calleo the ship sailed to Mauritius past Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope arriving there in January 1861. From there it sailed to Calcutta, India. On 2 May 1861 it left Calcutta arriving in St Helena on 1 September. From there it sailed to Boston arriving on 14 October 1861.SignificanceA most informative and well written account of a long sea voyage over two years, during which the world was circumnavigated twice.
