It would have been possible for William to have learnt of the death of his son when he arrived in Cape Town. William junior died on the 31st May and Calcutta did not sail from Cape Town until the 20th July, a period of 50 days. In the late 1850s Mail Steamers where making the passage from Plymouth to Cape Town in under 40 days, which if sailing dates fitted in would have allowed the news to arrive before Calcutta sailed for Singapore.