Trading With 11 -Ton Cockle Shell

PERILS OF SEA TOO REAL IN CAPTAIN UNDERWOOD'S TRIPS

In a cockleshell of 11 tons, which he brought in pieces with him from England, Captain Underwood, one of the State's first traders, had some amazing adventures. When the storms wrecked far larger vessels, he survived almost miraculously, but when he discarded the tiny Governor Gawler for a larger vessel, the Victoria, misfortune dogged him, and his new boat was wrecked within six months. In this week's 'Real Life Story,' C.V.H. tells something of the sailor's exploits, probably unequalled for daring.

The midget, 'Governor Gawler,' was not only of less than 11 tons, but she was not decked, except at the two ends. The captain was the owner, Captain Underwood; and his crew was his brother-in-law, James Smith (until he retired in Melbourne, after a bad trip), and a youth, who is believed to have been Tom Cheeseman. Young Underwood was educated in England and France, and, at the age of 13, was apprenticed to the sea. That was in 1819.

By 1832 he was given the command of the brig 'Ardogawn,' but seven years later he found himself in Liverpool, a married man with one son and four daughters to support. Friends had emigrated to South Australia, and he resolved to follow them, leaving his family in England. The English climate did not agree with him, so he shipped his belongings on board the 'Baboo,' and, with his wife's two brothers, John and Robert, embarked on the same vessel, taking with him all necessary tackle, sails and rigging for a small coastal vessel, and food for his party of five.

As soon as he arrived, Captain Underwood went walking. Landing at Glenelg, he walked north to Point Malcolm— a little south of old Fort Glanville, a mile or so south from Semaphore— and went across Lefevre's Peninsula to Port Misery, as Port Adelaide was called then. He saw the road and jetty being constructed there, and walked to Adelaide.

Next day he went back to Glenelg, and round to Port Adelaide on the 'Baboo.' They made the timbers of the captain's coastal vessel into a raft, and put it over the side of the 'Baboo' with his food and other belongings on it. Before it reached the shore, however, the raft had broken, and most of his goods sank into the salt water. You could wade across the Port River in those days, though, and from the shallow water most of the goods were recovered. The food tasted salt, but hungry colonists did not worry about that.

The 'Governor Gawler' was built in about four months, and the captain hoisted his flag over his 11 ton craft, which, he maintained, was the first built in South Australia. Actually, it was the third, the 'Alice'' and the 'Jane Flaxman' having been launched several months before.

Gives Up Lightering

A ship from Calcutta was at Port Adelaide, and the produce she carried had to be lightered ashore. Underwood saw in this a means of earning money, but there was so much competition from other small craft in frantic endeavors to get the first landing, that Underwood, after one day's experience, decided to give up lightering.

One of his first jobs was to go to Yankalilla to bring back hay in loose trusses for Government horses. He made three trips in a fortnight, bringing two tons each time. Then the Government found that hay could be obtained for a fraction of the cost in Adelaide, and the 'Governor Gawler' was compelled to make more adventurous runs. Just after Port Adelaide had been opened officially, the 'Governor Gawler' was engaged to take 119 chests of tea from the 'Guiana,' the first ship to discharge at the Port Adelaide jetty, to Melbourne. With eight kegs of butter, the tiny boat had a full cargo.

The sheer audacity of Emanuel Underwood may best be realised in considering his means of navigation. He had, of course, no chronometer, nor descriptive charts, and he had never been east of Encounter Bay. In a week, however, the boat was off the heads of Port Philip, and had to run into Western Port to shelter from a south-westerly gale. There Underwood found a vessel six weeks out from Sydney to Melbourne, also weatherbound. Three days later, Captain Underwood was at Melbourne. The other vessel was never heard of again, though her mail-bag was picked up at the heads.

Discharging the tea and butter cargo safely, Underwood was entrusted with a cargo of 12 tons of sugar, valued at £240. The return journey was successful, and not a scrap of his perishable cargo was damaged in the slightest. And this in a cockleshell of 11 tons!

The return journey was not without incident. While still in the Yarra, one of the masts fouled an overhanging tree, and was pulled down. About three days later, the head of the mainmast broke off in a gale. Although half his crew— Mr. James Smith, his brother-in-law — had left the boat in Melbourne, and he had only a boy on board, he made repairs and reached Adelaide safely.

20 Men To Portland

A Mr. Furlong arranged in Melbourne for him to tranship 20 men from Port Adelaide to Portland, and when he advertised, he had no difficulty in selecting 30 men. The customs authorities, however, would not allow more than 15 passengers to go on board. Five in the steerage were overlooked, though, so that the captain sailed for Portland with his required 20 passengers, and several tons of ironware as ballast. The cargo was transhipped to a Melbourne-bound boat at Portland, and returned.

The 'Governor Gawler' then went on to a regular route — Port Adelaide, Encounter Bay, Kangaroo Island and Port Lincoln, and back. Underwood prospered, and his wife joined him. Larger vessels went on the route from Port Adelaide to Port Lincoln, but Underwood was so well liked that most passengers went with him. On one occasion he took two aborigines, who had been condemned to death, to Port Lincoln to be hanged.

After having discovered Rivoli Bay, which he described as a possible out let for Mount Gambier's produce, Underwood, his vessel now decked, and her passenger accommodation improved, sailed from Port Adelaide to Hobart, via Portland, with two men, three women, and six children as passengers, and a cargo of onions, cheese and other goods. Underwood discovered guano on an island in Bass Straits on this trip, and although he brought a considerable quantity to Adelaide on subsequent journeys, he could find no market for it. On one trip there were eight passengers and 10 tons of guano. The passengers' impressions of the guano are not quoted.

Now the captain's luck changed. In 1845 he sailed for Rivoli Bay with stores for Mount Gambier, but when the Governor Gawler arrived, the drays to take the cargo inland were not to be seen. There was no settlement in the bay then. A northwesterly gale arose, and Captain Underwood had to anchor his craft in an other part of the bay. The boat broke away from the Governor Gawler, and the captain had to get ashore on a raft to bring it back.

Driven On To Beach

Then the anchors dragged, and the vessel was driven on the beach. With the rudder broken off, she remained embedded 3 ft. in the sand, 50 ft. above ordinary tides. Underwood fortunately had two men in his crew, and they set about repairing the ship. The cargo was discharged on the beach, and the boat was ready for launching in a month.

A team of bullocks driven by Bill Walsh arrived from the South Australian Company's station when another gale had brought in the tide. The Governor Gawler's anchors had been bedded well seaward on the beach, and purchase blocks were lashed to them. One end of the rope was joined to the vessel, and the other to the team of bullocks. Eventually the boat was got back to the water. Having no pitch to put in her seams, they had used tallow. She leaked so badly that they ran before the wind to Portland. There it was decided to take barrels of beef as cargo, and sail for Circular Head, Tasmania, for repairs.

At Circular Head the mainmast snapped off at the deck but eventually the Governor Gawler returned to Port Adelaide, after having been given up for lost on its three months' voyage. Captain Underwood forsook the Governor Gawler for the schooner Victoria, which he chartered from the South Australian Company, but within a few months she was wrecked in bad weather near Rivoli Bay, and only the captain and one member of his crew reached the shore. He rode for 10 days to reach Adelaide to tell them about the wreck, but the news had preceded him. The Governor Gawler was in Port Adelaide, so he again took charge of her, and made several trips.

On one, during a trip back from Rivoli Bay, the craft was almost burnt out when a cargo of wool caught fire. She limped into Port Adelaide, and was repaired but a year later, in August, 1847. the Governor Gawler became a wreck off one of the Sir Joseph Banks Island, and Captain Underwood, his crew, and passengers, were picked up without loss of life.

Farming and storekeeping were next tried by the intrepid seaman, but without much success, and eventually while Mrs. Underwood kept a grocer's shop at Port Adelaide, Captain Underwood went to sea again. He died at 82, in retirement. — C.V.H

[Captain Emanuel Underwood died 24-Dec-1888 in Edwardstown aged 83.]

When McGinty Went Nap On Powder Cask

When the South-Eastern drainage works are operating near Robe, a number of men, including McGinty, the timekeeper, gathered in a tent for a few hands of nap, McGinty, smoking a cigarette, was seated on the lid of a freshly emptied powder cask.

Presently, it was his turn to bid, and nonchalantly removing the cigarette from his mouth, he said, 'I'll go nap.' As he spoke, he carelessly brushed the ash from his cigarette against the side of the cask. There was a muffled explosion as a spark ignited a quantity of powder that had inadvertently been left in the cask. Still seated on the lid, McGinty went sailing through the roof of the tent.

His astonished companions hurried outside to where McGinty, quite unharmed and still clutching his cards, was picking himself up. 'How often do you do that sort of thing, Mac?' someone enquired. 'Oh,' replied McGinty. 'Only when I go nap!' — A.H.B.