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left Canterbury Colonists and
Emigrants
 Port Lyttelton, showing the first four ships anchored in the harbour - Charlotte Jane, Randolph, Sir George Seymour and
emigrants landing from the Cressy, December 28th 1850
The fifth ship to arrive, the "Castle Eden" was built by Thomas Richardson of Castle Eden, England and John Parkin of Sunderland who established a shipyard at Old
Hartlepool in 1835. Up until the 1850s, most emigrants travelled on sailing ships, with an average voyage lasting 143 days. Steamships began replacing sailing ships as early as 1850 and shortened the voyage time. This made sailing ships obsolete by the end of the 1870s although some emigrants continued to choose sailing ships for nearly thirty years because of their cheaper fares. Living conditions on board were often primitive and space and privacy were both hard to come by. Few looked back on the voyage with fond memories - seasickness, inadequate food, lack of privacy, cramped living quarters, and spreading illness - an experience that seemed like an eternity. The Canterbury Association was founded in London 27 March 1848 in order to establish a Church of England settlement in New Zealand comprising a cross-section of English society. It was guided by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and John Robert Godley. Later that year, a party led by Captain Joseph Thomas arrived at the site of Lyttelton to prepare for the arrival of settlers. In late 1848, the Association’s land surveyors found what they considered the ideal site for the proposed settlement of Canterbury and for its chief town, Christchurch. In May 1849, official sanction was gained and the Association in London was notified.
By July 1849, the setting out of the port town and surveying of the Bridle Path and Port Hills were under way. On 3 January 1850 the Canterbury Association was authorised to dispose of 2.5 million acres between the Waipara and Ashburton Rivers, and the purchase terms were approved. The Association began recruiting emigrants, and by July 1850, preparations were well under way for the voyage to New Zealand. The "London Times" described the founding of Canterbury with evident satisfaction: "A slice of England cut from top to bottom, which sailed south to a new life in a new land!"Class distinctions were firmly rooted in the minds
of everyone in the early days of Queen Victoria's reign and repeated in
the conditioned life on board - From a cabin passengers diary :
"There are one or two of our fellow passengers who go among the
immigrants and make themselves familiar with them. The Captain is very
much annoyed as it tends to lower the dignity of the ship. One of them
absented himself from our meeting last night and was found amongst them.
The Captain felt himself insulted by his preferring their society to
ours. I have never spoken to one of them." Then there were “Emigrants” - mainly
agricultural farm workers, laborers, tradesmen, domestic servants and
young married couples - the majority of passengers. They
travelled in "steerage quarters" squeezed between the upper decks
and the bilges and slept in narrow, closely packed bunks. The area
was divided into three sections - one for single women who were berthed
in the aftmost section directly below the first and second class cabins
under the poop deck; married couples and children occupied the
mid-section and single men and boys, 12 and over, were in the forward
section. There were partitions between each section and each had its own
hatchway to the deck. They were required to restrict their movements to certain
parts of the ship and paid what they could afford for their £15 fare.
The shortfall was made up either by the Canterbury Association or by
their future employers travelling on the same ship. Emigrants were
required to be under 40 years old, to provide their own tools, and to
supply testimonials as to their qualifications, medical certificates and
certificates from the minister of their parish, countersigned by a
Justice of the Peace - their passage was either paid for by the
Canterbury Association, or by their future employers, travelling in the
same ship. Single men slept in bunks 6½ feet long by 2 feet wide.
Married couples shared a slightly wider bunk (3½ feet) and had a curtain
for privacy. This space was used not only for sleeping, but also for
storing everything needed for the voyage. There was a lack of fresh air,
and dampness was a constant concern. The boards of the berths were taken
out once a week and scrubbed and the floors under the berths and the
whole deck area was religiously scraped and holystoned at regular
intervals and chloride of lime sprinkled.
The women were expected to take a minimum stock of
clothing - 6 shifts, two flannel petticoats, six pairs of stockings, two
pairs of shoes and two strong gowns and the English Women's Journal
advised working women not to leave without night-caps, aprons, bonnets,
pocket hankerchiefs and a shawl. The larger the stock of clothing, the
more comfortable the voyage with its extremes of heat and
cold and limited opportunities for washing and drying.
There was also intense educational activity
between the decks. The Association shipped a qualified
schoolmistress on board the Castle Eden. School hours were from 11 to 12
o'clock in the morning and 4 to 5 in the afternoon. Labourers who could
read, gave lessons in reading and writing to those eg men who
needed them and each ship carried a chaplain, a surgeon and a
schoolmaster, all paid for by the Canterbury Association. The doctor
received 10 shillings for every passenger safely delivered to Lyttelton,
but had to pay back 20 shillings for every passenger who died.
Passengers were required to restrict their movements to
certain parts of the ship depending on their class, however
seasickness and storms affected cabin and steerage passengers alike. One
emigrant recorded, “A good many are sick and vomiting.” Another recorded
that most people threw up after eating their very first meal on the
ship. Although some people adjusted to the constant rocking and
bouncing of the ship, others spent the entire trip nearly bedridden with
nausea. Days passed slowly for those afflicted as they struggled to keep
any food down. Many suffered from seasickness - the worst during the
first two weeks, but for some it continued for the whole voyage. During
storms, the door to the deck was latched closed, leaving passengers
with little light or fresh air. The stench of vomit and unemptied
chamber pots could be overwhelming. Constant jousting about from weather
and waves made even standing difficult on many days - passengers could not even stay in their narrow, closely packed bunks to
sleep, but went sliding about the cabin. The stench of vomit and
unemptied chamber pots could be overwhelming. Constant jousting about
from weather and waves made even standing difficult on many days. On the
worst days, passengers could not even stay in their beds to sleep, but
went sliding about the cabin.
Food on board did not contain a great deal of
variety. Minimum food requirements set by the British Passenger Act saw
basic food provided such as salted meat, flour, rice, biscuits and
potatoes, but steerage passengers had to cook it themselves. A large
table was fixed to the floor down the middle of the steerage area for
this. A bucket was supplied for washing and laundry.
The immigrants divided themselves up into messes
of about 6 people - the average size of the family travelling, and
each mess took it in turn to collect the issues of food from the purser
and take them at stated times to the galley for cooking. It was a long
and weary pilgrimage between the storeroom to the meal laid out on the
long table between the decks. Flour, currants, oatmeal and other dry
goods were carefully weighed and doled to each mess once a week (
usually Monday) and a small barrel of water. Before the others were up,
the breakfast mess cook had to take his pot of porridge along to a
galley that accommodated only three of four people and the ship's cook,
and as there might be more than a dozen messes of porridge to cook in a
great chaldron, it would be quite possible to spend more than an hour
waiting in turn at the galley stove. Food might suffer from under or
over cooking and in rough weather a wave might swamp the galley and put
out the fire. The rough seas had everything on the table sliding
and caused unexpected variations to the menu when the weekly provisions
would get all mixed together, such as salt, tea, coffee and treacle!
Two days the single men baked, afterwards the married
people and the young women had two days each, taking their
efforts to the galley to be cooked. Hot water was issued to each mess
before making coffee. Delay with the item did not matter as it had only
to be taken in tin mugs that could be put to the lips when cold,
accompanied by ship's biscuits, the hard tack, that often figured in wry
jokes. Midday, the main, was cooked in a common pot. Each mess
had a numbered wooden or metal token attached for identification to its
particular lump of meat and also to its net of preserved potatoes and
plum duff and boiled rice which was pudding. The evening
meal Seasickness was worst during the first two weeks, but
for some it continued for the whole voyage.The captain had to ensure
that each passenger received three quarts of water daily however its
quality was questionable. Passengers could bring additional provisions,
and many did. One passenger advised others on what to bring, remarking
that, “Coffee is much preferable to tea, the water being so bad, as to
render the tea rather insipid and tasteless.” To eat was difficult
- many used their trunks as tables. In rough waters, they struggled to
prevent these makeshift tables from sliding back and forth across the
deck.
Passengers passed the time at sea plotting the ship’s
course, writing letters and diaries, sewing, playing cards and games,
and dancing. Prayer meetings were held every morning and afternoon, and
there was a full church service on Sundays. There were also school
lessons for the children. Charlotte Jane left
first - departed Plymouth Sound, England early
morning on 7th Sep 1850 (abt. 154
passengers), followed a few hours later by
the Randolph (abt 217 -
Diary).
The Cressy left at
midnight (abt 155) and the next day, the 8th about
11am, the Sir George
Seymour weighed anchor with abt 227 on
board. (These numbers are not accurate because the surgeons, shipping
and emigration lists do not tally and also young children or those born
aboard were not given rations or counted as ticketed passengers Arrival: On the 16th of Dec. the first 3 ships
moved up the Lyttelton harbour. it was a summer's day and one of the
passenger's wrote "When we entered and sailed as it were, into the bosom
of the encircling hills who was there that did not feel at the time
that he could have gone through the fatigues of the whole voyage, if it
were only to enjoy the keen and pure gratification of the last few
days". As they neared the shore, they could see a line of road sloping
upwards across one of the hills, with specks dotted along it, which they
recognised as labourers at work. The place to some, appeared desolate -
no shops and only the barracks to go to.
The Charlotte Jane anchored at Lyttelton at 10am on Monday, Dec
16, 1850 and the Randolph arrived at 3.30pm. The Sir George Seymour
anchored at 10am the following day but the Cressy did not arrive until the
27th of Dec. having been delayed by bad weather, but these colonists too,
saw the harbour 'in a very favourable light". One passenger, from it's
deck, counted 15 whares which he, in his simplicity, at first took for dog
kennels! The ships brought about 800 people to Lyttelton. Most of
the passengers went straight to the immigration barracks that had
been erected to accommodate them, others camped for the first few weeks in
tents or built V huts of raupo and flax in the beautiful summer weather,
and as soon as possible, many of the settlers made the arduous journey up
the steep Bridle Path to the summit of the Port Hills and then down into a
swampy Christchurch to settle on the plains beyond.
Provisions were very short for some time after the settlers
arrived and were exceedingly expensive. Flour sold for £5 5s per bag of
200lbs, potatoes cost 14/- a kit and oatmeal 9d per lb. One of the
troubles of this time was the absence of coin: labour and produce had to
be paid for by goods and barter- that is, so much flour or sugar, or
an I.O.U. of the party receiving the labour or produce.
The ships lay at anchor for 9 weeks
during which time the passengers were able to go on board and get such
things as were available to them. Heavy goods were transported by boat down Lyttelton harbour, across the
shallow bar of the Sumner Estuary and then up the Avon River. A number of
families lost their possessions when boats sank crossing the bar.
The barracks had to be cleared out to accommodate the 204
passengers of the fifth ship Castle Eden under the command of Captain
Timothy Thornhill, which arrived on 14th Feb 1851 at Port Cooper (later
renamed Lyttelton . This meanta large proportion of people camped in the
open at Lyttelton and Christchurch until more substantial dwellings
could be built. (The Castle Eden had sailed from Gravesend 28th Sept.
1850, and from Plymouth on Oct 3 but heavy weather drove her back
- she finally left Plymouth Sound on Oct 18) One eye witness wrote of their first experience of a sou-wester
- "The weather changed very suddenly and a boisterous wind with a deluge
of rain found may very unprepared to withstand it. Tents were seen in
every stage of collapse, blankets, toitoi and fern careening madly through
the air, and the homeless seeking and finding shelter wherever a good
Samaritan could take them in." All persons occupying
the barracks in Lyttelton had, after a brief sojourn there to give place
to others, as ships arrived so quickly after each other and the
hillside near the barracks became dotted over with every conceivable kind
of hut, tent, and whare and sods. Many were glad to get away from the
barracks with the prospect of a little more freedom - one said she
"found it very trying and irksome living with her pots and kettles. She
was alluding to the one room (about l0 by 12ft) which was occupied by all
her family and had to do duty as bedroom, sitting-room and
kitchen. A printing press, type, and a
printing staff had arrived by one of the first ships, and by unremitting
exertions on the part of all interested the public had the advantage and
great gratification of very early welcoming the appearance of the first
newspaper, the Lyttelton Times. Published on Saturday, January 11th, 1851
and sold for 6d., there was a list of the retail prices for food; bread
was 7d. a 2 lb loaf; beef, mutton and pork 5d. a lb; ducks 4/- for a pair
( fowls were a shilling cheaper); eggs 2/- a dozen; ale 2/8d a gallon;
potatoes 5 a ton; milk was 3d a quart and fresh butter was 1/6d a lb. ( Mr
Ebenezer Hay, in these early days, used to carry 40 to 70 lbs of butter
every week on his back, d from Pidgeon Bay to Akaroa, returning the same
day over the 30 miles of mountainous bush track. William Guilford's first
job was there with his nephew, John Hay.) The appearance of Christchurch at this time
was certainly not inviting. The only means of communication was over the
Bridle Path, a rocky and precipitous path and then made through the swamps
that fringed the Heathcote and the Avon rivers. The pioneers had to carry
their household goods to the allotments they had chosen on the plains and
all their heavy goods had to be transhipped by small boats up the river
via the estuary whose banks were densely covered with flax, toitoi, fern
and raupo and this means of transport was very expensive and slow. One of
the Pilgrim Fathers used to tell with glee, the story of how he once,
early in 1851, hailed by a man struggling through the high scrub in what
was later Cathedral Square, and indignantly demanding to be shown the way
to Christchurch!
There were two houses on the Canterbury Plains and the farm
of the Deans brothers at Riccarton, with it's heavy crops and luxuriant
orchard was a strong contest to the boundless tract of treeless,
uncultivated land around. Many newcomers were disheartened by the strange life
and the hardships that faced them. Archdeacon Paul wrote "They landed and
they found the vaunted Canterbury Plains little better than a howling
wilderness. Their welcome was sung perhaps by the terrible sou-west wind
with it's driving rain and sleet. The rickety sheds in which they sought
shelter admitted the rain which splashed on their faces as they lay in
bed, and some of those who came out with little or no capital either in
the form of money or a pair of strong arms, might be ruined in a colony
even more rapidly than at home". Only a strong confidence in the future could have
upheld those men and women in the struggle they had to face. The women in
particular, had many trials and difficulties. John Robert Godley wrote - "
Before the arrival of the first ships two months ago, it was a grassy
plain unmarked by any sign of human footprint or handiwork, and now, early
in 1851, Christchurch is covered by at least 80 habitations of every
variety in form and material - tents, houses of reeds, grass, sods, lath
and plaster boards, mud and dry clay, besides a few that were merely pits
scooped in the banks of the river and one or two consisting of sheets and
blankets hung on poles." Jenetta Maria Cookse: Lyttelton
1852 When Mr Warren visited the Lyttelton settlement late
in 1851, and he was astonished and delighted by the appearance - " Wide
streets, neat houses, shops, stores, hotels, coffee rooms, emmigration
barracks, a neat sea wall and an excellent and convenient jetty with
vessels discharging their cargoes upon it, met our view;
whilst a momentary ray of sunshine lit up the shingled roofs and the green
hills in the background, until the whole place seemed to break into a
triumphant smile at our surprise." But his first view of
Christchurch, or rather of it's site, was a very different nature - " The
mountains in the distance were completely hidden by the thick rain, and
the dreary, swampy plain, which formed the foreground beneath our feet,
might extend, for ought we could see, over the whole island. The few,
small, woe-begone houses, which met my view, increased rather than
diminished the desolate appearance of the landscape." The site, chosen for the capital, was in part, a swampy plain,
with a slight fall seawards. soaked bv underground drainage from the hills
and intersected in every direction by springs and streams. The coast had a
strip of heavy wet land, usually some ten miles wide, and covered largely
with rank swamp grasses, higher than a man. There was watercress in plenty
and the luxurient growth had an abundance of pukeko and bitterns and it
was common to see flocks of up to 60 Paradise ducks flying overhead. Other
ducks such as teal and greys as well as spoonbills, were very common. The
swampy areas gradually gave way to dry stoney plain, covered with light
scrub and tussock. Wild Irishman, a very spiney plant grew as high as
3ft.6 ins with needle sharp points, and yellow flowers on a seed head that
went up from its base each year.
Beyond this again, were the lower foothills of the great
mountain chain on which tussock and scrub prevailed although the valleys
were often fertile and forested. The actual site of Christchurch and of
the rural allotments of the first land purchasers was what became known as
"dry swamp"- moderately wet swamp with native flax, toitoi cutty grass,
and sometimes heavy fern with boggy creeks running through it. Before
cultivation, this vegetation had to be stripped by hand with a mattock ( a
form of grubber) and when clear and burnt off, it could be ploughed either
with a horse or cow yoked to the single furrow plough, harrowed with a
tine harrow or sown by hand on the furrow. Often sheep were driven to and
fro across the furrows after sowing the seed, to act as harrows and
roller. When ready, the crops were reaped with a scythe or a sickle,
stacked and then threshed with a flail. Except for the areas chosen for the chief town and sea port,
all the land in the settlement was open to purchasers. The priority was
given to those who applied before the 25th of August, 1850 and was sold in
order of application. These first applicants were entitled to receive for
150 Pound, 2 land orders - one for a rural area of 50 acres, the other for
a half acre allotment in the capital, Lyttleton or a quarter acre in any
sea port town. |
.
There were two
main groups of Pilgrims - "Colonists" who were men able to
afford to buy land in the new settlement - they and their
families travelled "cabin class" with small rooms provided and far
better accommodation. Cabin passengers paid £42 a berth, intermediate
passengers £25 a berth. The Association intended that the colonists be
the leaders in Canterbury in its formative years. The second-cabin
people's conditions were little better then the steerage. The Canterbury Association
required that a rural allotment of at least 
