HIS FIRST COMMAND

On the morning of 6 April 1905, the port of Newcastle, NSW was a very busy place. The BHP steelworks had not yet been built but the autumn air was heavy with the smoke of innumerable household fires. The freshening off shore breeze picked up the thick acrid smoke belching from factory chimneys and carried it across the Hunter River, enveloping the maze of shipping filling the congested waterway. To this was added the smoke and steam of swarms of tugs and tenders fussing about like clouds of gnats, attending to the needs of the deep sea ships in port. A virtual forest of the masts and spars of working ships lined the wharves from the foot of the town and up the river along the new Dyke berths at Bullock Island. On the north side of the port, along the Stockton foreshore, empty ships lay three and four abreast, riding high, waiting for their turn to go alongside and load cargo.

Out in the stream, several deeply laden ships swung from buoys, shortening cable, taking on the last of their cargo and making final adjustments to their gear before putting to sea. Mid morning the three masted ship CHIPPERKYLE slipped her buoy and was towed down the river to the breakwaters. She was bound for the West Coast of South America fully laden with coal. As her crew climbed aloft to set her sail, she slid past another big ship also bound for Mollendo, Peru; WAVERTREE of 2200 tons. As she did so, her Master hailed the young captain of WAVERTREE, challenging him to a race to their next port. This was the first voyage of 25 year old Captain Bert Brew since gaining his Master’s Certificate and the opportunity for the taunt was too good for CHIPPERKYLE’S Master to pass up. No doubt the experienced men in WAVERTREE were laying bets on whether their young skipper would make the grade.

Nobbys Signal Station records CHIPPERKYLE passing clear of the breakwaters at 0935 followed by WAVERTREE an hour later. As soon as she cleared port CHIPPERKYLE put on all possible sail, including her royals and skysails, and soon disappeared over the horizon ahead. Late one afternoon, several days later, after passing the islands called the ‘Three Kings’ which lie just north of New Zealand, WAVERTREE’S Master noticed that the barometer was dropping rapidly. Although the sky was clear and there was no hint of trouble he quickly ordered sail to be shortened to three lower topsails and the foresail. Not long afterwards a severe gale blew up from the south west and during the night the weather deteriorated to such an extent that the ship had to be hove to with just enough sail to give her steerage-way. WAVERTREE rode out the storm without damage and in the morning when the weather had moderated, she made sail again. The ship had been saved by the foresight of her Master. However about 0800 he was called on deck only to see a large amount of wreckage floating on the surface of the sea. This undoubtedly had come from the CHIPPERKYLE because the ship and her crew were never seen again. After some weeks WAVERTREE reached Mollendo safely.

WAVERTREE was a big British three master. She first called at Sydney in January 1891 and again in June 1892. She was then worked around the globe before returning to the United Kingdom. When Bert Brew joined her as Mate on 10 February 1904 she was lying in the Tyne, Newcastle, in the north of England.After a hard, slow voyage during which she suffered some damage rounding Cape Horn, the ship arrived in San Francisco on 14 July 1904. There she lay, idle for several months, swinging to her anchor and riding empty and high out of the water. Those members of her crew, who had not deserted, worked to make good the damage suffered and to paint the ship from truck to waterline. For the officers such as Bert Brew, being stuck in port on an idle ship was depressing. He had been a First Mate for less than a year and he wanted to get to sea again and progress to becoming a Master himself. Brew was 24 years old and there was a lot of the world he wanted to see and a lot of things he wanted to do.

His world changed in the middle of October 1904 when a telegram arrived from the owners appointing the Master, Captain Tilston, to the big Leyland ship SPEKE. This ship was lying at Port Los Angeles in Puget Sound near Seattle to the north. The company had secured a cargo for her and she had to sail without delay. Tilston packed his gear and left within a few days to join SPEKE and take her to Sydney. Unfortunately, 16 months later, with Tilston in command, she was lost on Philip Island on a trip from Sydney to Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the owners secured a cargo of coal for WAVERTREE in Newcastle, NSW. The ship had been left without a Master and it would take months to get a replacement from England. The only option was for the First Mate to take her to sea. The owners cabled that he must first obtain a provisional Master’s Certificate of Competency. Bert lost no time in making arrangements to attend a navigation school in San Francisco. Each morning, for some weeks, he was rowed ashore in one of the ship’s boats to attend classes and returned to the ship in the evening. Shortly afterwards he called on the British Consul to be examined. The Consul assembled a panel of Masters from British ships in port and together they subjected Bert to a fairly rigorous verbal examination about his ability, experience and knowledge of the sea and the ways of seamen. Being suitably impressed, they granted him a provisional Master’s Certificate of Competency. It allowed him to take the ship to a British port where he could formally qualify in the normal way for the full certificate.

The next day, filled with excitement at being in command for the first time but sobered by the enormity of his unexpected new responsibility, he recorded his appointment as Master of WAVERTREE in the ship’s logbook. The entry he made for 19 November 1904 reads;

I have been appointed to take command this day, in place of Capt. Tilston who left on 29 October 1904. I was examined yesterday before the British Consul, Capt. Barker of the ship ‘British Isles’ and Capt. Matson and passed satisfactorily. Bert wasted no time in getting his new command to sea. He worked quickly to find a new Mate, sign on a full crew and finalise preparations for getting underway. Eight days later, on 27 November, he sailed in ballast for Sydney, Australia.

The voyage from San Francisco to Sydney took a little over two months, the ship arriving on Tuesday 31 January 1905. Bert immediately reported the circumstances of his temporary appointment to the maritime authority and made arrangements to be formally examined. On 2 February 1905 a casual Master, Captain John Simpson, took WAVERTREE in ballast north to Newcastle to load coal. This enabled Bert to sit for the examinations in Sydney and to fully qualify for his Master’s ticket. He was successful and on Friday 3 March 1905 he was awarded a Certificate of Competency as Master of a Foreign Going Ship. It was issued in Sydney by the NSW Department of Navigation and was numbered 570. On 7 March Captain Bert Brew was reappointed Master of the ship WAVERTREE and hurried to Newcastle to take command. He had barely a month to load the cargo, sign on a crew, and prepare the ship for sea. In due course Bert’s ship was ready for sea and on Thursday 6 April 1905 WAVERTREE sailed from Newcastle for Mollendo in Peru, under the command of her new Master, still very conscious of his inexperience.

Life on board WAVERTREE was never easy and the long dreary months at sea, the poor amenities and the dreadful diet took its toll. The food provided on British ships was considered by seamen of the time to be very poor in comparison with that provided in the ships of other nations. It included plenty of protein and vegetables but there was no variety. When a voyage took longer than expected, or if the owners were niggardly in what they spent, some items might run out. It was not uncommon for an overdue ship to arrive with the crew near starvation. There was plenty of meat, alternating between beef and pork each day but the only addition to this diet was half a pound of flour and one quarter of a pint of peas on alternate days. In addition there was a small daily allowance of condensed milk, tea, coffee and sugar. The flour mostly came in the form of ship’s biscuits or ‘pantiles’, the challenge being to shake the weevils out of the biscuit before eating. Sometimes the cook made the biscuits more palatable by making them into ‘cracher hachis’ or hash. First he crushed the pantiles into crumbs and then mixed in some water or milk and any left over fat before baking the lot in the oven in the galley. Needless to say, the catching of a shark or porpoise or some other fish made a welcome change to ship board fare.

The regulation allowance set out in the Crew Agreement signed by each member of the crew at the beginning of a voyage read as follows:

WAVERTREE arrived at Mollendo on Saturday 10 June 1905 after an uneventful trip of three months. To the frustration of her young Captain, she then lay idle in Mollendo for more than five long months. The competition from steamships was overwhelming and it was almost impossible for the owners to find charters for their sailing ships. They finally had to face the fact that there was no cargo for Bert’s ship in Mollendo. They were forced to send her back to Newcastle, NSW, in ballast, in the hope of obtaining a charter of coal at that port.

The Voyage of “Wavertree” ship to Mollendo and return 1905/6

Accordingly WAVERTREE sailed for Sydney on 27 November 1905 but it was to be a long slow trip and she was not a happy ship. The long period of idleness in Mollendo had soured tempers. A series of entries in the ship’s log tells the story:

10/11/05 5pm at Mollendo

M. Dreker (AB) returned on board to resume duty after being in

Gaol 21 days @ 5/- per day (£5.5.0) for insolence to HBM Consul

Mr Smart and $19.80 gaol expenses (£2.1.3).

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer

Apparently the Master had thought the seaman was malingering and had brought him before the British Consul who declared him fit to work. Upon hearing this the seaman bluntly told the Consul what he thought of him whereupon he was incarcerated for insolence. However, the stint in the South American gaol had done little to change attitudes in the foc’sle and several days later, trouble broke out again as the ship got underway;

14/11/05 midnight at Mollendo

The following seamen on being called to heave short and get the vessel

underway, would not turn out as they said they were too tired.

On being told to muster aft refused to do so. (14 names)

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer

Finally the ship put to sea but two of the seamen were to prove to be troublemakers for several weeks;

21/11/05 8.0pm, Lat. 17°29’S, Long. 86°0’ W.

D. Murphy and M. Doyle, ABs, refused to muster aft at 8.0pm and on

being asked the reason said they would not work but that they got tobacco.

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer.

Ten days later, the attitudes of the two seamen had not improved but the Master’s patience was running out;

3/12/05 7.30am Lat 17°40’ S, Long. 87°50’ W.

D. Murphy and M. Doyle, ABs, were called aft and still refused to work,

they were put in irons and placed in the sail locker, their allowance being

one lb of bread and one gallon of water per man per day.

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer.

The two AB’s were not going to give in quietly and over the next two days the ship’s log records;

4/12/05 9.0am Lat 17°40’ S, Long. 90°58’ W.

On opening the sail locker this morning to give the prisoners their food

M. Doyle (AB) was found to be free of his irons. On being asked what he had done

with them he replied that if the ship had made a straight course, they would be

dead astern. Both prisoners refused to take any exercise.

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer.

5/12/05 9.0am Lat. 18°9’ S, Long. 93°36’ W.

M. Doyle and D. Murphy (ABs) again refused to take any exercise today

and said they would not turn to. As these two men tried their utmost to

get the rest of the crew to combine with them and refuse any further work,

before being put in irons, I think it necessary for the safety of all

concerned to keep these men confined until such times as the vessel arrives

at her destination when the matter will be finally settled in a court of law.

Before coming aft to be put in irons D Murphy was heard to say before the

undersigned that he would leave a mark on the skipper to go to court with.

Both men denied having knives or any weapon with them and on searching

today knives were found in the stringers.

A. Brew Master, WJ Shipton 2nd Officer.

Most of the trouble seemed to occur while the Chief Officer was trying to get some rest and he became fed up with the behaviour of the two men. Finally, a month later, when the ship was south east of Fiji, he took matters into his own hands. The entry in the ship’s log says;

29/1/06 noon Lat. 23°44’ S, Long. 170°30’ W.

At 9.0am this morning D. Murphy and M. Doyle (ABs) commenced

drumming on the bulkhead of the sail locker and singing and kept it up

with short intervals up to noon thereby keeping the Chief Officer awake

the whole of his watch below. At noon the whole of the starboard watch

came aft and asked could nothing be done to keep these men quiet as every time

any of them passed the port threatening and abusive language was used to them.

I t hen promised that on the next occasion this happened I should have the ports

screwed up. I cautioned Murphy and Doyle and they promised to make no more

noise. At 4.0pm as soon as the Chief Officer was relieved from his watch they

commenced drumming again and on his going to the port they used the most filthy

language and abusive language, on which he threatened them with a boarding pike.

About 5 minutes after the drumming was again resumed and on his going to the port

again a boot was thrown at him, on which he discharged his revolver to frighten them

which had the desired effect.

A. Brew Master, David Longuill Chief Officer.

The Master had taken his ship almost due west, then south of west. The ship passed close to Pitcairn Island before nearing the Cook Islands and Tonga. Passing just north of Norfolk Island, the ship finally reached Sydney on Monday 3 March 1906. It had been a long voyage of nearly four months. A week later Bert took the empty ship north to Newcastle where he left her and was appointed to the command of another Leyland ship, HALEWOOD but that is another story.

Log Book of WAVERTREE, South Street Seaport Museum, New York.