By Ian Cooper, from his excellent series Records of a Bygone Age, first published in The Stronsay Limpet and republished here with kind permission.
These articles always have a Stronsay connection and the link to Stronsay in this story is there, although it’s going to take me a peedie while to get to it!
The story begins in Eday in 1854, where 24 year old James Miller was helping his father, also James, on the little croft of Linkertaing in Eday’s North End, supplementing their diet and income with fishing as time, tides and weather allowed. Just a few hundred yard to the north lived his 21 year old sweetheart Rebecca Meil, who was staying at the tiny croft of Burnside with her elderly grandparents James and Rebecca Craigie.
They were wed in Eday on 7th November 1854 and, rather than endure the harsh realities of island life at that time, the newlyweds had chosen to take a bold step. Looking for something better than the life that awaited them in their home island they had heard glowing reports of the opportunities available to young, hard-working families in Australia. With this in mind, James and Rebecca had agreed to take advantage of the emigrant’s assisted passage scheme available at the time which, they believed, would carry them half way around the world to enable them to carve out a new life for themselves there.
Just a few short weeks later they said their tearful goodbyes to their friends and family in Eday and made what was apparently quite a rough crossing to Kirkwall aboard the little sailing ship Content. From there they gained passage on the regular weekly service from Kirkwall to the Edinburgh port of Leith on board the clipper Paragon, departing from Kirkwall on 13th December 1854 and not arriving in Leith until the 16th.
James and Rebecca then spent a few days in Edinburgh, lodging with a lady from Shapinsay and meeting up with other Orcadians round about, of which there were quite a few.
Here James takes up the story in his letter (transcript below) written to Rebecca’s parents Stewart and Janet Meil:
“Leith,
22nd December 1854
Dear parents
We now write to you this to let you know that we have arrived safe at our port and in good spirits. We left Kirkwall on Wednesday with the Paragon at 8 o’ clock P.M. and had a fine passage for Leith which we reached about 9 o’ clock on Saturday morning but it was between 2 and 3 in the evening before we could get into the docks when we got ashore. We passed the Buchanness lighthouse about 10 P.M. on Thursday and had a fine day. On Friday it was almost entirely calm for a while until in the evening when we got a breeze from the North east and yet it was a very strong storm from the West at Leith on Friday. The people have said that it was the strongest storm that had been for a long time.
The whole of the female passengers were sick unless Margaret Peace and Mrs Liddle. Rebecca was sick and threw a little on Thursday morning but it was soon over. I was also sick too myself so you will not admire at her being sick. She was better on Friday and on Saturday morning she said that she was as well as if she had been at home the whole time. We had but an awkward passage with the Content and Rebecca was very sick and so was all the passengers that had not been well accustomed with the sea before but her aunt will have given you all the details of it before now. However she says she was never so ill in the Paragon as she was in the Content and her reaching was of much shorter duration and I think if she keeps her health she will soon stand the sea as well as I will do myself if not better.
We have but seen little of the town yet or yet will I think for while we are looking at one place another draws our attention and it would take us a long time to view all the piers and docks and ships. The steam train is running here also every minute.
The town here also as far as I have ever seen is very beautiful, the streets is far wider than in Kirkwall and the houses is much higher and much more beautiful. Kirkwall when compared with it is nothing and there is nothing to be seen in it. The men-of-war is now coming home from the Baltic and there was a large steamer that came this morning.
They Eday People are all well that came now and seem to be as brisk as can be expected. We and Robert are lodging with one Mrs Shearer belonging to Shapinsay that came here from Kirkwall about three years ago. She seems to be a very kind woman. James Drever is lodging with James Harcus from Faray and the Harcus people are away for David Hourston. We will be going to Glasgow on Monday or Tuesday. We are both in good health at present. Rebecca says she was never better in her life. Thank God for it and trusting this will find you the same we must now conclude.
Dry up your tears and comfort yourselves as well as you can. I have written to my Father and I am going to write to her uncle and aunt and I will write you again either at Glasgow or Birkenhead. Give our best respect to all our uncles, aunt in the south end and to all our cousins and all other enquiring friends.
We are yours affectionately,
James and Rebecca Miller”
After a train journey to Glasgow, the couple boarded the steamship Princess Royal bound for Liverpool. The ship was apparently badly overcrowded and the 12 hour passage rough but James and Rebecca arrived safely in Liverpool, where they immediately boarded another steamer to take them the short trip south across the Mersey to Birkenhead. Here they were housed in a depot together with other intending passengers awaiting the clipper ship to take them to their new life in Australia and here again James tells the story in a letter (transcript below) to Rebecca’s parents:
“Birkenhead Depot
December 1854
Dear Parents,
We now take this opportunity of writing you as it likely will be the last we have for some time. We had a fine passage with the Paragon as I told you before and Captain Fergus and all the Paragon men were very kind to us and kept our chests until Wednesday when they were taken out and put upon the goods train of Edinburgh and Glasgow and sent for Glasgow so you see they saved us from the trouble and expense of storing and we did much better than if we had gone with the steamer. James Harcus was very kind to us and told us every way to do for the best and saved us a good deal of expense for I do as someone would need to keep his eyes open for they will charge you when they have no right to do it and did it but we were instructed before how to do. We left Leith on Wednesday for Glasgow with the Caledonian Railway which is one shilling for each person and is allowed 56lbs. so you see we could not take our luggage with us. I think there was about three hundred passengers along with us on the train. We were in George Drever’s house in Glasgow and he is doing fine and both him and his wife were very kind to us and sought out lodgings for us and we all got our tea when we came and he was for us to stop for our supper too. Some of us also got our breakfast in the morning and he was dissatisfied that we all did not come.
We left Glasgow on Thursday evening for Liverpool with the steamer Princess Royal about 6 o’ clock and we reached Liverpool about 6 o’ clock in the evening and soon as we could bring up at the pier the steamer was alongside of us to take us to the Depot and I am sure that we all made her very welcome for there was so many passengers that there was not room for them all to stand in the steerage much less for them to sit. There was a great number of them that had to remain on the deck continually. There was a number of them Irish sailors as I supposed most of whom were drunk and as wicked and profane as could be. There was one woman with a child of a few weeks old so intoxicated that she could not take proper care of it and it was damaged among the crowd so that it died before we came to Greenock so she went out there. The most of the passengers were sick also. Rebecca was rather sick too but I was astonished that she was not worse for she stood it better than I did. There were many of the passengers worse off than we were and few if any better. Robert left us on Monday for Glasgow to go to Birkenhead but he could get no chance on the ship with us. The Emigrant Officer told him he could do nothing for him and sent him to the owner to see if he would give him a chance to work out his passage but he told him they were full of men.
He went to the whole of the Australian ships to see if he could get a chance to work out his passage but there was none. There was one who offered £12 and work too but it would not without the full freight which is £16. On Saturday there was one to sail on Sunday with 3 empty berths and the agent told him he thought he might get for £14 so he came to me on Saturday evening to see what I thought about it so I told him I thought it was better than to go to see. So he gathered all that he could together and went to Liverpool to see about it. He was in such a hurry that I had no time to ask him either the ships or the captain’s name and perhaps he may not have time to write home.
We are to sail on Monday or Tuesday. She is a first class clipper and very sharp and said to run 17 knots and made her last voyage to Australia in 70 days and there is £1000 wagered on her that she will make this voyage in ten weeks. We have great cause to be thankful to providence for the prosperity we have had as yet and he is as able to preserve us to the end.
There has been one birth in the Depot since we came. We wrote 3 letters in Leith one to my father, one to you and one to S Sutherland. We are both in as good health as we can be and all the rest of the Eday people are the same. John Harcus is not very well but I think it is owing to the change.
Give our best respects to all our cousins and uncles and aunt.
We are yours affectionately
James and Rebecca Miller
P.S. The woman that had the child that died on the steamer came to
Liverpool where she was taken ill.”
Part 2 Next Month.