"That horried ship, the "Java"

The quote above, misspelt, but dramatic, is a quote from a diary, telling of a melancholy voyage to South Australia in an emigrant ship in 1839 and this book will show why a passenger would have cause to enter that comment in his diary.

This is a true, sad tale of the emigrant ship, the "JAVA", which left Plymouth after leaving London, with approximately 500 passengers. It arrived at Holdfast Bay with 30 men, women and children having perished on the voyage. The greatest loss of life had been amongst the steerage passengers, particularly the children. The deaths did not stop once the ship had arrived but by landfall we know that 26 children had died and that more died in ensuing days. In addition four adults had died including a Mr. Watson, a first-class passenger who had asked and paid for special care because of consumption and had been denied this.

The ship had been described to the prospective emigrants as that "fine first - class teak built ship, the "JAVA" and yet within days of its departure the London Press had cause to allude to it in an article entitled "Rascally condition of Emigrant ships", as " a large ship which left St. Katherine’s Dock... with upwards of 300 emigrants on board for South Australia, the sides of which were so rotten and decayed that the carpenters who were engaged in fitting her out declared that the planks would not retain a screw or nail." The newspaper the "Weekly Dispatch" went on to say that "if this ship should happen to be lost, which God forbid, we trust that certain parties will be called upon to take their trial for murder."

But it was not to be the ship that gave the passengers cause for problems, but the crew and the servant of the Colonial Commissioners, the Surgeon-Superintendent, Mr. Martin.

This story then, is an attempt to present the reader with the story of the voyage and enlarge upon an earlier essay by the late Colin Kerr, in a chapter "The Floating Coffin", published in his work "An Exelent Coliney" .

My research was initially based on two diaries, one of which was written by William Richards, (possibly a cabin passenger, that is an emigrant who paid for a passage for himself and his family instead of registering for a free passage) and the other by James Trangmar a gentleman who we are lead to believe was associated with the owners of the ship.

The most striking thing about the diaries is that James did not mention any of the deaths at sea nor the sickness that many suffered, save of course the usual malaise that usually strikes those at sea. James, in fact would seem to have taken an instant dislike to the Cornish emigrants, for he wrote in his diary on the very day that the "JAVA" set sail:

"October 28th... more disturbances amongst us. I begin to have a very bad opinion of our Plymouth Emigrants, the greater part of them are Cornish people, and many of them are miners, they are a very uncouth and dissatisfied lot of people."

William Richards does not make any such comment about his fellow passengers although he did write, "the supposed ladies in the cuddy discovered to be bad characters." George was to however chronicle the very sad litany of deaths, of children in particular.

It is the large number of deaths that prompted the author to bring to light as much as he could discover about the "JAVA"; in doing so I hope that we remember that our ancestors suffered greatly in many cases, to provide a new opportunity for their families, and that in some small way, we acknowledge the voyage of the "JAVA" to South Australia.
 

Chapters: Contents • Introduction • The ship JAVA • Migration to South Australia • JAVA leaves London • Crossing the line • Arrival in South Australia • Medical board of enquiry • Other ships had great loss of children's lives • JAVA after 1840 • Appendices • Timeline