| F. B. Copland’s Diary A midshipman writes of day to day events whilst on a return passage from the U.K. to Sydney Australia on board the sailing ship “DERWENT” |
| The ship was built at the Dumbarton yard of A. MacMillan & Son Ltd., as yard number 258 and was launched in 1884 as the Derwent for Devitt & Moore, London. Dimensions: Length 275' 0" Beam 40' 2” Draught 23' 7" 1970 GRT 1890 NRT 1805 tons (under deck). Official British Reg. No. 89640 Signal letters JRQB Rigged with royal sails over double topgallant sails. One of the first sailing ships equipped with a steam donkey engine. Employed in the Australian wool trade and was credited with the following passages: Sydney to Lizard Point 77 days Sydney to Penzance 74 days For a painting of the Derwent For a chronological list of Devitt and Moore sailing ships. For a chronological history of the “Derwent” . For the Devitt and Moore company flag. |
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| The diary describes a voyage from Glasgow to Sydney and return to London on the sailing ship “Derwent”. It was written by a midshipman, a Mr F. B. Copland, aged 19. His home town was Chelmsford in Essex UK. Unfortunately his fore names are not mentioned, but no doubt, with a little further research, these will come to light eventually. The diary starts with the ship in the Clyde on December 30th 1884 and covers the Passage to Sydney, arriving on Friday April 17th. Mr Copland visits friends 340 miles (546 kilometers) north of Sydney at Uralla N.S.W. before starting the return journey home on Tuesday August 18th and arrived in the Thames on December 16th 1885. The diary is written in a hard back pocket notebook with lined pages, of similar size to a modern paperback novel. There is a crew list on the first page. For a scan of two of the diary pages. There is no year mentioned anywhere in the diary but with a bit of research it appears to cover the period 1884/5: · Derwent was built in 1884. · Queen Victoria’s birthday is celebrated. (Sunday May 24th ) The year must therefore fall between 1884 and 1901. · Good Friday is in the diary as April 3rd. Easter only occurs twice between these dates, in 1885 and 1896. · Feb. 29th is not recorded and as 1896 was a leap year one must assume that the year is 1885 · Sailing ship Hawkesbury is in Sydney. She was with Devitt & Moore between 1868 and 1888. It is assumed therefore that when she set sail from Glasgow on Dec 30th, the year was 1884 and she was on her maiden voyage. One page has been torn out/removed and covers Jan 13th. To read a vessel history and find out why this may not have been an accident. |
| The Diary |
| THE SHIP |
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| The period October 20th to December 5th is not covered at all. This is part of the return journey covering the South Atlantic to the Bay of Biscay. |
| Mr Copland visits friends/relatives in Uralla a town in New South Wales, where he stays with a Dr Woods. On my research I contacted the Uralla Visitors Information Centre and, thanks to Barry & Morna Sinclair, I can include the scan of Dr Woods picture along side. Click on the buttons below to read more on Uralla: |
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| Text in italics is the text as written in the diary; text in ordinary typeface is my addition for comment or clarification. |
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| To open the diary |
| Copyright © David Brown 2006 |