The voyage of the Storm King

from London leaving Wednesday 20th October 1869 and arriving at Moreton Bay on 17th January 1870 was not recorded by my great grandfather Thomas Wood Hawson.

We are fortunate that Alfred Midgley was on the ship

and kept an extensive and readable  journal of virtually the entire  journey to Moreton Bay. This has been in the Archives and rarely seen. Alfred went on to become a Minister, Member of Parliament, and poet. Over time I will expand on his journal which records weather details,  most of the daily ships distance traveled, and much of the mundane day to day activities of ships life. He records the occurrence of  the numerous Penny Readings which occurred during the journey and attempts to harpoon porpoises and the catching of albatross. It seems to have added to the day to day enjoyment of the trip more than the excitement of some of the storms and wild weather that occurred.

There is another document written by Joseph Hick Parrington, which is shorter.

That document details 4 births and 4 infant deaths on the voyage. The anguish of a death of a young child during such a dramatic journey to the other side of the world, can not be imagined. I hope to obtain a more readable copy of this in the future. It also supports the version of the Xmas day 1869 upsets which surprisingly, did not make it to the newspapers on arrival in Brisbane, although other passenger issues went before the magistrate. There will be more of that later.

I will give more details over time but will certainly give Alfred’s dramatic version of the exciting events on Christmas day 1869 which reads like a swashbuckling adventure which has hitherto not been published to a wider audience to my knowledge.