“After a good sleep in our not so spacious bedroom

(12ft x 6ft) to hold by the bye (the guv’nor, Arthur & myself) we got up at 5.45 not to feed the fishes or to catch the worms, but to see us weigh the anchor before starting which we did at 6.20.

The Hesperides Clipper

We had 2 tugs to take us out to sea.

The pilot left us at Deal at 4.15 where we posted our last letters for the evening mail.

Nobody is bad as yet but the cook who has been beastly drunk since he has been on board.”

These are the words of A.Whelen when he sailed aboard the Hesperides from England to Australia in 1878

Image: State Library of Victoria