“Up at 8.30 after a very good night’s rest. We have had a tremendous lot of rolling today & have been shipping seas all day. This morning 1 big one walked into our room & came right up to the lower bunk. All our chairs etc began swimming round the plantation & I got a […]

“Up at 8 after 3 hours sleep: it has been an awful night. The very worst we have passed since we left England. All night waves kept breaking over our house and making such a noise that it was totally impossible for us to sleep. Inside our house was lots of water & it reminded […]

“Up at 8.15. Been doing about 5 knots an hour till 10 when the breeze freshened. Nothing particular occurred today. They have been painting to make us look nice & smart. Cards in the evening & bed at 10pm” Extract from A.Whelen’s Australia travel journal aboard the Hesperides sailing from England to Melbourne in 1878 […]

“Up at 8.30. Another beautiful day & this morning they had every sail set; in all 26 & I should have liked to have seen her at a distance for she must have looked nice I am sure. The wind has fallen off again this morning & we are doing 5 knots an hour now. […]

“Plenty of rolling all night so had only very little sleep for a change. Early this morning we only had 8 sails up as it was blowing a stiff breeze & we were doing 10 knots an hour. It is the tallest sea today that we have had yet & we are continually shipping large […]

“Up at 8.30. You will no doubt have noticed how lazy we have been getting but there is really nothing for us to do if we do get up so we stop in bed till we are nearly pulled out. We are now in 43 15” & Long 95 11”E & still about 2,200 miles […]

“Up at 8.45 It is a splendid day but the rolling is something awful from the heavy swell on. The men have been busy all day cleaning the ship & making everything nice & the carpenter has been making a punt to paint the ships sides from. Nothing very fresh today except for fresh water. They […]

“Today is Daisy’s birthday so the cook provided us with a little better dinner. And we enjoyed ourselves as much as was possible with the rolling. Joey has been fishing all day but could not catch anything so has gone to bed very much disgusted. The wind has been changing all day but still continues […]

“7 – 10 knots an hour all day, but very wet. Played cards morning afternoon & evening. & went to bed early” This was the entry A.Whelen made in his journal on this date when sailing from England  to Australia in 1878 aboard the iron clipper ‘Hesperides’