Hard down! Hard down!. Captain Jack Isbester
as one of the ABs who had signed the log book entry to the effect that the deaths had been accidental and that every effort had been made to save the men in the water he would, if present at the hearing, have found it difficult to justify his accusation.
So what might John Isbester have learnt from these tragic events? That a mariner’s life was perilous and could be snatched away in an instant was obvious, and he had seen that previously. He might have wondered why the foretopmast staysail sheet had failed so disastrously and why the master had not sent someone forward to warn the men on the jibboom of the planned manoeuvre. He might have reflected on how easy it is to lose sight of a lifebuoy or a man’s head in a rough sea, even at 200 yards/metres. The court hearing could not fail to show him the desirability of having a statement of events entered in the official log book and signed by witnesses who could be assumed to be impartial. It would also have shown him that allegations made but not supported by a witness in court were liable to be given short shrift, and the worst of motives attributed to the absentee.
Within a fortnight of obtaining his first mate’s certificate John Isbester was back at sea as chief mate of the iron-hulled ship West Ridge, 1,496 tons gross, embarked on a 15-month voyage first to Calcutta, which they reached in May after three and a half months at sea, benefitting from the south-west monsoon in the final Indian Ocean stages of the passage. That same south-west monsoon became their enemy a month later when, having discharged their cargo, they cleared for Liverpool on 20 June. Fighting their way out of the Bay of Bengal against the strength of the monsoon would have been a difficult, perhaps impossible, task, and the master appears to have had second thoughts or new instructions. West Ridge remained in Calcutta until the monsoon weakened in September, when they sailed for the lovely Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Port Louis, the capital city and port of Mauritius, with its benign tropical climate, its gentle winds, blue seas, graceful palm trees and background of spectacular mountains, would have been a welcome contrast to the flatlands of sweaty, monsoon-drenched Calcutta. The Mauritian coconuts, bananas, grapefruit, oranges, limes, papayas, sugarcane, pineapples and guavas, available for the smallest coin would have been very welcome, there were lots of fish to be pulled from the waters of the harbour, and piglets and chickens might also have been available at a price. John Isbester might have noticed an intriguing similarity to his home port of Lerwick. In Port Louis he would see Arab dhows and Chinese junks alongside European square riggers and steamers just as in Lerwick he would see fishing boats from the Netherlands and Poland, from Portugal and St Petersburg as well as from England and Scotland. Both Lerwick and Port Louis are excellent sheltered ports situated at ocean crossroads.
West Ridge remained in Port Louis for two months before returning to Calcutta and finally back to Liverpool after making landfalls at St Helena and Ascension. On their homeward voyage they may have carried sensitive cargoes such as tea, coconut and tobacco. It is more likely that their cargoes were at the contaminating end of the spectrum – hides, horns and hoofs, crushed bones, myrabolams and amotto seed – along with neutral cargoes such as palm fibre, gunnies, hemp, and rope cuttings, as befitted slower and older ships, compelled to round the Cape of Good Hope rather than use the Suez Canal like the steamers.9
John Isbester, aged 31, now had the necessary seatime to sit for his Master’s Certificate, which he did following a few weeks at Captain Cogle’s school. On 7 August 1883 he was awarded Square Rigged Certificate No.02269. He must have felt joyful when he reflected that his years of hardship and sacrifice had earned him the reward for which he had worked with such commitment. All that remained was to obtain a command – and, perhaps, a wife.
But with no commands immediately on offer John Isbester decided that he had no choice but to do another voyage or two as chief mate. Within a month he had joined the wooden barque Queen of Australia, 1,328 tons gross, as chief mate for a voyage to Quebec. His experience would doubtless have been enriched by the events of the voyage. A report, by cable, read:
The Queen of Australia from Quebec for Liverpool went ashore at Cacouna but afterwards came off without assistance, damage if any not yet ascertained.10
Cacouna is situated on the east bank of the Saint Lawrence river, about 100 miles seaward of Quebec. A later report gave more bad news:
The Queen of Australia from Quebec 2nd Inst. and following days had greater part of deck cargo washed overboard.11
Coming from Quebec, the deck cargo was very probably timber of some sort, and John Isbester as chief mate, possibly advised by Captain Jardalla or the longshoremen, would have been responsible for the lashings which should have secured it. Loss of deck cargo is not uncommon in the most severe weather, and could be due to ferocious conditions, to poor ship handling and/or to inadequate securing. In any event there were doubtless lessons to be learnt.
1 Cogle, Capt. Robert S, Letter to The Shetland Times Ltd, Lerwick, undated early 1914 (Isbester Collection).
2 Laing, Robert. Letter to Christina L Jamieson, 17.06.1884 (Isbester Collection).
3 Liverpool Watch Committee Order Book, entry dated 12 November.1878, Liverpool City Archive.
4 Liverpool Watch Committee Order Book, entry dated 17 Dec.1878, ibid.
5 The account which follows is based upon the Report of U.K. Formal Investigation No.1171 Cumeria.
6 This phrase from the Report of the Formal Investigation 1171 Cumeria is not understood.
7 Cumeria Agreement, Voy.14.01.1881–14.11.1881, Maritime History Archive, Newfoundland.
8 The only person signed on with a name like Johnson was E.G Johansson, AB. Cumeria Agreement, ibid.
9 Isbester, Jack, HCMM Cadet Log, cargo loaded on Clan Maclachlan in Calcutta for Liverpool in 1952 (Isbester Collection).
10 Lloyds List, 24.11.1883.
11 Lloyds List, 17.12.1883.
In 1884 John Isbester returned to Shetland and to Haggersta, where he stayed with his aunt and uncle. My father, Allan, John Isbester’s fifth son, was an observant man with an excellent memory and a considerable interest in Shetland and our family history. Although born many years after these events he had often heard the story of how my grandparents met. This is the account that he wrote to Florence Grains, a descendent of one of the participants.1
As a boy my father went to the fishing and as a youth he went South to sea. He left his watch – the equivalent of being engaged – with your grandmother Maggie Smith in Strome.2 One time there was a slump and he could not get a job at sea so he joined the Liverpool Police and wrote for Maggie to come and join him. She ‘couldna leave the sheep’ and did not go. Later he got back to sea and later still