Hard down! Hard down!. Captain Jack Isbester

       2 GOING TO SEA – ARTHUR IRVINE

      Starting a career at sea in the 1860s was tough. There are no letters describing John Isbester’s early days at sea, but Arthur Irvine, son of Magnus Irvine of Strom Bridge, Whiteness, was aged 15 when he left home in April 1867 to start his life as a seaman. He was my grandmother’s elder brother – John Isbester’s brother-in-law to be. Magnus Irvine was a farmer and landowner – a laird – his wife’s family listing doctors, army officers and clergymen amongst their ancestors, so the choice of a life at sea, starting as a boy or ordinary seaman, is surprising. It may hint at a determination to see the world, a recognition that he was not academic, or that the family did not at that time have the funds to launch him in a professional career.

Travelling from Shetland to Glasgow, where he hoped to find a ship, was in itself a major challenge. David Hobart, the Whiteness schoolmaster, a Scot returning home, described the two-day voyage from Lerwick to Aberdeen via Kirkwall and Wick also in 1867, in the following lively terms.1

We started from Lerwick before one o’clock on Tuesday morning2 and steamed at an immense rate down past Dunrossness. When we came to the Sumburgh Roost [the area of overfalls and disturbed water south of Shetland] the sea began to be rather rough and the vessel rolled and pitched a good deal but not so much as makes me sick. After that I turned in and had a sleep and awoke about five o’clock in the morning. Going on deck I saw the Fair Isle far astern looking up out of the sea with a helmet with a deep cut across the top of it. The wind was still blowing hard and the sea raging and the weather very cold. So I turned in again and slept a good while and on again going on deck the Orkneys were well in sight. And the way through them very devious. It would indeed require a man who knew them well to guide a vessel through them in the night. We arrived at Kirkwall at about eleven o’clock A.M and started at 1.45 P.M. the wind blowing heavier than ever but being in the lee of the islands we had pretty smooth water. However when the Pentland Firth was opened the vessel rolldt and stachered like a drunken man. This did not last long as we soon got under the lee of Caithness and in due time arrived at Wick where we remained till I got wearied and went to bed. When I awoke next there was a change indeed but very much to the worse. Before this we might be said to have had a tolerably good passage but now the tossing was more than ever I saw it in the Queen [a previous ferry] and the smell around me was quite sickening. So it was not very long till I also gave up what I had put down and then I was all right and went to sleep about five o’clock in the morning and awoke to hear the wind blowing as hard as ever but the vessel having now gained the lee of the shore was in tolerably smooth water and so it continued till we reached eleven o’clock A.M. on Wednesday but did not get in on account of the tide till the P.M.

On a small ferryboat, probably the 15-knot paddle steamer St Magnus, all aboard were aware of what was going on. The bridge must have been just above the saloon. After a trip in 1869 David Hobart reported3

      Friday night was very dark & we nearly ran down a vessel off the coast of Aberdeen. There was an awful roaring & shouting to back the engines & port the helm – helm hard to starboard & so on which were mingled with the shrieks of the ladies in the cabin who thought something terrible had happened or was going to happen. However, we steered clear of her in spite of rain, fog and darkness held on our way till we came to Aberdeen where we landed about two o’clock on Saturday morning.

Arthur Irvine may have been travelling with other Shetland men. In his letter4 to his mother from Glasgow he mentions A. Tait.

      Dearest Mother,

      I arrived here safely today. I went to Moore and he said that if I would wait a week he would get a ship for me. I am very tird and therefore cannot write much but I will write when I get a ship. If I do not get one tomorrow I will perhaps go to Liverpool with A Tait. If I do get a ship it will likely be for eight months and then I will be home. Give my Love all I have not written to Granny but you can tell her that I am finely write immaditely to the Sailors’ Home Glasgow.

      I remain your loving Boy

      A Irvine

      Don’t put C in the adres

      Like many a 15-year-old boy he was concerned about appearances, and didn’t want anyone to know that his middle name was Craigie!

A fortnight later he was still awaiting a ship in Glasgow, and resisting the many temptations of a sailor’s life.5

      My dearest Aunt [probably Elizabeth Gifford of Busta, his mother’s 38-year-old sister],

      I am sorry that I have not written to you before but I put it off till I should get a ship. I find now that it is all very fine to be at home and speak about the sailor’s life but it is different to try it. Dear Aunt I find now that it is all true that I was told about the sailors although I have not yet been at sea The wickedness of a sailor’s life on shore here is awful Last night a steward on board a steamer came here paid off with £30. He went out and came in with only £2 & without his coat & that is the way why a sailor can’t have money but by God’s strength I sall never do that I have had Many temptations since I came out here, but I have resisted them from the first and now I find