more string!

I finshed all of the barley straw, it was easy to use. I did give up on the oats straw (smaller ball on the floor) as the shorter lengths of straw made it harder to twist to hold it together. I did make a small ball though!! The rest of the straw I will give to my mother for her hens!

The oats straw is more of a golden yellow colour.

Click here to check out the amazing work of Anugus MacPhee weaver of grass.

And here's a great book if you want to know more about making simmans (rope).

Oamaru in 1879

Do you wonder where the immigrants on the Westland ended up? We know some went to Oamaru (Jonathan and the Matthews family, but probably others went there too, being a coastal area with a nice climate). As luck would have it a photographer set up his camera in 1879 and took a panoramic shot by taking lots of shots in sequence - here is one image (number 210 North Otago Museum). I will compile them together and print them out in a strip - so you can see more if you come to our exhibitions! Thanks Shanann and Rowan at the North Otago museum for giving permission for use of this series.

string

Last night we collected as much barley and oat straw that would fit into our car, from local farmer, Hamish Pottinger. So today, I'm sat outside making string........Chip is listening to every word I say!
More photos later today as the string grows!

After a hot day, we had 30mins of thundrestorms and heavy rain. The black clouds have now moved on and are over Orkney (behind me!). The sun is out again so time for a quick photo of my string making. This is barley straw. I still have a bit left, so tomorrow it will be even longer!

Then I'll make a start on the oat straw.

sending by slow post

Hi, today I have posted you, by surface mail, these balls to be part of the exhibition. (Postage goes up here on the 7th so thought I would get in early) The large string ball is marked out in foot intervals which equal up to the lenght of the Westland, the fishing line one is just fishing line and the silk organza ball has been hand dyed and is swirling out of an old quart bottle to represent a third of the daily water ration per adult. I am flexible as to how they are displayed, they work as a group of 3 on a plinth - but I liked this photo looking down on them rather than my mock up one!

Solargraphy images Scotland

They worked!

Here are the two images from the solargraphy pinhole cameras which were put up on the shortest day and taken down on the longest day - (last week). I then posted the cameras back to Tarja Trygg - Senior lecturer at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki to develop. She e-mailed me the results!

Camera one - fixed to my house in Dunnet - pointing south.

Camera 2 - fixed to my parents house in Brough - pointing East.

Mail from the Antipodes

Today's mail came with an interesting parcel from Joanne -some great things to archive and share at the New Zealand parallel exhibition.... fantastic! Thanks too Jo, for the lovely little biscuit stamp. My first batch of ships biscuits ended up being used as board game pieces...but after getting this stamp I have a better recipe in mind for my next ones.

Dunedin Harbour

I have seen so many mouth watering scenes of Dunnet that I thought I better try a landscape photo myself - here is Dunedin Harbour today. I have marked Port Chalmers with a red X. (hopefully visible) The green bit you can see in the water is a sandbank - the Harbour is quite shallow in places and before the channels were dredged it was sometimes referred to as the river.

Tea party

One of the interesting things about keeping a log book for me has been the focus that the daily photo ritual demanded. At the start I was responding mainly to Moscrop's diary, but then as I learnt more about the voyage I began starting to respond to my own photos as well. For example on 26th March there was a tea party on board the Westland. In Dunedin a ferry used to come into Portobello Bay and to this day there are ceramic shards in the mud flats from where, apparently, people off the ferry threw their cups and plates. On the 26th I spent an afternoon collecting shards and photographed them on site - but wasn't so happy with the photo. I have come up with another idea since - see which you like the best! (P.S. the ship is photographed on the beach, despite looking as if it is in a conventional concrete! Maybe I have to take another photo.......)

solargraphy

Today is the longest day, so we took down the two pinhole cameras which have been fixed to the walls outside - one at my house (pointing south) and the other at my parents house (pointing East). They've been outside since the shortest day - six months ago. Now I'm posting them back to Tarja at the university in Finland to see if any of them have worked!

Lynn did one last year in NZ. Her cameras worked, you can see the results here:

www.solargraphy.com

Ships Biscuits

Label design for my tin of Ships Biscuits!

The small print says:

"For long walks and sea voyages."

"Will stay fresh for more than 40 years"

Some ships biscuits were said to be more than 40 years old before they were even issued to a ship. Delicious! Robert Dick was a baker and botanist from Thurso. He set up his bakery in 1830. He is famous for his long walks observing plants, particularly ferns. He took ships biscuits with him to eat on his walks. I guess he'd made them himself. The Robert Dick collection is in Caithness Horizons, Thurso.

William Young's retun voyage from NZ to Scotland

Captain Thomas Wood signed William Young's discharge papers on the 23rd April 1879 in Dunedin. William was then on the next boat home.......leaving Port Chalmers, Dunedin on the 24th April 1879 on the Taranaki. I've found the ships departure reported in the Otago Daily Witness issue dated 3rd May 1879 (it was a weekly newpaper). It's linked, so click to read it! More info about the cargo in the Timaru Herald 9th May 1879 which suggests the Taranaki set sail on the 8th May. And info also in the Otago Witness 12th April 1879.

I've spent the afternoon in the Castletown Heritage Centre with Angela Lewis (one of the Caithness Heritage trust board members who look after Mary-Ann's cottage). All the archives for Mary-Ann's cottage are now stored here. Documents are being slowly archived and filed so info can easily be accessed in the future.

A lot of research had been done in the past by Eric Voice (now passed away). In one folder are 33 of William Young's original discharge papers from his voyages around the world. 10 other originals are held with the Wick Heritage Society. Eric has listed in detailed chronological order William's voyages. Eric summaries that William must have been on many more voyages, but the discharge pages are unaccounted for.

It's from this info that I discovered that William returned home the very next day on the Taranaki with Captain H.P Wight, who recommended William for promotion to Second Mate at the end of the voyage at East India Dock in London (discharge papers signed by Captain Wight on the 23rd July 1879.)

Taranaki discharge papers and note of conduct for Captain Wight:

1879 original diary found!!!!!

Chris Lloyd writes in today's Northern Echo about meeting descendants of Jonathan Moscrop, and seeing his original on-board diary written on the Westlands maiden voyage in 1879 !

Click here to see pics and read the article!

Jonathan signs his diary 'Mousetrap', not Moscrop!

Maybe this is a reference to the number of vermin on the voyage?!

With thanks to Jean Porter (current keeper of the diary), Chris Lloyd at the Echo is making a copy of the diary for our exhibitions in NZ and Scotland.

Snow in New Zealand

When I saw Joanne's images of snow on the boats I was soooo jealous! I wanted snow in New Zealand! Well, it is here now - this is the back of my studio and house and the Dunedin harbour all looking pretty (although in real life the horizon line is straight!) . Unfortunately it was too dangerous to go and drive anywhere to take photos. Some University students featured on the news - travelling down a hill on a lounge suite!

Jonathan Moscrops original diary

UK to NZ and back again!

Chris Lloyd from the Northern Echo Newpaper, has been helping us track down Jonathan Moscrops original diary.........last week he wrote a feature for Echo Memories..........Click here to read it.......soon I'll be able to reveal if he has found it ............! You'll just have to wait and see!

whisky

Click on the images to read!

Joanne's studio

I did tidy my studio last night, but this always seems to happen (it was in a similar state yesterday!)! Not a clear work surface in sight. I'm making 'things' to go in frames, as well as everything else. This means I must have every sheet of paper I ever made available to grab, all string and fibre, bookbinding stuff, an assortment of Chinese inks and brushes, finished work and my sketchbooks to look at for inspiration and to confirm ideas in my head...........then I have to try and clear a space to see the collection for a frame (mix of stitch/drawing/found objects/handmade paper) in the frame mount..........this is where I have now started to take things downstairs and take over the dining table..................it will get a lot worse before it gets better, and hopefully some inspiring artwork at the end of it!?!

Now, what was I working on..........

This made me smile!

Log entry for 13th Feb 2009 - On this day in 1879 on the Westland, children are having a fun time running about barefoot on deck. In the evening there is a concert. Diarist and passenger, Jonathan Moscrop notes he enjoyed the singing.

To the amusement of others

I thought it might be quite fun to reveal which photo session caused the most interest from passersby! Stamping in the sand with an iron should have won, but there were less people round that day. The most laughs I got was for trying to clean the beach - to coincide with the day Jonathan and the passengers had to clean out the ship ready for inspection. So, how about you?

Log Book Draft

A rather boring photo! But proof of my log book taking shape in New Zealand. After some weeks away looking after my mum I have returned to the task of typing up and printing everything out on A4 paper through a lazer printer to check spelling and see what photo works the best. (Because each day I would take many photos of my scene/object in the hope of success!) I have not printed large format before and realised I needed a bigger printer for this job - so ordered one about a month ago. It takes a while for things for things to get out to our wee colony here - it just arrived yesterday. Bigger than a bread bin. So I am looking forward to driving it and hopefully my next photo of logs books will be more stunning!

Moko

Here I am showing my photos before the exhibition, but I couldn't resist with this one. I had a gap on one page of my log book, I needed a tattoo picture. I was getting to the point where I thought I might have to get one myself!! I wanted a tattoo image because they are a big part of sailor tradition and when the Westlanders arrived many of the Maori people would have tattoos. It is rare to see the facial tattoo's or moko's today, especially down in the South Island. Well, I have been spending a lot of time at hospitals lately as my mother had a fall but today good luck fell in my hands! Jill Karetai was at the hospital today and agreed to be my model. The top part of the design represents the whale coming up from Southland and the four corners represent her family. Her lips are inked too, which is a very painful process. Ka Pai Jill.

pages from my sketchbook

I'm working through my sketchbook of Mary-Ann's cottage to make a series of long accordion fold books. The order of images are the same as in my sketchbook. Each book will be 2m x 17cm when opened out flat. I've printed out one successfully, then paper stuck in the printer! Time to put the kettle on!! Here are the 7 layouts - now I have to give my printer a talking to!

cooking at Mary-Ann's cottage today

Cottage volunteer, Kath Finlayson cooks bannocks on the open peat fire.

I think this may be the first time they have been made in the cottage since Mary-Ann left.

Pots, kettle and gridle hang over the fire from hooks on a metal bar (swey).

They're done!

Click here for the traditional recipe!

Nugget's Lighthouse

On April 19th 1879 Moscrop wrote that he "sat up until 2am and saw the light from the lighthouse." I thought I was pretty clever at identifying this as the Cape Saunders Lighthouse, but now, in the publishing stage of my log book I am checking things with a fine toothed comb.  This  lighthouse sighting is published in the 1879 ODT report as at 3am but the big thing was that the Westland got into Port Chalmers early evening later that same day. There was more distance travelled, yet they were past the Dog Island Lighthouse so it seems the lighthouse they saw was the one at the Nuggets. Any excuse for a road trip - off to the Nuggets- a couple of hours from Port Chalmers by car. Wish they still had a lighthouse keepers job there! P.S This lighthouse kept calling me to go and see it again, and this time I found a cliff to climb up to get a better view.(so am adding image on blog today!)  I sat and looked for a long time and could imagine the excitement of the Westlanders coming up the coast.

Visitors from New Zealand today

Heather and Jim are friends of Lynn Taylor in New Zealand. I met them at Mary-Ann's cottage today. Here they are having a blether with Dunnet local, George Douglas.

Swapping stories from NZ and Caithness ..........George retuned later with a gift of local oatcakes and butter, for Heather and Jim ........Cheers George , a nice welcome to Caithness.

Heather getting her photo taken with George at Mary-Ann's cottage.

2004 reunion 125 years

Roger Pollet (Australia) sent me this article from the Otago Daily Times (12 Oct 2004) - I hadn't seen it before so here it is! Jane Matthews married William Thomas Gray (featuring in an earlier photo on the blog) and migrated to Sydney.

Mary-Ann's Cottage

Mary-Ann's Cottage is now open for the season.
Open - daily 2pm - 4.30pm
Usually closed on Mondays.
Click on the cottage for more info and directions.

3 whisky bottles on Dunnet Beach

Episoads of an Emigrants Journey by Steve Dales

Sit back and enjoy this short animation made by Steve Dales from Semi Precious'

"This is an animation which forms part of an exhibition at Killhope North Of England Lead Mining museum. The project looked at 19th century migration stories. Working with primary schools in the area (Weardale, Co.Durham, North East England) we made video and animation using StopMotion. I liked the spontaneity of the kids work, using old fashioned 'dippy pens' so I did the same - no lights, pen and ink on paper. But the whole piece is brought to life by Emily Portman's soundtrack"

click on the ship to start the voyage.And if you missed the animation they did with local school children based on the on-board diaries of John Hillary in 1879 (the Westlands second voyage to NZ) ...........click on the sea-chest to watch that too..............

And if you want to see more of their work...........click here!

Salty Tongues

Likewise I have been beach combing in Dunedin but found no whisky bottles, only old milk ones! I kept these for months, wondering how to photograph them for my log book. Through reading diary extracts it seemed that sometimes the whole meal or water supply could be ruined with sea water coming on board in a storm - which must have been devastating when everything was rationed. So my finds became encrusted with salt. 

Whisky labels

Click on pics to read!

fish whisky and horse hair

Horse Hair I've made into string.

Salmon from the bothy at Dunnet.


Salt herring from Thurso Harbour fish shop - I had to take the photo quickly, with one eye on Chip our spaniel! She was drooling!

This is from Mary-Ann's cottage along with fish hooks. I think it's horse hair, as it look similar to my string. They used to use horse hair to attach the fish hook to the line.

I'm designing my whisky labels, all of these inspire.................

Ditty Bags.......again!

Here then are my two ditty bags!

After stitching I gave them another coat of kakishibu.

Ditty Bags

Nice work on the ditty bags! I thought you might be interested in the eyelet edging on this sailors bag - recovered from the French Barque - the Marguerite Mirabaud - which shipwrecked off the Akatore Coast,(close to where I grew up) New Zealand, 1907.

Sea Area Fair Isle

Sea area Fair Isle

Gale warning today

Wind- Southwest gale 8 to storm 10.
Sea State - High or very high becoming very rough later.
Weather - Rain or squally showers.
Visibility - Moderate or good becoming poor for a time.

Paper ditty bag

Paper ditty bag inspired by the basic traditional shape. There are many variations - as each sailor would have personalised their own. Mine is made from my own handmade papers, digitally printed with info about the Westland voyage, then waterproofed with the fermented persimmon juice (kakishibu). The waterproofing technique give the papers added strength too, as you crumple it up when wet, the hundreds of small folds in the paper stay. The more it is coated with the juice, and repeatedly crumpled and unfolded, the softer the paper is. This ditty bag feels like soft leather. I used chunky string made from montbretia leaves for the drawstring. I've not used any of the traditinal sail makers stitches in the construction of my ditty bag.........that's next on my list!

Following on-line instructions -

My apprenticeship............. I've managed to do the flat stitch on the side seams, the tabling and am now working on the patches then sticking stitch!

Working inside-out for some stitches.........

binding log books

Making a start binding my log books. There are 16 books to bind (each log has 4 parts). I've used a simple Japanese stab stitch technique. Before the covers were added, the pages have an inner binding. 2 pairs of holes with simple knots. Next to my needle is my hole punch - purchased from a shoe repair shop in Taiwan. Then the corners are protected with small pieces of blue book cloth and finally the covers added using a contrasting dark blue tape. I've used bamboo tape.

I the background, 4 bottles found on Dunnet Beach...........I nead one more...........as string horse was sold for 5 bottles of whisky on the Westland!! I'm designing labels in my head - that's kind of difficult to show on the blog!

'ditty bags' and 'baggies'!

At sea - Ditty -Bags

I've been reading about the life on ships for members of the crews on sailing vessels.

Click below to read about 'ditty bags'..........a bag for small tools (sailmakers and also repair kits - sewing needles etc). It was used as well as sea-chests, so perhaps William Young (Mary-Ann's father) had one?

Sailors often refered to their ditty bag as a 'housewife'!

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/files/dittybagbox.html

Sailors also learnt the art of sailmaking by using all the skills required to make a ditty bag.

Here's another link:

The sailmaker's Apprentice

On land - Baggies

Dan (Mary-Ann's son) remembers as a child, being given a 'baggie' when going to social events. The baggies contained cake and biscuites to be eaten when tea was served.

The baggie would have been a paper bag.

I'm making paper bags inspired by baggies and ditty bags.

I've already featured paper 'sick bags' in my log book!

log books - New Zealand

 I am intending to process my log photos with the cyanotype process. (I know! If only I was as on to it as Joanne I would be finished!)  After returning from a teaching block up in the North Island, Auckland, I was pleased to see a free afternoon and the sun shining. I pinned black polythene over my bedroom windows - transforming the space into a mini darkroom. Cyanotype is a two part mixture which needs to be mixed just prior to using or the solution deteriorates - so I mixed away and then sloshed it on different types of my usual printmaking paper. I printed out a few images onto transparent film and then placed these on the sensitized paper.   One image shows the images processing in the sun on my window sill. Yes, I did some 'dumb' things while doing these samples - like forgetting to make a negative (so then thecyanotype comes out in the negative!) I experimented with times out in the sun from 15 to 30 minutes: this accounts for the different densities of blue. About 20 minutes worked best. A couple of papers showed potential - the one I thought I would used disintegrated on the surface too much, making the print look hairy. (thank goodness I hadn't ripped that paper up into log book size!) These samples show the sailor, a rope the length of the Westland, descendant Maud holding the book 'Door without a Knocker' that came out on the Westland and Jonathan Moscrop circa 1879.

Today at Mary-Ann's Cottage

It's that time of year again......the volunteers gathered at Mary-Ann's cottage this morning to refresh their memories and and make a rota for the season.......... most are here, but a few folks couldn't make it along today. It's not often they all get together.

The cottage will open on Friday 22nd May.

2pm - 4.30pm each day

(usually closed on Mondays, but is open for some bank holidays)

See your there!

Corsback graveyard

This is William Youngs family grave.

log books - Scotland

4 editions of my log book printed on my own handmade papers. Now I have to work on a few fold out maps and panoramic views of Dunnet Head, end papers, covers and add the introduction. As there are more than 90 pages in each edition, they are too thick to bind as one stab book - instead, each edition will be divided into 4 slim volumes, then placed in a book box. The space on the left-hand-side of each page is where the binding will be.

Ships biscuits

Ships biscuits, cork floats and rusty sheds at Dwarwick Harbour.

Logging off

April 23rd was the day William Young's discharge papers were signed, the final day of our logs. Joanne gave me access to to these so I made them into a paper boat - I wanted to end the project as it had begun - with a photo of a paper boat.  I went to Dunedin's wharf yesterday to release the boat and found some other excitement. Three fishermen were all action, pulling in a large salmon, trying to net it while a seal was leaping out of the water trying to steal the fish off the line. Certainly that fish's number was up. However 5 minutes later the seal got lucky with an octopus.

Logging off in Scotland

Click on the image to read my last log entry.

From ship to train to a new home

                          The Moscrop house in Oamaru, New Zealand.

Crew

Crew on the Westland would have been proficient at catching fish to supplement the food supply so I made this ex-Navy man a necklace of sinkers and fishhooks. He also has a tattoo on his back which is made up from his initials and he uses this same symbol to stamp on his clothing, saying that this was how it used to be identified in the Navy.

Voyage of Hope berths

Dunedin's weather realised this was a special day and it put on a spectacular performance - a dewy wake up, warm sunshine in the morning, slightly overcast in the afternoon but virtually not a breath of wind creating a mirror like harbour. Mid morning I noticed a pilot boat idling and then soon was thrilled to see an enormous ship go by. I photographed 'Thor Wave' later at the Ravensborne wharf - with the low light and mist I could imagine this vessel as an old sailing ship

 My final log photo is of oars under a wharf at Port Chalmers, crossed, their work is done!

Land Ahoy

At about 5 o'clock this afternoon in 1879 the Westland reached the entrance of the harbour of Port Chalmers. They have to stay on board overnight as they arrived too late to be towed in.  Tonight (2009 - Dunedin) our first frost for the season has been predicted. One image is a scan from the last page of original handwritten diary of Jonathan Moscrop - I noticed he has a sense of humour as he has signed it 'Mousetrap.' (image provided by Chris Lloyd at the Northern Echo - thank you!) The other image is of the Westland -  provided by one of the descendants who believes this photo was taken at Port Chalmers.

Dunnet Head Lighthouse

On this day in 1879 on the Westland, diarist and passenger, Jonathan Moscrop writes of seeing a lighthouse at 2am. They are nearly at the end of their 80 day voyage.

I took this of Dunnet Head Lighthouse tonight. I've been recording many ships going through the Pentland Firth, but last night there were none!

Passengers on the Westland

Imagine what William Thomas Gray (b. England) and Jane Matthews (b. Scotland) may have been thinking 130 years ago as in a couple of days they would disembark the Westland at Port Chalmers and begin new lives.

This photo was taken in Darlington before emigrating. They were married in Oamaru 1881 in a double wedding with Jonathan Moscrop and Sarah Matthews.

Edit on 22nd April - after wrinting a comment today I found some writing on the back on another old photo which suggests Mr Gray followed Jane to N Z - will add the image.

Nearly there!

The Westland is on the final stages of her journey. This map plotted by Westland descendant Dennis Gray.

Maintenance at Brough Harbour this morning!

A community effort.

There is a BBQ set up on the opposite end of the Pier! So not all work!!

Views over the Pentland Firth to Orkney.

The Brough community were yesterday helping to put out the Dunnet Head fire.

On this day in 1879 on the Westland, the crew were preparing the anchors ready for when they reached Port Chalmers.

Dunnet Head Fire

Locals and vistors help firemen tackle the blaze.

Read more about the fire in the John O' Groat Journal Click here.

stamp duty

Imagine my amusement - just hours before Joanne posted photos of the LARGE exhibition space I opened the mail to this TINY treasure which I purchased through an online auction.  A Fiscal stamp from April 1879 - originally issued to collect  'stamp duty'. (This charge was payable when people did certain things such as buy land or renew passports. Stamp duty was first started in N.Z in 1866)

Dunnet Head still on fire - day 3

Photos taken this evening - the fire has been burning for 3 days now.

Click here to read todays Caithness Courier article about the fire.

Dunnet Head on fire

Dunnet Head has now been a blaze for more than 24 hours.

From my studio, I look south to Dunnet Beach, and to the North .......now smoke.

As I went to sleep last night, the flashing lights from a fire engine shone through the curtains.

Most of Dunnet Head is now black.

I will take a photo.

Yesterday there was too much smoke to see anything, now it is too foggy.

BBC Scotland news.

Sea Area Fair Isle

I found this website - lots of photos of life with the Royal Naval Shore Signal Service -

" through the eyes of a young girl"

Dunnet Head, Sea area Fair Isle 1932-34

http://www.naval-history.net/WW1z10RNSSS.htm

log book entry

Finally today I got over to Quarantine Island - the Westland was not put into quarantine but many ships were during the period. The Island is in the middle of the harbour and getting this 360 perspective was mind blowing.  Due to associations of illness and health I took over limes and scales (since everything on the ship was rationed) to photograph on site. All that remains of the hospital are bricks from the chimney and the barracks are currently under restoration - original woodwork remains. When I was telling the caretaker Kathy about the limes she told me a sailor had died of scurvy on the island. He is unnamed. 

For more details see the work of writer/researcher Lyndall Hancock, who has recently published a book - 'Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua - A short history.'

Exhibition Space

This is the temporary exhibition space in Caithness Horizons, Thurso where our exhibition will be. I took this photo today while it was empty, and centre manager, Beki Pope had just finished painting the walls. Thanks Beki!

log book entry

Most days I try to create my response to 'the Westland' diary entries within the day but my 15th March 1879 response regarding newspapers is still 'growing'. I took a 2009 Otago Daily Times newspaper and am making papier mache boats out of the newspaper until it is all used up. Each boat needs 7 layers and a layer takes a day or more to dry. A nice easy peasy way to spend 15 minutes each day...

cakes

Ever since I made these cakes for my log entry of 1st April, my mum has been asking .....why aren't they on the blog yet?! Ok, for those new to this blog, me (in Scotland) and Lynn (in New Zealand) have been keeping an 80 day artists log, to cover the same 80 days as the maiden voyage of the Westland in 1879. We decided not to show each other every log entry, as these will be printed and in our exhibtions, and we want to make it a bit of a surprise as to how we have interpreted the Moscrop diaries of the voyage......so now, due to popular demand, and Lynn will now have already done her 1st April log entry.......here are my cakes on the blog!!! They were delicious!!

To read it , click on the photo, it should make it bigger..........

I've made loads of ships biscuits, but they don't seem to have caused the same interest!! They are really rock hard!

Log entry 10th April - fishing from Dwarwick Harbour

What a catch!

This group on holiday have been fishing for

a few hours in the cold down at Dwarwick Harbour.
Cod, Pollack and a string of Mackerel.

Links

I've added lots more links..........check them out!

newspaper feature

Members of the Matthews family in New Zealand and Australia have already responded to the project but thanks to Shirley Hay I was lucky enough to get a spot on our Community Newspapers Genealogy Page, this can be viewed online for this week at Voyage Inspires artists' logbooks.....click here to read the feature!

It is on page 20 - which you can get to more quickly if you click on the 'features' section. I included a photo of Jonathon Moscrop and the Westland. http://thestar.co.nz/

Captains of the Westland

Captain Thomas Wood - 1879 - 1880
Captain Moffat - 1881 - 1883
Captain McWilliams - 1884 - 1886
Captain Scotland - 1887 - 1889
Captain Metters - 1891 - 1892

Captain Kelly - 1893 - 1900 - he died at sea on the Westland on the 8th Sep 1900.
Captain Samuel assumed command after Captain Kelly's death.

Captain Samuel - 1900 - 1905
Captain James - 1905 - 1906

After this the, Westland was sold to C. Hannevig in Norway then in 1909 she was broken up for scrap in Kingston Barbados.

For more info : rootsweb
And also read: White Wings, by Sir Henry Brett, published in NZ in 1976. It is from these two sources I've put together this list.

Info about the Westlands end is found on the ships modelers association

Number of Crew on the Westland

I'm checking for broken links on the blog and correcting.

Some websites are no-longer available, but I have found new ones too!

I've been trying to find out how many crew were on the Westland ship for it's maiden voyage. The info is nowhere to be found.......but I have found a report from the Westlands voyage in 1883. There were 44 crew, and 3 of them were killed on the voyage. Read more here:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/westland1873.htm

under the mast

Sailors have long believed a coin under the mast brings luck... I wonder if there were coins under the masts of the Westland? This image is from coins put under the mast of the Kakawai, a boat my father, Les Taylor, built with Les McLeod in the 1950's. They went adventuring around the Pacific Ocean and the Tahitian Islands. I just really wanted to put this image on the blog as I love it - the Kakawai has been sold many times over and this treasure was only discovered in a recent rennovation. Dad passed away many years ago but I can just see him putting them there with a secret grin on his face.

peat paper books in peat basket

I now have 9 chunky peat paper books in my peat basket.

I won't be using these on the fire!

I should make some 'peat-free' books too.

Log entry for today

Todays log entry.

Dunnet Head today with my Beaufort Scale blowing in the wind.

It was difficult standing up in the light breeze!!

Orkney in the distance.

Dunnet Head is the most northerly point on the mainland, just a few miles from our house.

Hold the front page!

In the diaries of Westland passenger, Jonathan Moscrop, he writes about newspapers they made to entertain themselves on the 80 day voyage. The diary entry was for the 15th March 1879. Their newspapers were called 'The basher' or 'Universal Annihilator' and 'The Westland'.

So I've made one inspired by this voyage, and Mary-Ann's cottage, named after thier nearest harbour, Dwarwick. The front page: image of Dwarwick, Dunnet Beach, and a salmon from the Salmon bothy at Dunnet. On the back page, all things string! This page is for Mary-Ann, as she used to get the Peoples friend magazine. She followed instructions from the magazine on how to make a book case from used wooden thread reels. The book case is still in the cottage. She also won prizes for her experiments with string, so I've given her a few more ideas of what to make with that Red Star Twine.

The text my newspaper is gobbledy-gook......similar to that used when a designer is doing a mock-up of a book layout.

archiving

Slowly, I am building a resource 'Westland'  archive in New Zealand. I use a variety of approaches - visiting museums and libraries, searching for 1879 things on 'trade me' (online trading), and interviewing descendants. I love to collect 'stuff'! Eventually, and hopefully, 'stuff', a location and ideas come together to become a photograph for my log book. Today I was thinking about how working with details from a family that is not my own has some similar aspects to curating work together for a museum exhibition. One of my favourite old museum 'images' is of shells where the name of the shell and date etc are written on the shell itself. So I started waxing some fragments of text I have onto shells (one husband grumpy at wax in the fry pan). The beeswax was a bit opaque to work effectively - I loved layering it a little too much - so I used printed tissue paper for my photos on the beach.