Esther McLeod Part B Emigrate to New Zealand

The next we know of Esther McLeod is 1859 when she left Scotland for New Zealand. She was twenty-six years old.

Gravesend 15 June 1859

Esther’s younger brother Farquhar McLeod married Jane Ogilvie Sutherland at Dunbeath on 30 May1859. They clearly had made their plans to leave Scotland for New Zealand because two weeks after their wedding they boarded the clipper ship Matoaka at Gravesend, with several hundred other immigrants, bound for New Zealand. Esther as a single woman was with her brother and new sister-in-law.

Immigrants gather at Gravesend ready to board their ship
Source: www.friendswbg.org.nz

It is almost sure that Esther, Farquhar and Jane would have been traveling in steerage. Esther would have been accommodated with the single women while Farquhar and Jane would have been in the married couples’ accommodation.

Although the press releases below speak of the Matoaka as having every convenience, the voyage by ship at that time was hazardous, cramped and uncomfortable. The website at https://teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out  gives helpful information about typical emigrant voyages to New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Note also that three adult women and two children died on this voyage.

Re the voyage out see also blog on William McLeod Part B 27 September 2017 To New Zealand.

Wellington 13 September 1859

Esther, Farquhar and Jane disembarked at Wellington. They would have had a warm welcome from family on arrival. Their mother’s brother Alexander (Sandy) Sutherland and his wife Elizabeth were established in Wellington and may have given some sponsorship to this group as they had done for William and James McLeod.

View of Thorndon and Wellington Harbour, Wellington. Ref: 1/1-000532-G. 

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. 1860s

From Mulgrave Street, Wellington.Photographs of James Coutts Crawford and family.
Ref: PA1-f-019-15-5. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. 1860s

Wrigglesworth, James Dacie (Wellington) 1836-1906: Wellington Harbour. 

Ref: PA2-1976. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand Date: 1860s

Pahaua

Esther went Pahaua as housekeeper for her brother James. 

Farquhar and Jane probably stayed in Wellington working for their uncle for a year or so, as their first son Donald was born in Wellington in 1860.

  

Rakaia very similar to Matoaka

Arrival of The Matoaka

New Zealand Spectator & Cook’s Straight Guardian

The clipper ship Matoaka, Captain Stevens, from London, arrived on Tuesday morning last, after a very good passage of 92 days. She left Gravesend on 14^th June, [1859] and Landsend on 19^th, and has experienced very boisterous and unfavourable weather, or the passage would have been made in much shorter time. She brings 2 cabin and 81 intermediate and steerage passengers for Wellington, and 7 cabin and 209 intermediate and steerage passengers for Auckland, where she proceeds immediately after discharging her passengers for this place, the whole of her cargo being for Auckland. Two births and five deaths occurred during the voyage, the deaths being three women and two infants. The passengers have arrived in good health, and they speak very highly of the courtesy and attention of the Captain. Captain Stevens reports having spoken to the ship Alpine, from Glasgow bound to Otago, in lat 480 5’ South, and long 1600 50’ East, out 91 days. The ship Hastings left for Wellington the day before the Matoaka. The Matoaka is a fine large clipper ship of 1092 tons, and is fitted out with every convenience for passengers, having fine lofty between desks, end enclosed cabins the whole length of the vessel.

 http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ourstuff/genealogy/ArrivalMatoaka1859%20-%20Wellington.htm

Arrival of The Matoaka

The New Zealander

The Flagstaff presented an unusually gay appearance on Saturday when three large ships were signalled almost simultaneously. The first to come into harbour was the Matoaka. She sailed from the Downs on 15th June and landed her pilot at Cowes on 17^th, from the Wight, down Channel, had light westerly winds, caught a light NE tarde, passed inside of the Caneries and outside of the Cape de Verds to which she carried the trade. Crossed the equator on 17 July, having been then 30 days out. Got a strong SE trade. Passed the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope on 9 August, ran down her easting experiencing strong weather with a heavy sea, the wind veering and hauling from NNW to SSW. Passed to the southward of Tasmania, without sighting it, making the Snares on 10^th and arriving at Wellington on the morning of the 13th [September,1859] being 90 days from the Downs. …She is a fine roomy ship and has come into harbour in clean and orderly condition. She was built at St John’s, New Brunswick, measures 221 feet from tafrail to figurehead, is 38 feet beam overall, 23 feet deep, of hold, and is of about 1100 tons register. She brings 170 passengers for this place and was healthy and comfortable during the passage. Five deaths, three of grown-up females and two children occurred. There were also three births.

NEW ZEALANDER, VOLUME XV, ISSUE 1403, 28 SEPTEMBER 1859

Unidentified tall ship near Cape Horn

The clipper route from England to Australia and New Zealand, returning via Cape Horn, offered captains the fastest circumnavigation of the world, and hence potentially the greatest rewards: many grain, wool and gold clippers sailed this route, returning home with valuable cargoes in a relatively short time. However, this route, passing south of the three great capes and running for much of its length through the Southern Ocean, also carried the greatest risks, exposing ships to the hazards of fierce winds, huge waves, and icebergs. This combination of the fastest ships, the highest risks and the greatest rewards combined to give this route a particular aura of romance and drama.

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Clipper_route

The Clipper Route

To be continued.