Stan Phelan's Sailing Adventure

When Dad was aged just 7 months, his own father Stanley would join a group of 'business men' (presumably friends) on a sailing adventure from Melbourne to Sydney. They sailed on the motor launch 'Bona', owned and captained by M Franklin, founder of the Motor Finance Company. Franklin had retired and was making the move to Sydney to take advantage of the greater sailing opportunities there.

Leaving Melbourne on Christmas Day, the Bona was forced to remain inside Port Phillip Bay for several days on account of weather, and when finally leaving the heads on Thursday 30 December they only made it as far as Western Port. The next day they intended to sail as far as Wilsons Promontory but with favourable conditions decided to continue on, sailing through New Year's Eve all the way to Eden off the southern NSW coast, a total of 300 miles and 37 hours at sea.

The party were however in no hurry to get to their destination, and spent Sunday 2 January fishing and relaxing in Eden. Monday saw the crew sail from Eden to Batemans Bay but not without drama: at 2.30 in the afternoon when the Bona was off Baragga Point (just south of Bermagui) and under sail, a sudden southerly sprung up and "blew away the jib and mainsail, breaking the foremast" (Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 6 Jan 1927, p9). Once the wreckage was stowed away, the cruiser was able to continue on without problem.

On Tuesday the Bona travelled from Batemans Bay to Shoalhaven Heads (near Nowra), and making an early start (4am) on Wednesday January 5, the crew were able to reach the heads of Sydney Harbour by early afternoon. From there the Bona made a leisurely sail into the harbour, stopping at locations such as Vaucluse and Rose Bay, before travelling under the partially-built Sydney Harbour Bridge and finally mooring at 2.30pm at McMahons Point.

Comments

The Wreck of the Nashwauk

Back in October, I wrote about my Italian ancestor Antony Gasperino 'jumping ship' from the General Hewitt at Portland, Victoria in 1856. A little over a year before Gasperino's unconventional arrival, his future wife Hannah Hourigan (sometimes known as Hannah Hogan) had her own eventful introduction to Australia. Hannah was born about 1837 in Cork, Ireland; her father Matthew was a blacksmith but we do not know the name of her mother. Possibly Hannah was orphaned at a young age and with Ireland reeling from the devastation of the potato famine, was one of many single girls enticed to improve her lot by emigrating to Australia. And so on 14 February 1855 at Liverpool, 18-year old Hannah was one of 130 single Irish servant girls boarding the Nashwauk : an 18-month old, three-masted wooden-rigged sailing ship carrying 300 emigrants bound for South Australia.* Captained by Archibald McIntyre, the Nashwauk had an uneventful 89-day voyage to reach Gulf St Vincent. Having...

General Hewitt and the Man from Elba

I have always enjoyed saying I'm 1/16th Italian. I've often been asked if I have a European background, so it's fun to be able to provide that answer. Though so far, my DNA test is showing no evidence of this background! Nevertheless, it is true, my family does have one Italian ancestor. He was my 2x great-grandfather and his name was Antony Gasperino. His arrival in this country dates back to the 1850s, in quite unusual circumstances, on a ship named the General Hewitt . But before we even make our way on board that ship, what little we know of Antony's early life deserves a mention. Antony (presumably Antonio in his native land) Gasperino was born on the island of Elba in 1836. From his marriage certificate we know that his father was Lawrence (Lorenzo) Gasperino but his mother's name is not recorded. On his death certificate her name is listed as 'not known'. It's strange that even the informant at the time of his death (his son Joseph) would not kno...

A Sacrifice, By Any Name

Prologue Before launching into today's story, I thought I might give an update on how my research is going. I started this blog back in 2019 as a way of communicating some of the more interesting stories about past family members, as I embarked on a 'redo' of all my original research. Having completed my Family History Diploma the year before, I'd learnt the importance of verifying information, and my family tree had plenty of information with no proven sources. Across the last four years I have completed the 'redo' of seven lines of the family: Phelan, Gasperino, Cowan and Davenport on Dad's side, and Atkin, Collins and Kenny on Mum's. I have also done a lot of work on the remaining maternal line, Lawless. But this line's Australian history goes back an extra generation, and has not just one but five brothers who emigrated here, so it represents by far the largest chunk of work to get through. As of now, I estimate that I've completed about 85%...

Phelan and Atkin Family History

Search This Blog