Captain Jack Isbester

Hard down! Hard down!


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voyages lasted from three to four and a half months, including a month or so in the destination port, and were separated by no more than a few days of leave – insufficient time for a return to Shetland. That is not surprising. When I was 20, life at sea was fascinating – there were skills to learn, sights to see and adventures to be had – and time away from home was no hardship. John Isbester did not even have parents to whom to return.

      He next joined the barque Beulah, 746 tons nett, for what was to prove a very different voyage. In the space of 20 months she went from Liverpool to Sydney in Cape Breton Island, thence to Darien in Georgia, USA, next to Pensacola in Florida, and from there to Buenos Aires in Argentina. Following a month or so in Buenos Aires, Beulah rounded Cape Horn carrying John Isbester into the Pacific for the first time and working her way north to Portland in Oregon, USA, close to the Canadian border. Her cargo was probably discharged in Portland, and she then moved to Albany, still in Oregon, to load wheat for Europe. As was very common she proceeded via Cape Horn to Queenstown, Ireland, for orders, from where she went immediately to Liverpool to discharge, the passage from Albany having taken four months.

      John Isbester paid off on 8 April 1875, at the right time of year for a bit of a holiday and probably with a few pounds in his pocket. He took more than five months’ leave at that time and it is likely that he returned to Shetland for some or all of that summer. While there, staying at Haggersta or visiting his aunt and uncle, he may have learnt that his absent father was in Sydney, Australia.

      During the five weeks that North Riding remained in Sydney there would have been plenty of time for the Shetland network – the informal contacts between people of Shetland origin throughout the world – to bring news of family and friends both near and far. Meeting other Shetland folk in far parts of the world was not at all unusual, but was certainly a matter of interest. A number of encounters of this sort are described in my grandfather’s correspondence from his later years. It is tantalising to reflect that we will never know what passed between my goldmining great-grandfather in his fifties and his 25-year-old son, an able seaman with his future before him when they met for the first time. Did my great-grandfather leave Shetland unaware that he was to become a father and only learn the truth years later? Did he intend to return? And if so, was he prevented by some difficulty, or did he decide that Sarah Anderson was not the woman for him?

      After doing ample justice to the good things provided the toast of The King was duly honoured. [Officers were elected] and the health of Mr Russell the newly-elected president was drunk. The chairman proposed the toast of West Coast and West Coasters and was ably responded to by Messrs J. Keating, J. Jackson and J. Kerr, who paid a high tribute to the pioneer work done by the early arrivals on the Coast. The toast of Departed West Coasters was drunk in silence.

      Mr E. Sheedy proposed the toast of Old Sports and held that the West Coast had turned out some excellent athletes. The toast was ably responded to by Messrs D. McKay, J. Evans, L. Broad and C. North. Mr Ashton proposed the toast of Commercial and Professional Interests and [it was] responded to by Messrs Joyce, Kerr and Cunliffe.

      Mr Joyce proposed the toast of the Pioneers of the West Coast, those who made our roads and developed our district. Messrs Splaine, Hinkley and Isbester responded.

      Several other appropriate toasts were proposed and responded to and an excellent musical programme rendered. The singing of Auld Lang Syne brought a most successful re-union to a close.

      By then my great-grandfather was a man of 84. It sounds like a good party!