STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 629, 25 July 1882, Page 2

STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

No. 25.— :, Billy Simpson." .. Probably the oldest Jiving white resident on the Peninsula now lies ill of dyftenfejy at our Ak.iroa Hospital. Be is very ill at present, and his mind wanders a little about the present, but talk to hiitt about the past, and his intellect appears to - clear at once, and event after event of hie earlier days is placed consecutively before bis vis'iorß. Be has been a fine-looking , man. Toe feau)res are marked, dete. , - _ mined, and regular, and his high, broad forehead sliowh that bin brains were of no mean ordei , . Tliere is a deep scar on the >i£(it biow, on which hangs a tale, of which more hereafter. Age and hardship have made him a mere skeleton, but there is htill great vitaliiy apparent in his blight eyes, which kindle when he ie when he is spoken to of old limes. He has been, as most of ihe readers of the Matl know, residing at Mr McPliail's, at Island Bay, but recently this attack of illness rendered it necessary to b»ing him to Akaroa for medical aid. Simpson is an old sailor, who was born in Berkshire just seventy years ago, according to his own account, though many fancy that he is much older. He was early apprenticed tp the owner 0* some vessels running in the West India Lade, and he spent his time in the ordinary manner. When he had completed his time, he shipped for Sydney in a large ship which was called the Mary Ann. This vessel was built for troops, and took out the 28th Regiment to NewSouth Wales. Her commander, Captain Smith, is described by Simpson as a perfect brute, and dire were the quarrels that took place between him and the men. This gentleman was. familiarly known as " Pirate Smith," and Simpson warmly asserts that he had as good a right to Qs> the death's bend and cross bones flag aa Captain Kidd ever had. Arrived in Sydney, the ciew struck and went ashore, refusing to go aboard the Mar) Ann firelight up before the magistrates, the option wne given them of sailing in the vessel or forfeiting their wnges and - clot'ies. They all preferred the latter alternative., and stopped in vhc Colony. It wns at a time when whaling was tho principal occupation of sailors in these seat-;, and in Sydney he soon fell in with " Captain Heinpleinan, who, finding him % good hand i<l 11 whal«r>oat, engage-1 him to go Willi him for 11 trip in the biig Bee, as b' at steerer, wiih 0110 and a hi»lf shares. Thin was in the'bejjinmng. of 1835, 47' years ago, s<> Simpson must have been" flbouV 2;J years of age at the time. Captain Hem pieman hid been in command of several big ships before thi* time, ttiotisrh quite a young man. but had left n large vessel, an EngJisli whaler, named the James Calvert. at the Smidwuh Islands, owing to some dispute, and therefore had, much agairint his will, to accept the command of the brig Bee, s small nnd incon- A venient vensel compared to those he was adlustoiued to. Long and Wright were thalamus of thw owners of the Bee, and they fitted her out for a cruise to New Zealand, where whiles wore then reported - as specially plentiful. One reason that Capt. Hemp'eman accepted the command of the Be« was, that he was permitted to take Mrs Heinpleman aboard. They wonld not allow her to bo aboard the larger vessels, and he did not like, leaving her ashore, so he took a short trip as mate in the ship Norwood of Sydney, and then took command of tho I?ee. and amongst other hands shipped Bill Simpson, the hero of this memoir. Mrs Hempleman, the fiist, who afterwords died at Peraki, was an English girl, who had come out as Am immigrant to Sydney. The voyage of the Bee to New Zealand, and what success they met with wj>s duly recorded in these columns on the 9th of last June, and Simpson pays the account is a most correct one. The place where the whal- "* ing was nairierl on, the name of which \e not mentioned in the log, was Peraki, but Simpson is very indignant about it being said that they cut poles for the houses in * Pigeon Bay, for he vows they never went there. On mature reflection, however, he says he remembers that Port Levy was then called Pigeon Bay, and that it was there the poles were cut. The trip of the Bee was a very successful one, and Heinpleman was so pleased with Peraki that he determined to return to it it possible. On hia arrival in Sydney he was still more anxioue to do this, from the fact that Messrs Long fnd Wright raised the old objection to his carrying his wife aboard the vessej. He therefor© persuaded a Sydney firm named Clayton and Duke to let him establish a whaling - station on shore at Peraki. He was to be visited at intervals by vessels who would bring provisions, and take the oil away that had been collected. It was just ¥ Christmas time in the year 1836 when the Bchooner Hannah set sail for Sydney with the first white men who had ever attempted to form a settlement on the then savage, and mountainous track of country known as Banks Peninsula. ( To he continued.)