Grandfather’s Yarus

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 9, 2 June 1894, Page 12

Grandfather’s Yarus

“ OLD JOCK.” « THE BEST SCOTCHMAN I EVER SAW.” THE BOMBAY ROCK. (Contributed). No. W. $ “Well! well! boys, if you must have a yarn, 1 IJ tell you about an old man I was whaling with in Preservation once. “ His name was John Wilson, but he was generally called ‘ Old Jock. He was an elderly man when I first saw him —an Edinburgh man —and the best Scotchman I ever saw. I never saw him to know who he was till one night in ’37, when we were whaling in the New River. It was very dark, and we had gone to bed early. Suddenly I woke up and heard somebody outside stumbling over our whalebone. I woke my mate and told him that I thought someone was stealing our bone, and we were just getting up to see when a knock came at the door of our hut. “ When we opened it, to our surprise in walked Captain LaAvson and John Wilson. Old Jock introduced me to the Captain. I had not met either of them before, but Jock said he knew me well by sight, having often seen me in Hobart. Then I remembered having seen him. He Avas working with some Scotch stonemasons, building a large store, Avhich was afterwards taken over by the Crovernment; “Wilson had been transported when very young. He told me about it once, though it Avas not a subject that he loved to dAvell upon. He was only a boy at the time —in fact little more than a child, and he happened to be in a croAvd of machinery-break-ers ; and they were, every one of them, arrested and sent out. “But to return to the night on which I first saw him. Captain Lawson told me that a boat s creAV of his had run away from the Bluff, and he Avas after a man named McKenzie, whom he heard Avas working in our fishery, and presently in came the second mate Avith poor Jim. “ He was a grand little fellow, Avas Jim, and' the only civil darkey I ever saw. The captain held out his hand and said : “ ‘ What made you run aAvay, McKenzie ?’ “ ‘ Well,’ said Jim, ‘it Avas too much pulling about from daylight till dark in these baj r s on a pound of bread and a pound of salt junk a day, and I couldn’t stand it.’ “‘But you’ll have to come back,’ said the. captain ‘You signed for that amount in London, and it s not my place to break through the agreement, though I Avould, if 1 could.’ They stayed yarning for about half-an-hour Avith us, arid then I put them aboard their vessel, Avhich Avas lying about a mile further down the river. “ Oh! I forgot to tell you the vessel’s name. It was the Bombay, of London, and that year we had our fishery just where the Pilot Station stands now. “ Next day, I think it was, it began to blow, and the Bombay was driven ashore ; and there she stuck for six weeks ; and every time the Avind Avas from the S.W. she got pretty much knocked about. There Avere no rocks there or she Avould have gone to pieces, hut instead she just bumped about on a gravelly bottom. “ One day all the captains came over from the Bluff to see what they could do. They tried to heave her off with two anchors, but the bottom was nothing but shingle, and each time up came the anchors clean and shining. They tried again and again, but always with the same result. “ A man named Adderly, the second mate of the Margaret Wryatt, and I were standing by the fore-rigging of the Bombay, and he said to me, ‘Have you ever been there ?’ pointing to an •ogly-looking rock in mid-stream.

“ I told him I’d never been there. “ ‘ Well,’ said he, ‘ call your Maoris and let’s go and have a look at. So we did, and Avhen we were coming back he said : “ ‘ I could get their ship off for them.’ “ Could you ?” said 1. “ Hoav ? “ ‘ Why, put the chain round that rock and heave her off,’ said Adderly, so I advised him to tell the captain. Now, Adderly was a nice enough man when he Avas sober, but be was a terror to drink, and he said : “ ‘ Oh ! they would never listen to an old drunkard like me when there are so many captains aboard.’ “ When Ave got back to the Bombay I saAv Captain Lawson a little apart from the rest —the quarter-deck Avas full of captains —so I beckoned to him and told him Addei'ly’s plan. He vyent back to the others and told them, but they all cried it down and said it would be impossible, and how could they carry-the chain out there. However, next day Adderly said to me, ‘ Let’s ask Captain Lawson to try Avhat I suggested. There are the Bombay's boats, four boats from the Bluff, and your two.’ “So we took out the ship’s chain, shackled a smaller chain round the rock a good many times, then fastened the two- chains together, and at a signal those on board heaved at the windlass, and off she came flying. That rock has been called the ‘ Bombay Rock ’ ever since, I belieA T e. “ But, dear me ! I meant to tell you about old Jock. That same year he came into the New River on board the Lynx, which came in for our bone and oil. After she Avas loaded up they lay there for a night, and next morning when they Avere unmooring her she got on a sand spit, and Avas wrecked. “ Next season I Avas in Preservation Avith old Jock, and he told me a great deal about his former life, but I’m afraid there’s no time to tell you to-night, so we’ll put it off for another time.