‘Oh Matron’: A right old Carry On aboard the Cardigan Castle, Christmas, 1876.

What do you get if you mix a drunk Matron, a dummy sailor, and a foghorn? No this isn’t another awful Christmas cracker joke, but it is the wonderful combination of elements that make up Sarah Stephens’ very humorous account of Christmas Day aboard the Cardigan Castle emigrant ship. Found within the Migration To New Worlds Collection, Stephens’ account of her voyage to New Zealand in 1876 not only highlights the dangers and difficulties endured by emigrants aboard ship, but gives a unique account of Christmas Day that is both compelling and full of festive fun.

Travelling to Lyttelton in the South Island of New Zealand, Sarah Stephens was one of the three hundred and twenty emigrants put aboard the Cardigan Castle in Gravesend, England in 1876 under schemes put in place by the New Zealand Shipping Company. As much of the material from the Migration to New Worlds Collection reveals, conditions endured by emigrants undertaking such arduous journeys were rarely a cheerful affair, as passengers were afforded limited space, rations and medical care. Passage aboard the 1,190 ton passenger ship, the Cardigan Castle, was certainly no different. Records detail severe illness having spread to such an extent amongst emigrants aboard the Cardigan Castle, that upon arrival on the 6^th of January, 1877 the ship was brought directly to the quarantine station where no fewer than thirteen deaths were documented.

However, Stephens’ wonderfully detailed descriptions of her voyage also demonstrate that fun could still be had aboard ship, with her account of Christmas Day providing perhaps the most comical example of this.

Voyage Diary of Sarah Stephens of Montgomery Sailing on the Cardigan Castle from Gravesend, England to Lyttleton, New Zealand, 1876-1877, © National Museums Liverpool: Maritime Archives & Library. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To see this document in the collection, click the images in the blog.

The morning of December 25^th, 1876 arrived loud and clear aboard the Cardigan Castle, with all passengers "awakened early by someone blowing the foghorn down the ventilator and letting down a dummy dressed as a sailor which occasioned much amusement". Montgomery proceeds to make detailed observations of the day as it unfolds, painting a right old Christmas carry on that Kenneth Williams would be proud of. After gifts of bottles “of sherry and biscuits” were exchanged, Stephens writes that the “Captain had rum punch made for all the passengers and sailors”, which leads to all sorts of raucous behaviour. The rum proves too potent for the poor Matron, reducing her to “go to her bunk” after she “got rather too merry”, where the sailors eventually “found her out and are all making fun of her”. Thus, Stephens ends her entry, presumably retiring to rest a rather sore head herself.

Diary of a Voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand Aboard Ship General Roberts, 1884-1885, © National Museums Liverpool: Maritime Archives & Library. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To see this document in the collection, click the images in the blog.

Many other accounts from the collection also suggest that Christmas Day provided emigrants with a cheerful distraction from the dangers and dismal conditions they faced aboard ship. The earlier account of S.L. Smethurst’s Christmas Day aboard the General Roberts bound for New Zealand in 1884-1885 provides a strikingly similar sense of optimism and joy as Stephens. Although tempestuous seas forced passengers to "tie coffee cups to the table", and pouring rain found its way into “our cabin, wetting two bunks and causing us other slight inconveniences too numerous to mention”, Smethurst states that “We have done our best to be merry but the elements have done their best to prevent us”. His animated account of joining fellow passengers singing "Christians awake, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing and some other good hymns" before tucking in to "a first rate plum pudding with brandy sauce" again conveys a compelling sense of Christmas cheer.

As well as providing an intriguing insight into the experiences of emigrants of this period, these diaries remind us to not only be thankful for all that we have this Christmas, but to have fun and remain cheerful…even if a few of us do get rather “too merry” like Stephens’ wonderful matron.

The second part of Migration To New Worlds will be available in summer 2017. For more information, including trial access and price enquiries, please contact info@amdigital.co.uk

All of the documents used in this blog will be available to access for 30 days.