Ocean Flower

Launched as Ocean Flower; Official No. 26621; Code Letters WSCV.

Owners: 1854 Hodgkinson, Lidgett & Co, London; 1871 DA de Ysasi, Bilbao, Spain-renamed Hermenia; 1874 HH English, Wisbech-name reverted to John Masterman.

Masters: 1854-59 J McRuvie; 1857 Stewart; 1860-66 John Westgarth; 1866-67 William George May (b.1826 Kent C.N. 12241 London 1860); 1868-70 T Atkin; 1871 de Unibeso 1877-79 Gibson.

Miscellaneous: she sailed from Southampton with 245 passengers on 25 March 1860 & arriving at Port Elizabeth 12 June 1860. On their passage they came across a wrecked schooner on 3 April from which the survivors were rescued. On 12 May they had a near miss with a vessel that showed no lights & smelled putrid as it passed by. On 19 May a crew member became violent & had to be confined. On 26 May the crew mutinied and refused to shorten sail. Apprentices assisted by male immigrants succeeded in manning sails, standing watches and running the ship until 31 May when all but four of the crew returned to work. The four who were thought to be the ringleaderswere imprisoned. There were two accidents on the voyage with a child falling from the upper to the lower deck and sustaining slight concussion and a small premature baby was overlaid by its mother and found dead in the morning.

After the voyage the Port Elizabeth Herald ofFriday 15 June 1860 printed the following letter from the

emigrants aboard the vessel:

 Algoa Bay-June 14 1860
Captain John Westgarth, Commander of the Ship “John Masterman” Algoa Bay
 Sir-- Being about to leave your ship & land upon a foreign shore, we assemble before you to bid you a sincere & hearty farewell. We thank you most heartily for your kindness to us during the voyage. We assure you we feel grateful & that there is not one present whose heart does not respond to the words we now utter. Your conduct towards us during the voyage has been both generous & just & even when placed in the most trying circumstances & attending to the higher duties of your office, we have ever found you anxious to secure our comfort. Your noble exertions in the British Channel in rescuing the crew from the wreck of a French schooner & delivering them from a watery grave at the risk of losing half your own crew, & at a time when you were yourself in a critical position, command our highest admiration & call forth those feelings of pride which British hearts alone possess in the brave & generous actions of their commanders. And with regard to ourselves, your sleepless nights, your constant exposure of yourself in all weather, & your unremitted attention to the management of your ship, fully attest the manner in which you have discharged the trust reposed in you. Your voice upon deck in the dead of night has ever been the watchword of safety to the most timid amongst us, and your presence has at all times inspired the most perfect confidence. To the officers under your command our best thanks are due for their general kindness since we came on board. We wish you all a pleasant voyage to Calcutta & assure you that you will be ever most affectionately remembered by the passengers now about to leave the John Masterman.
For & on behalf of the whole of the Emigrants on board – Robert McWilliams, John Sheffield, Michael Noohan, Peter Bannerman, Tilden Tunbridge, Benjamin Sinnamon, James Stuart.’

The following is the reply of the Captain:

‘On Board the John Masterman Algoa Bay, 14 June, 1860
To Messrs R. McWilliams, J Sheffield, M Noohan, P Bannerman, T Tunbridge, B Sinnamon, J Stuart
Gentlemen-- With much pleasure I acknowledge the very kind letter you have  presented to me on behalf of the emigrants by my ship, expressive of your own &  fellow passengers’ good feelings towards myself. In reply I have to thank you for your appreciation of my own & officers’ conduct during our voyage to this port. The safety, comfort and welfare of those entrusted to my care as passengers have hitherto been, & I trust shall continue to be, my constant aim.
Relative to the duty which fell to my lot to discharge in the early part of our voyage viz. the rescue of the crew of the distressed French ship in the English Channel our common humanity demanded the utmost exertion; and no greater satisfaction could have been afforded me than the success with which, in the instance alluded to, my anxiety & efforts to save life were attended.
Wishing you all every prosperity and happiness in this land of your adoption, or wherever succeeding years may have you. I beg to subscribe myself,
Yours truly, John Westgarth, Commander, Ship John Masterman.’

‘Since the foregoing was handed to us for insertion, we learn that Captain Westgarth has been presented with a very handsome Silver Cup by his passengers as a token of their esteem.’

Voyages: 1854 London for the Mediterranean; 8 February 1856 arrived Nelson, New Zealand with 104 passengers. The passage took 104 days from London; 27 March 1857 arrived Dunedin, New Zealand from London with passengers Mr & Mrs T Reynolds & family, Mr & Mrs Every & family, Messrs Burnside, Schlolett, Munro & Miss Wallis; sailed from London arrived Sydney on 2 August 1861; sailed from Mauritius arrived Sydney 10 April 1866; sailed from Manilla arrived Sydney 30 January 1867; April 1867 from London for Calcutta; 3 August 1869 from London for Madras.

Bound from Pensacola for Wisbech with a cargo of wood & a crew of 14 the John Masterman was stranded & lost at Leman Bank, Cromer in 53.05.30N/02E on 2 March 1881.