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From: Sue Mackay <>
Subject: [ZA] Log of HMS Weymouth
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 18:34:29 +0000


Well our ancestors left British shores in the snow and on Thursday night
London was hit by one of the worst blizzards in years. I had arranged to go
and look at the log of the Weymouth at the PRO on Friday, but due to the
bad weather my train was nearly two hours late and I still had to leave at
3:30 for an appointment. I had taken my son's laptop hoping to make a
transcription, but realised I wasn't going to get it all done, so after the
stop at the Canary Islands I have only included major events and any
reference to 1820 settlers on board.

The log which follows (in parts for ease of loading) is taken from
ADM51/3543 at the PRO. HMS Weymouth was a Royal Navy rather than a Merchant
Navy ship, so the log is with the Admiralty records. When I first started
family history way back in 1988 I visited the PRO mainly to consult Great
Western Railway personnel records, but just had time to look up "the log of
the Weymouth" and scribble a few notes, especially concerning the death of
Sarah HOBBS (I am descended from Philip Hobbs). In my naivety my pencilled
notes from that time contain no document reference number (shoot me!!) but
the notes begin
Jan 1820-22 Nov 1820 Mr. William Cuming, second mate
The death of Sarah Hobbs was noted as 3 February 1820, with the entry for
the 4th February reading
"Killed a bullock weighing 625 lbs. Committed the body of the deceased to
the deep" I remember thinking at the time that it was not clear whether it
was the bullock or Sarah being lowered into the sea!
I have a photocopy of an article written in The Settler (June 1989) by
Gordon Haddon, with excerpts from the log for February, which coincide with
the notes I made in 1988, BUT these notes do not agree with the notes I
made yesterday. I had looked up what I thought was the reference to the log
prior to my visit on the PRO website catalogue and ordered up the document
to await my arrival. It was certainly the log of the Weymouth, written by
the Master, Richard Turner (and what a privilege to be able to leaf through
the actual tome, written in his beautiful handwriting at the exact time my
ancestors were on board) but I can only assume that it was a different log
to the one I looked at before!! This bears investigation. I certainly plan
to make several more visits to the PRO before April, as I have 10 free rail
passes to use up, but I might wait until the weather improves!

The pencilled notes I found from my first visit include notes of deaths on
board with ages (as does the Haddon article) but no ages are mentioned in
the log ADM51/3543. I don't guarantee that I didn't miss a few from the end
of the log in my haste yesterday, but below are the names and dates of
death given in my two sets of notes for comparison (ADM51/3543 on the
right). I promise to go back and sort it all out, if only to convince
myself I have not been going blind!!:

no mention30 Dec Elizth JAMES (buried in Portsmouth)
no mention2 Jan Thos JAMES (buried in Porstmouth)
no mention12 Jan infant son of Saml JAMES (settler)
no mention15 Jan Saml DUGEBY, settler's child
26 Jan Sarah STAMPFORD aged 326 Jan Sarah STAMFORD settler's child
27 Jan Sarah WHITEHEAD27 Jan Sarah WHITEHEAD
2 Feb Elizabeth WEEKS aged 2no mention
3 Feb Sarah HOBBS5 Feb Sarah HOBBS, settler's child (NB different date)
8 Feb Jno COCK aged 28 Feb John COCK settler's child
10 Feb Emma ROGERS aged 10 months10 Feb Emma ROGERS, settler's child
no mention18 Feb Martha GODFREY, settler's child
14 Feb Sarah STAMPFORDno mention
20 Feb Jno CROUCH aged 18 months20 Feb John CROUCH and James FARLEY,
settlers children
Jn FARLY aged 21 months
21 Feb Mary RALFS aged 10 months21 Feb Mary RALPHS, settler's child
24 Feb William MILLS aged 2no mention
25 Feb Eliza HORTON24 Feb Elizabeth STORTON, settler's child
no mention15 Mar Joseph PINNOCK settler's child
17 Mar William FORWARD aged 317 Mar William FORWARD, settler's child
27 Mar Betsy FORWARD aged 2127 Mar SARAH FORWARD, settler's wife
12 Apr infant daughter of Jno HOBBS aged 3 weeks 13 Apr ___ HOBBS,
settler's child
no mention26 Apr Ephraim DICKS, settler (buried in Capetown)
no mention3 May Jane DICKS, female settler
no mention7 May infant son of J.SANDERSON, settler (buried at sea while at
anchor off Capetown)

I realise now that one of the reasons I didn't immediately 'adopt' the
other Hobbs child who died is that the log I originally looked at said it
was a female child of a John Hobbs. As it now appears Philip Hobbs was the
only settler called Hobbs on the ship then presumably Charity was pregnant
and gave birth to a female child who died.

Hope this has been of some use and that you will enjoy the log. I found it
fascinating even although it was the captain's log, more concerned with
sailing matters, because it gives a good picture of the weather and the
food on the voyage.

Sue Mackay
Cardiff UK


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