Shootout

Pascoe and Dalziel... But not as we know it

Yes I know this has nothing to do with the South Seas, but I guess you could argue inclusion for the massive to-ing and fro-ing of miners between South Africa, Australia, New Zealand the US and Canada during the 19th century and allow this rather tenuous link. It's another Pascoe story and I'm burning through them to get them out of the way.

This is one of the crazier stories, and I particularly like the headline: shades of the word play of modern headlines! And how about that cartoon vision of the girl in tights blasting away with two pistols willy nilly?

The two photos here, of the interior and exterior of the original Victor hotel (built 1894 and destroyed by fire 1899), were taken in 1895. They are part of the Denver Public Library collection. I wonder if Tom Pascoe is among the group of reprobates in the photo? He also appears in the Colorado State Penitentiary Index, though it looks like you have to physically be there to get any more information on him. The article is from the Grey River Argus 26 February 1896.

Never on a Sabbath

I don't think there are many people around these days who would turn down a visit from a member of the royal family just because the date fell on a Sunday. Source: Grey River Argus. 17 May 1873.

OK this one I'm pretty sure is no relation, though it's a nice little vignette nonetheless (and I kept the Saratoga Belle and her old man paragraph because it's weird: that's all there is of that story).

Spelling during the nineteenth century was to a large degree left to the writer. The John Pascoe here is actually John Pasco, famous for his signal during the battle of Trafalgar. He was seriously wounded during the battle and spent most of the time laying next to Nelson as they bled out together. He had many children, and most of them I believe ended up staying in Australia, where descendents still live, spelling their name as he did: "Pasco". I wonder if the telescope is still in their possession?
There's a story that the different spellings in the name are associated with religious and/or political beliefs, but I don't know what they may be: perhaps Catholic/Methodist or Royalist/Parliamentarian. There are plenty of both spellings in the graveyard of the famous Anglican Church in Roseland.

Mr Pasco (that's him at right of the picture with his head in the signals book) was a bit short of readies and had a big family, so when he was made Commodore of the trip to deliver New South Wales' new governor (Lachlan Macquarie - Bligh's replacement) to Port Jackson, he took a lot of privateering detours, chasing strange ships to earn himself some extra cash. This annoyed the governor's wife Elizabeth who wrote about it in her diary at the time. I rather like her diaries, she has no particular axe to grind (as opposed to a politian, trader, or missionary) so her observations seem rather clear and she writes in an entertaining manner. She appears to have a sense of humour too when describing other people, and though her social class does show, she does her best to avoid snobbery.

From Elizabeth Macquarie's journal of the voyage to Australia. 1809:

On John Pasco:
Sunday 4th June, ... We have been much detain'd on our voyage by the desire in the Commodore to make Prizes; we go off our course in pursuit of every Sail we See, by which we have lost many a fair breeze, and encounter'd many a foul one – we have however, once succeeded in taking a Prize – an American Ship which had been taken some days before by a French Privateer, by which I am happy to find that Captn.. Pascoe will derive a considerable sum of money.

Wedy.. 18th.. Octr.. the wind having come round to the northward & westward in the course of yesterday, we were this day at noon in East Longd
.. 17d. 40s_; and going almost due East at 6 miles an hour, we must have doubled the Cape between 8 & 9 o'clock this night. [T]his chase was a trial of patience to us, & Captain Pascoe also, we felt ourselves detain'd at a most critical part of the voyage for the sole purpose of his emolument, and he poor Man, made himself sure that the Strange Sail was French, that she would turn out a Rich Prize, and make his fortune; his disappointment was very great when we lost sight of her; our superior sailing was in many respects a great comfort to us, but if there had been any fighting, we should have had all the blows and none of the profit; this is comparatively.

On Mrs Pasco during the stopover in Cape town:
... to my great joy we had a quiet party at dinner, not so with Mr.. & Mrs.. Pascoe who I fancy must have exchanged the canter of their horse into a gallop to enable them to reach the Town in time to dine with the Governor; Mrs.. P being desirous of enjoying as much of his Lordship[']s company as she could, declined playing cards, but sat down most boldly to attack him at Chess; to his great consternation he soon found that his willing antagonist hardly knew the moves, he did all he could to lose the game, but that he found quite impossible; on which the Lady wish'd to renew the attack, but his Lordship had quite enough of it, & beg'd leave to resign his place to some other person. – Lord Calledon sent home his Carriage with Mrs.. Alexander & the other Ladies; by this time poor Mrs.. Pascoe herself so much gratified what with the morning drive, dining at a Lords house; playing chess with the great Man, & being sent home in his grand Coach with a coronet, that she fairly burst out in an exclamation of joy, clapping her hands & dancing with her feet, I vow! I vow! this has been the happiest – & the best day of my life. –this is all very vulgar no doubt, but who can avoid being pleased at this natural conduct, call'd forth by sensations of gratitude, & satisfaction.

Shades of Austen's Mrs Bennett there!

Yellow Peril

I think this image is from: W. Fearn-Wannan, Australian Folklore: A Dictionary of Lore, Legends and Popular Allusions. 1970. Please put me right if my attribution is incorrect


Here's another story involving a Pascoe. It appears this one was one of the directors at Lothair mine in Clunes, Victoria, and rather a belligerent one at that, according to how it was reported in the Grey River Argus 20 December 1873* (a proudly left wing paper).


The articles below give a good account of the story, where thousands of mine workers (mostly Cornishmen) and their families violently demonstrated against the introduction of Chinese labour.


Since the strike at the Eureka stockade in 1854 just down the road, miners were a raucous crowd and kick-started the Labour movement in Australia (In Australia, thanks rumouredly to a signwriter making a mistake, the political party is named "Labor"; but it is a "Labour" movement. I'm inclined to think it was merely that Americans were a big part of the movement at the time). These incidents also helped build the Australian culture of hating the police ("traps" in those days), as by keeping the peace, they were seen as always working for the bosses.


*In case you're wondering: I'm getting all these Australian stories from foreign sources because there are no database with good Australian newspaper content as yet. The National Library of Australia is working on one though.

By the skin of his teeth (literally)

This chromolithograph image shows a small ketch safely inside the Grey River ca. 1869, in the process of either hoisting or dropping the mizzen sail. Source: Cooper, William Marshall 1833-1921 :Greymouth. [Hokitika, Harnett & Co., 1869?]. Taken from the Timeframes website.

The newspaper Grey River Argus was loaded on to Papers Past this month so I did a little search through for anything mentioning Pascoes, as they had rather a presence on the West coast of the South Island of new Zealand. I found some great stories from New Zealand and Australia (as well as a crazy one in a mining camp in Colorado) so will post them up over the next couple of weeks.

I'm no genealogist so have no idea how closely related I may be to any of these people, but I'll be posting these stories occasionally as they give a good cross-section of life in the South Seas during the 19th century. There were sailors (all over), miners (all over), brewers (Wellington), butchers (Greymouth), churchmen (all over), teachers (NZ), oyster bar owners (Nelson), brawlers and killers (all over). Like most early settlers, they were mostly a combination of these things. Few of the stories are happy ones, but that's newspapers for you.

First up is the story of the loss of the small ketch "Constant" on the sand bar at the mouth of the Grey River in 1870. It was a jack of all trades vessel, small at 13 tons; making deliveries, fishing, anything that would earn a few bob for the owner up and down the coast.

Now in all families there are physical and mental traits that keep popping up. A reasonably regular one in ours is a good set of slightly large, even teeth. This article made me laugh as they played an important part in the rescue of "Captain" John Pascoe here. There is mention of a "Schooner W. S. Munday, Pascoe, master" from Wanganui in the arrivals section of this paper dated 25 April 1871. It's likely to be the same man, but doesn't mention if he is the owner or not.

The inquiry was quickly done: the next day in fact. It follows below.

(Added 30 April 2009: I was just asked by a woman at work if I am related to the Pascoes of Nelson, as I look a lot like them)

Inquiry:

The Cornish Diaspora

Going to California, New Zealand, Australia, Canada...

I came across this today and the juxtaposition set me thinking. According to the family. the Pascoes I am descended from were Cornish tin miners by profession (however all the Pascoes in St Just of the 1850s and 60s were listed in the census returns as agricultural labourers, grocers, masons, fishermen, or boatmen). They left St Just in Roseland (Not the St Just of the article - that's in Penwith) for either NZ or Australia in around the 1860s. I don't know for sure because I keep hearing vaguely different stories. Anyway, apparently there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing across the ditch in the early days.

There are still a lot of Pascoes on the West coast of the South Island in New Zealand, and at least some of them did very well in the goldfields. Not my mob though, who around the turn of the 20th century left the Victorian goldfields for a selection in Roma, in the Darling Downs of Queensland. Got there by bicycle, would you believe (though they may not have been Pascoes but a different family branch). Whenever I read or listen to and laugh at Dad and Dave, I think about them.

Actually come to think of it, I remember my dad telling me once that they also earned a living digging bore wells. You can take the man out of Cornwall, but it seems you can't stop him from digging holes.

Anyway, during the 1860s, when things were apparently really bad, the life expectancy of a Cornish miner dropped to about 30 years. That's not working life - that's cradle to grave. After hearing about the disaster in Boscawen and about NZ where you could just pick gold up off the ground without having to dig a hole for it, I don't blame them for saying "Pack up the pasties my lover - we're off".

Even though Roseland is very pretty and now and a tourist haven barely populated, in the 19th Century the men spent most of the time underground and the women working the smallholdings. When they weren't doing that they were fishing or ferrying their wares to Falmouth. Not an easy life by a long way. That's why they all lit out I guess. Add to this that the loss of land access due to the enclosures, and the disaster of the last public house on the peninsular closing its doors in the 1860s, and well, it's a bit of a no-brainer!

Mind you, Britanny is real close so maybe the drink came from there on the quiet.

The clipping for this post comes from Leeds, I looked for a Cornish one, but the Cornish papers aren't on the database in numbers yet - it's still a work in progress. One day I'll take all my questions to Colindale and look it all up in hard copy.

Source: the Leeds Mercury. 21 April 1863

2/4th and The Battle of Cairns

Pop

Yesterday was ANZAC Day so forgive me briefly for jumping to the 20th century. I'm posting this a day late as I had no time yesterday, lunch being spent down at the memorial, and I don't have a computer at home. I left a ciggie for Pop, and had one myself. I didn't leave a poppy because he wasn't much of a "joiner" (runs in the family), and not much of one for organised authority. I reckon he'd take a dim view of the lot of it, especially the lauding of the heroism and the concept of the innate "rightness" of the allied soldier during war (see for example this little slice of life on Timor provided by one of the men who served in his company) .

However for me it's a time to put aside a day and remember the bloke who taught me to tie my shoelaces (one of the most enduring and useful life skills I have).

Pop was a signaller with the 4th Australian Independent Company, later renamed 2/4th Commando Squadron, and fought in Timor, New Guinea and Borneo against the Japanese (and maybe in Australia too, against the Americans). Here are a few exerpts from a history of the Company's activities in the war. (Lambert, George Arthur. "Commando: From Tidal River to Tarakan 1941-1945". Australian Military History Publications. 1997).

I love this story about Pop. The stories where he is involved reveal his subversive sense of humour and the importance of looking out for your mates. This took place shortly before the battle of Tarakan.

Battle of Cairns

The Battles of Brisbane in Australia and of Manners Street in New Zealand are well-known. I don't know why, but they tickle me. This is probably because I'm such a useless brawler myself, and am invariably among the first to get knocked out of it on the few occasions I've been in a stoush. I wish I was more like my mate Dave Rees, who just never seems to go down until three or four guys have had a go at him. If I was, maybe he'd still have all his real teeth!

These "battles" are usually put down to GIs taking out all the local women with their better pay, the general overbearing attitudes of the MPs, and that the US staff giving all the credit to the GIs (not that they don't deserve it - but a spare a thought for the Aussies wouldn't go astray). Anyway, here is a description of the lesser-known "Battle of Cairns":

Lae

Of course it wasn't all fun and games, as can be seen in one account of the landing at Lae, in New Guinea. As you can see, when it came down to the real business, Yanks and Aussies could look out for each other: