NEW ZEALAND at last! The Charlotte Jane, 95 days out from England, 5 days short of Canterbury. James Edward FitzGerald describes his image: ‘Stewart’s Island (sic). The Saddle hill in the centre. From the South West. Sketched at sunset from the deck of the Charlotte Jane December 11, 1850. This is the first view of New Zealand.’
The descriptive ‘double-act’, the two Irishmen, Edward Ward and FitzGerald, strangers when boarding the ship, by now close friends: here is another example of their ‘collective’ record of the journey.
Ward enters the moment in his journal. ‘About half past four the Captain put up his glass and looked out anxiously into what he called ‘the loom of the land’. The expression was soon in everyone’s mouth and looms of the land were soon seen in all directions. At length, at five o’clock, I was looking out more forward than anyone else, and as the vessel canted a little to one side, I called out to the Captain that there was land, right beyond the bowsprit. He put up his glass and pronounced it to be so at once….Excitement was now in everyone’s face and gesture. The forecastle was soon crowded with passengers, vying and jostling for a peep.’
Earlier, Ward had bet Alexander Lawrence, the captain of the Charlotte Jane, a bottle of wine that they would see land before midnight. Gleefully he concluded his journal entry: ‘About ten minutes before seeing land, the Captain asked me if I would double the bet, to which I agreed at once, and so gained!’
Stewart Island by James Edward FitzGerald 1850
Article courtesy of Haydn Rawstron - John Robert Godley Memorial Trust