In 1888, two men from Calcutta (now Kolkata) set off for Demerara in British Guiana (now Guyana) but ended up in a freezing Leith sailors’ mission. If ever you think you’ve had the journey from Hell, these guys probably have you beat.
Unfortunately, we don’t know the names of the two men involved here, but unsurprisingly we do know the names of all the (white) people who helped them.
In May 1888, two Bengali men– “a trader and his servant”– boarded a ship in Calcutta bound for Liverpool, where the were to take a transatlantic steamer to Demerara. The trader had family in the West Indies and was emigrating out there to join them.
Postcard of Calcutta DocksLiverpool Docks
The passage from Calcutta by sail took them three months. By the time they docked in Liverpool, they’d missed the steamer. They had no English and lost their travel papers and nobody would find a Bangla speaker to help. The harbourmaster put them on a train to London…(it’s not clear why).
In London, nobody knew what to do but saw their baggage had an address on it followed by “DM”. Some bright spark decided that DM meant Denmark! and “helped” the pair buy tickets for the “Boat Express”–a train to Harwich and a paddle steamer to Esbjerg (via Rotterdam)
Advertisement for the Boat Express run by The Great Eastern RailwayHarwich to Continent paddle-steamer
The pair arrived in Esbjerg near penniless, were arrested by Danish police, and taken to Copenhagen. Here a “Mrs. Severin” who’d spent time in India and had limited Bangla tried to help. As “subjects of the Empire” she appealed on their behalf to the British Consulate.
Copenhagen as it looked in the 1880s
They refused to help but would return them to Calcutta (and charge them for it). For 3 months, the pair made money by selling the goods brought with them from India and Severin put them on the SS Thorsa bound for Leith. It was now late November…
Advertisement for routes operated by James Currie and Co., owner of the SS ThorsaComing into Leith Docks
The Thorsa arrived (via Kristiansand, Norway) on 26th November 1888, about *6 months* after the pair left Calcutta. They had a letter from Severin to a retired Raj colonel, called Buist. They got rooms at the Sailors Home, Buist was sent for.
Postcard of the Leith Sailors’ Home
As luck would have it, Buist knew Bangla and was able to find a man from Calcutta in Leith. Between them they worked out a plan to get the pair to Demerara. Their luggage was clearly relabeled “DEMERARA” in English and Bangla…
10 days later the two men and the manager of the Sailors Home took the train to Glasgow and met the SS Cipero bound for Demerara. The Cipero, a slow cargo freighter, took 20 days to reach Trinidad before finally arriving in Demerara on January 2nd, 1889.
Postcard of the harbour at Demerara, British Guiana. Image credit: http://www.cumberlandscarrow.com/demerara.htm
For a sense of how comfortable this journey might’ve been, here is a list of everything the Cipero hauled to the West Indies on that trip.
In reality though, it was likely more comfortable for them than for most Indians headed for British Guiana. After the abolition of slavery, plantation owners looked to the Empire for labour to exploit. In 1889 ~90,000 East Indians lived and worked in British Guiana.
Illustration of the conditions during the voyage taken by East Indians to the West Indies to work in the cultivation of sugar
That’s all I could find about the pair while tracing their journey (and most of it was about the people that helped them…). If anyone knows anything else (or where to look) let me know!
References
Dundee Courier. November 28th 1888. pg. 3 Leith Burghs Pilot. -December 1st 1888 pg. 5 -December 8th 1888. pg. 8 Aberdeen Press and Journal. December 7th 1888. pg. 4 Dundee Evening Telegraph. November 28th 1888. pg. 3 Edinburgh Evening News. December 6th 1888. pg. 3 Lloyd’s List. November 27th 1888
Whilst the workmen engaged in repairing the dykes round Calwood, near Coshieville, were so employed last week, one of them accidentally came on an earthen jar in the old dyke, filled with money. This is supposed to be one of those treasures which Donuch Mhor am Phiabhur–“Muckle Duncan the Piper”–a harmless character who used to travel through the Highlands, was known to have deposited in many places. Duncan was in the habit of receiving alms from high and low, and then hiding them, and forgetting where he had put them.
In 1822, James Stuart and Alex Boswell had a pistol duel in Auchtertool. Boswell politely missed on purpose. Stuart had never held a gun and accidentally shot Boswell in the chest, killing him It was over a poem in a newspaper making fun of Stuart.
It was the third-last duel in Scotland, having been illegal since 1819. Alexander was James Boswell’s son. The poem basically said that Stuart, a politician, was a farmer. Stuart got off with it. #Auchterduel
On 28th December 1950, the Australian Airforce flew 585km from Iwakuni, Japan to Suwon-si, South Korea with 180lbs of haggis so the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders could have a “proper Hogmanay” in the first year of the Korean War.
The mission’s codename: “Operation Haggis”
References
RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50) [Operations Record Book – Forms A50 and A51] Number 36 Squadron (Ex 30 Comm Unit) Nov 50 – Jul 66 [6cm]. National Archives of Australia. pg 210.
In Jan 1920, a “monster fungus” appeared on a wall in Fyvie Castle. Workmen removed the fungus and wall and found a woman’s skeleton. After, staff were plagued by noises and “a white ladye”. The castle’s laird had the bones dug up and placed back in the wall.
In 1903 Clementina McDonald was arrested for walking down Edinburgh’s High Street dressed in a Black Watch uniform. She was let out with a warning and told to “stick to petticoats”.
In November 1878, a polar bear brought back by Arctic whalers escaped into the streets of Dundee. After charging up Commercial St, it broke into a clothier’s shop on the High St (it’s now a gift shop).
It was recaptured after it got distracted by a mirror. The tailor and a customer were in the shop at the time and hid behind the counter. Amazingly no-one (including the bear) was injured, except for a dress mannequin in the shop window– it got badly mauled. An ex-sailor who worked for the Theatre Royal made a noose, marched in the shop, and threw it round its neck. Cool as ye like.
The tailor’s shop today is a gift shop (from Google Streetview).
I found this drawing in the Glasgow Mechanics Magazine of 1824 and challenged Twitterfolk to guess its purpose.
Guesses included: haggis-catcher, tattie picker, horse dung collector, strawbaler, and I quote “A musical instrument for the separation of confused pine martens in the wild into groups for strip the willow“.
