Voyage of the Sunbeam

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SECONDHAND ADVENTURE

THE Voyage of the Sunbeam

Secondhand adventures

Voyage of the Sunbeam

By Roderick Eime

Dad takes his family to sea, while mum emerges an accomplished travel writer and author. Sound familiar?

Roderick Eime discovers a long forgotten family who set out in search of adventure.

To pack up one’s family and head off around the world for an extended holiday is not such a fanciful affair in this day and age. We have modern examples like our homegrown Leyland Brothers, who traipsed off across Australia with kids in tow for years making TV shows. Or the unknown Carlson family of Toronto who just sold up and took a year off to circumnavigate the globe, mainly by air.

But when Thomas Brassey made the decision to set off around the globe with his entourage, it was a much more earnest undertaking. The year was 1876, there were no aircraft and steam propulsion on ships was still a precarious novelty. But such was the resolve of this enthusiastic amateur sailor, determined politician, industrial heir and later Knight, Baron and Governor of Victoria that he stowed his wife of nine years, their five young children, two dogs, three birds and a Persian kitten aboard his 157’ luxury private yacht, *Sunbeam*, for an eleven month odyssey. With crew, the total number of persons aboard was 43.

From the surviving, detailed accounts of the journey, it would appear however that the resourceful Brassey was more than content to leave the journaling to his ever observant and scholarly wife. Anna Allnutt was herself born into good fortune and exposed at an early age to the arts and letters. The well-educated, meticulous woman dutifully compiled dossiers on their many adventures, primarily as entertainment and letters home to family and friends, but such was her gift of words, that her lively tales quickly found their way into newspapers and magazines.

Ultimately, they were bound into a 476 page book entitled ‘Around the World in the Yacht Sunbeam’, published in 1878 to great acclaim and translated into numerous languages. Lady Anna Brassey, despite spending much of her time racked with seasickness, was a hit and became something of celebrity as well as a society wife, philanthropist, in-demand speaker and champion of the poor and underprivileged.

Travelling the world at the height of Victorian England’s power and glory, there is a clear air of entitlement and benign patronage in her tone. It was at a time, after

8 4 ou ter edge

The Sunbeam

Anna Brassey

all, when ‘the ways of England were the ways of the world’ and Britannia safely ruled the waves. Perhaps her erudite observations reinforced England’s worldly view back home and her superior eye served to shore up the Empire’s grandiose self opinion.

One dreary day in Kyoto, Japan, Tuesday 6th February 1877 to be precise, she described the scene thus: “It was a wet cheerless day, and the country did not look its best. Still, the novelty of the scenes around could not fail

to make them interesting. The Japanese have an intense horror of rain, and it was ludicrous to see the peasants walking along with scarcely any clothes on except a pair of high clogs, a large hat, and a paper umbrella.

We crossed several large bridges, stopped at a great many stations, where heaps of native travellers got in and out, and finally reached Kioto (sic) at half-past two o’clock.”

The class delineations were clear. Lady Brassey, although unfailingly polite and an accomplished minor diplomat in her own

right, knew her place and the place of those around and below her.

She candidly observed one day in Buenos Ayres (sic) that “people of the middle and lower classes live much better here than they do at home, and the development of bone and muscle in large families of small children, owing to the constant use of so much meat and strong soup, is very remarkable.”

In Canton, China, however, she was not so impressed with the local culinary offerings.

“Our road next led us through part of the butchers’ quarter, where rats were hung up by their tails, and what looked very like skinned cats and dogs dangled beside them. Whole cages full of these animals were exposed for sale alive. Some travellers deny that the Chinese eat cats and dogs and rats, but there can be no question that they do so, though they may be the food only of the lower classes. Nor do ‘puppy dogs’ appear on the tables of the rich, except on one particular day in the year, when to eat them is supposed to bring good luck.”

I travell’d among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea, Nor, England! Did I know till then What love I bore to thee.

- Anna Brassey

Canton brought out much of Anna’s descriptive flair and exposed her readers to a little bit of nascent bigotry, an invisible, even enviable quality at the time.

“About three o’clock we started in five

chairs, with Man-look-Chin for our guide.

Tom (son, and second Earl Brassey) vigorously protested against not being allowed to use his own legs, but everybody assured him that it was impossible in the crowded streets of the city, so he had to submit to being carried. No Chinaman, except those employed by foreigners, is allowed to cross any of the bridges over the stream, which completely surrounds the foreign settlement, and makes the suburb of Shameen a perfect island. There are iron gates on each bridge, guarded by sentries.

The contrast in the state of things presented by the two sides of the bridge is most marvellous. From the quiet country park, full of large villas and pretty gardens, you emerge into a filthy city, full of a seething, dirty population, and where smells and sights of the most disgusting description meet you at every turn. People who have seen many Chinese cities say that Canton is the cleanest of them all. What the dirtiest must be like is therefore beyond my imagination.”

The journey certainly broadened Lady Brassey’s horizons and the family

www.ou te re dge mag.com.au 85

Secondhand adventures

Voyage of the Sunbeam

By Roderick Eime

Dad takes his family to sea, while mum emerges an accomplished travel writer and author. Sound familiar?

Roderick Eime discovers a long forgotten family who set out in search of adventure.

To pack up one’s family and head off around the world for an extended holiday is not such a fanciful affair in this day and age. We have modern examples like our homegrown Leyland Brothers, who traipsed off across Australia with kids in tow for years making TV shows. Or the unknown Carlson family of Toronto who just sold up and took a year off to circumnavigate the globe, mainly by air.

But when Thomas Brassey made the decision to set off around the globe with his entourage, it was a much more earnest undertaking. The year was 1876, there were no aircraft and steam propulsion on ships was still a precarious novelty. But such was the resolve of this enthusiastic amateur sailor, determined politician, industrial heir and later Knight, Baron and Governor of Victoria that he stowed his wife of nine years, their five young children, two dogs, three birds and a Persian kitten aboard his 157’ luxury private yacht, *Sunbeam*, for an eleven month odyssey. With crew, the total number of persons aboard was 43.

From the surviving, detailed accounts of the journey, it would appear however that the resourceful Brassey was more than content to leave the journaling to his ever observant and scholarly wife. Anna Allnutt was herself born into good fortune and exposed at an early age to the arts and letters. The well-educated, meticulous woman dutifully compiled dossiers on their many adventures, primarily as entertainment and letters home to family and friends, but such was her gift of words, that her lively tales quickly found their way into newspapers and magazines.

Ultimately, they were bound into a 476 page book entitled ‘Around the World in the Yacht Sunbeam’, published in 1878 to great acclaim and translated into numerous languages. Lady Anna Brassey, despite spending much of her time racked with seasickness, was a hit and became something of celebrity as well as a society wife, philanthropist, in-demand speaker and champion of the poor and underprivileged.

Travelling the world at the height of Victorian England’s power and glory, there is a clear air of entitlement and benign patronage in her tone. It was at a time, after

8 4 ou ter edge

The Sunbeam

Anna Brassey

all, when ‘the ways of England were the ways of the world’ and Britannia safely ruled the waves. Perhaps her erudite observations reinforced England’s worldly view back home and her superior eye served to shore up the Empire’s grandiose self opinion.

One dreary day in Kyoto, Japan, Tuesday 6th February 1877 to be precise, she described the scene thus: “It was a wet cheerless day, and the country did not look its best. Still, the novelty of the scenes around could not fail

to make them interesting. The Japanese have an intense horror of rain, and it was ludicrous to see the peasants walking along with scarcely any clothes on except a pair of high clogs, a large hat, and a paper umbrella.

We crossed several large bridges, stopped at a great many stations, where heaps of native travellers got in and out, and finally reached Kioto (sic) at half-past two o’clock.”

The class delineations were clear. Lady Brassey, although unfailingly polite and an accomplished minor diplomat in her own

right, knew her place and the place of those around and below her.

She candidly observed one day in Buenos Ayres (sic) that “people of the middle and lower classes live much better here than they do at home, and the development of bone and muscle in large families of small children, owing to the constant use of so much meat and strong soup, is very remarkable.”

In Canton, China, however, she was not so impressed with the local culinary offerings.

“Our road next led us through part of the butchers’ quarter, where rats were hung up by their tails, and what looked very like skinned cats and dogs dangled beside them. Whole cages full of these animals were exposed for sale alive. Some travellers deny that the Chinese eat cats and dogs and rats, but there can be no question that they do so, though they may be the food only of the lower classes. Nor do ‘puppy dogs’ appear on the tables of the rich, except on one particular day in the year, when to eat them is supposed to bring good luck.”

I travell’d among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea, Nor, England! Did I know till then What love I bore to thee.

- Anna Brassey

Canton brought out much of Anna’s descriptive flair and exposed her readers to a little bit of nascent bigotry, an invisible, even enviable quality at the time.

“About three o’clock we started in five

chairs, with Man-look-Chin for our guide.

Tom (son, and second Earl Brassey) vigorously protested against not being allowed to use his own legs, but everybody assured him that it was impossible in the crowded streets of the city, so he had to submit to being carried. No Chinaman, except those employed by foreigners, is allowed to cross any of the bridges over the stream, which completely surrounds the foreign settlement, and makes the suburb of Shameen a perfect island. There are iron gates on each bridge, guarded by sentries.

The contrast in the state of things presented by the two sides of the bridge is most marvellous. From the quiet country park, full of large villas and pretty gardens, you emerge into a filthy city, full of a seething, dirty population, and where smells and sights of the most disgusting description meet you at every turn. People who have seen many Chinese cities say that Canton is the cleanest of them all. What the dirtiest must be like is therefore beyond my imagination.”

The journey certainly broadened Lady Brassey’s horizons and the family

www.ou te re dge mag.com.au 85

Secondhand adventures

Voyage of the Sunbeam brought home a treasure trove of ethnological and cultural souvenirs, many gifts from the various noble and royal families who received them. One royal family, that of then independent Hawai’i, became particularly fond of the Brasseys and paid them a visit during their tour of England in 1881. These treasures, some 6000 items in all, where displayed in the family home and later moved to the Hastings Museum.

Despite their rich and fulfilling experiences, the journey took a toll on Annie and she suffered tropical fevers during her later travels. In 1887, a final voyage aboard Sunbeam was planned in the hope that warmer temperatures would improve her health, but on 14 September 1887 while en route to Mauritius, she succumbed to malaria and was buried at sea. She was 47.

Lord Brassey married again, lived in Australia as Governor of Victoria

from 1895 to 1900 and passed away in 1918 at the ripe old age of 82.

Young Tom inherited the title of Earl Brassey briefly but tragically died the following year without heir after being struck by a taxi and the family titles became extinct.

As for the brave yacht Sunbeam, which had weathered many a tempest, yet brought the family home on every occasion, she was sailed by Brassey to Gallipoli in 1915 to serve as a hospital ship, transferring many casualties to Malta. In 1918, she was gifted to the Indian Government but returned to England after the war and was finally broken up in 1930 after 56 years faithful service.

Reading List: A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months. Anna Brassey. 1878 Lives of Girls who became famous.

Sarah Knowles Bolton. 1914

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