When memories flood the flight-bound soul
Nostalgic thoughts will enter there
And times ancestral fill the mind
With thoughts of long lost kindred fair

Who fled the rock when times were tough
To make new start on far off sand
Where life and clime were kinder to
The children of this rock bound land

To seek fortune in a land of plenty
And hitch one's fate to a brighter star
And give to those they loved so dear
A chance for life at even par

On Christmas Eve this man and wife
Set sail in eighteen ninety four
Aboard the fair brig Clara, bound
For sunny Auckland's distant shore

Along with thirty five other souls
And crew of six they set their course
With spirits high and outlook bright
And nary a pang of nostalgic remorse

The first day out the swells were high
Passing abreast Petty Harbour Motion
And there they saw the last of land
Ere six months past on heaving ocean

Seasickness haunted them full sore
When wind and wave took awful toll
Until they reached more southern climes
With calmer seas and much less roll

But quarters cramped and stench of bilge
Would often try the patience sore
And make for acrimony tense
And crave for that first sight of shore

And some took full advantage of
The more reserved of the sorry lot
The skipper wasn’t much help there
Which made for rancour on the spot

Then after sixty days at sea
And finally to their elation
The coast of south Australia loomed
Port Philip was the destination

But bad luck plagued the little craft
And seized she was for non compliance
Of rules of registration strict
For which she held no reliance

And after many days at dock
Most of the crew determined clear
That this was now the end of their voyage
And left the craft and settled there

But finally restitution made
The brigantine set sail again
For fair New Zealand’s sunny shores
To end a voyage so full of pain


This poem was composed in commemoration of a voyage taken by a family from St. John’s who set sail in December 1864 for sunnier climes in New Zealand during a gold rush time, but encountered many hardships on the arduous voyage. The story is based on a log kept by the mother and wife of one of the families, Mrs. Margaret Peace. Of the families noted in the log one was a Cornick couple, thus the author’s interest, but I have not been able to establish a kinship to his line to date.   Submitted By: John Cornick