Thankful for a Safe Passage

Many of you have asked me for more information on my great-grandfather's story. Here's what happened on 6th January 1911 in Barletta, Italy aboard the S.S. Dunholme. It highlights the often tedious yet perilous nature of seafaring work.

----

Saturday 6th January

Woke by the watchman (the Finn) at 5:30am for coffee. On deck at 6. Shore gang already aboard taking off hatches and rigging gangways for discharging. Assisted them fixing off booms, bending gins where required. All four hatches are to be worked, with 2 apprentices and 2 ABs [Able seamen] as winchmen. We were busy until breakfast time 8am. Three quarters of an hour is the time allowed to get breakfast in. On deck once more we rigged the accommodation ladders over the side. This done I was told off to wash and scrub it.

Funnels board were rigged round the funnel in order to wash the deep white band encircling it. Our funnel marks are black funnel with white band having two black balls on each side.

This with countless small jobs kept all hands busy until noon, when we had dinner (one hour). The ship having been lightened considerably, just before 5, we hove her nearer to the quay, which is actually a breakwater. We then knocked off.

Learned today that six steamers – one of them a Sunderland ship – went down in the Bay of Biscay succumbing to the same gales our old packet weathered. Two men were saved from the Sunderland steamer. No one from the other unfortunate vessels which were Spanish and Greek steamers. We can thank God and the good seasmanship of our worthy skipper for our safe passage. If we did not pass a very merry Xmas we had at least a safe run and are now hale and hearty and securely moored in the harbour of old Barletta. So there is nothing so bad, but that it could be worse (a bit of a mix that). Did not go ashore, passed the time playing euchre (four handed).

Tomorrow we can rise when we care to; truly, a blessed day is Sunday for the toiler.