McLetchie to Australia

 By Keith Ferguson with Kay McMeekin

My great grandfather, John Robb McLetchie was born about 1833, in the parish of Old Cumnock to Robert McLetchie and Catherine Robb. No records exist for him or any of his siblings.  His father was a snuff box maker in the village in the 1841 census.  He was a ‘joiner’ according to the shipping passenger list that shows his arrival in Australia, during 1854.

He first sailed on the Tayleur which was shipwrecked.

Following text from Wikipedia

Tayleur left Liverpool on 19 January 1854, on her maiden voyage, for Melbourne, Australia, with a complement of 652 passengers and crew. She was mastered by 29-year-old Captain John Noble. During the inquiry, it was determined that her crew of 71 had only 37 trained seamen amongst them, of which 10 could not speak English. It was reported in newspaper accounts that many of the crew were seeking free passage to Australia. Most of the crew were able to survive.

Her compasses did not work properly because of the iron hull. The crew believed that they were sailing south through the Irish Sea, but were actually travelling west towards Ireland. On 21 January 1854, within 48 hours of sailing, Tayleur found herself in a fog and a storm, heading straight for the island of Lambay. The rudder was undersized for her tonnage, so that she was unable to tack around the island. The rigging was also faulty; the ropes had not been properly stretched, so that they became slack, making it nearly impossible to control the sails. Despite dropping both anchors as soon as rocks were sighted, she ran aground on the east coast of Lambay Island, about five miles from Dublin Bay.

Initially, attempts were made to lower the ship's lifeboats, but when the first one was smashed on the rocks, launching further boats was deemed unsafe. Tayleur was so close to land that the crew were able to collapse a mast onto the shore, and some people aboard were able to jump onto land by clambering along the collapsed mast. Some who reached shore had carried ropes from the ship, allowing others to pull themselves to safety on the ropes. Captain Noble waited on board Tayleur until the last minute, then jumped towards shore, being rescued by one of the passengers.

With the storm and high seas continuing, the ship was then washed into deeper water. She sank to the bottom with only the tops of her masts showing.

A surviving passenger alerted the coastguard station on the island. This passenger and four coast guards launched the coastguard galley. When they reached the wreck they found the last survivor, William Vivers, who had climbed to the tops of the rigging, and had spent 14 hours there. He was rescued by the coastguards. On 2 March 1854, George Finlay, the chief boatman, was awarded an RNLI silver medal for this rescue.

Newspaper accounts blamed the crew for negligence, but the official Coroner's Inquest absolved Captain Noble and placed the blame on the ship's owners, accusing them of neglect for allowing the ship to depart without its compasses being properly adjusted. The Board of Trade, however, did fault the captain for not taking soundings, a standard practice when sailing in low visibility. 

Estimates of the number of lives lost vary, as do the numbers on board. The latter are between 528 and 680, while the dead are supposed to be at least 297, and up to 380, depending on source. Out of over 200 women on board, only three survived, possibly because of the difficulty with the clothing of that era. Of the more than 50 children on board, only 2 survived. The survivors were then faced with having to get up an almost sheer 80 foot (24m) cliff to get to shelter. When word of the disaster reached the Irish mainland, the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company sent the steamer Prince to look for survivors. Recent research by Dr Edward J Bourke names 662 on board.

He finally got to Australia on the Golden Era in May the same year.

By the time, he married Jemima Wealands in 1865, he was using the name John Robb Ferguson rather than McLatchie/McLetchie. 

In this photo John is standing near a timber paddle boat that he had made and patented. One of his daughters is shown seated upon the boat, which had once carried passengers along section of a river that passed through the inland city where John, along with his wife and their children, had then lived. John was a respected elder of the Presbyterian Church. Sadly, he did not make a journey back to Scotland. He was affected by the Australian economic depression of the 1890s, and John died in 1901.

He was about 5 feet 3 inches tall (we think) and, sadly, we appear to have no photos of him as a younger man. Additional information is that John had a first cousin – also named John (1828-1888) who had married in Scotland and this family had later migrated to USA, where he had died. This cousin John was a son of his Uncle William McLetchie who had also been a joiner; and a builder, Provost and Undertaker in Old Cumnock.

Obituary from Goulburn Evening Penny Post 31 December 1901 accessed via trove.nla.gov.au 

Death of an ex Goulburn Resident.

On Sunday evening a memorial service was held at St. John's Church, Paddington, in connection with the demise of the late Mr. John R Ferguson, which event occurred at the deceased's residence Arthur street, Paddington, on Christmas Day. The Rev. J. Fulton, who preached, said that while he was established at Goulburn a few years since, the deceased gentleman was an elder of the church there, and led an exemplary life. The late Mr. Ferguson,who was a native of Scotland, and was 68 years of age, was very well known in the Goulburn. district, where he lived for many years, following the occupation of a builder. He was a man possessed of considerable inventive ability, but was often hampered in his work through lack of means. Some years ago he gave an exhibition in Sydney Harbour of an aquatic bicycle, which, although cleverly designed, failed to attain sufficient speed to make it popular.

Later on he invented a butter-cooler, but neglect to patent it resulted in the idea being borrowed by others, and ultimately the cheap production of ice practically displaced it, excepting in the scattered districts where that commodity is not easily obtainable.

Other inventions of a more or less useful character included a gold-saving machine and a reversible church seat. During the last few years he suffered from paralysis, and he came to Sydney to reside in consequence.

The deceased leaves, a widow, two sons, and three daughters, some of whom are still residing at Goulburn.

Hoping this may lead to further information about these families. Any recollections and thoughts would be appreciated, as I try to piece together a more complete family history.

Keith A. Ferguson

Anna Bay, NSW, Australia