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considered it my bounden duty as a priest of Christ's Church, to "sow unto them spiritual
things," and , therefore, all, of whatever creed, were at full liberty to avail themselves of my
services as a clergyman of the Church of England.
'In reply, they thanked me very cordially for my offer; they were as sensible as I could be of the
hallowing effect of common prayer on the proceedings of the 24 hours; they ought now more
particularly to be prepared to meet their God; although our creeds were different (the chief
spokesman was a Wesleyan) yet our danger was common; they considered it a great privilege
to have a clergyman on board; and he finished by saying that it was their unanimous wish to
have evening prayer as long as the voyage should last.'
'On that evening then, whiist we lay at Gravesend, i went down into the after steerage at eight
o'clock, and having read a chapter in the Bible, offered up a set prayer (the prayers i used were
those most excellent ones composed by the Bishop of London,) and this practice I continued
until we arrived at Adelaide, unless let or hindered by very heavy weather, or by great rolling of
the ship.'
The Rev Mereweather writes nothing of the human scene, of the actual departure from
Gravesend. He merely notes, on 1 February: 'Weighed anchor at Gravesend at 1.0 pm, and
cast anchor at 6.0 pm at the Nore' - a North Sea sandbank at the mouth of the Thames marked
by a lightship and several buoys.
But a vivid picture is painted by Charles Dickens, in David Copperfield's farewell visit to the
Micawbers on their emigrant ship, also anchored off Gravesend.
'Among the great beams, bulks and ringbolts of the ship, and the emigrant-berths, and chests,
and bundles, and barrels, and heaps of miscellaneous baggage - lighted up, here and there, by
dangling lanterns, and elsewhere by the yellow daylight straying down a wing-sail or a hatchway
- were crowded groups of people... talking, laughing, crying, eating and drinking; some, already
settled down into the possession of their four feet of space with their little households arranged,
and tiny children established on stools; others despairing of a resting-place and wandering
disconsolately.'
After saying goodbye to the Micawbers, David Copperfieid was rowed away, like other
visitors, from the motionless ship.
'We... lay at a little distance to see the ship wafted on her course. It was then calm, radiant
sunset. She lay between us and the red light; and every taper, line and spar was visible against
the glow. A sight at once so beautiful, so
mournful, and so hopeful, as the glorious ship lying still on the flushed water, with all the life on
board her crowded at the bulwarks and there clustering for a moment bare-headed and silent, 1
never saw. Silent only for a moment. As the sails rose to the wind and the ship began to move,
there broke from all the boats three resounding cheers, which were echoed and re-echoed. My
heart burst out when I heard the sound, and beheld the waving of hats and handkerchiefs.'
Before the Lady McNaghten left Gravesend the secretary of a religious society came on board
to sell some bibles. He also provided Mereweather with 27 copies of Family Prayers and 14
copies of selected Homilies. The Captain's wife, Mrs Hibbert, was the last to embark. Of her,
Mereweather wrote: 'Although this lady, during the voyage, took little opportunity of making
herself useful to the emigrants, and in fact regarded them in the same light as her husband - that
is, as so many live animals which he had stipulated to land in a certain locality; yet I am
convinced that the presence of a captain's wife is absolutely indispensable aboard an emigrant
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