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  1. #1
    firebird
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    Default Re BENJAMIN DAVIS 1869-1946

    My Late Grandfather BENJAMIN DAVIS always insisted that he travelled to AUSTRALIA age 16 as Cabin Boy to the new Viceroy on either the GREAT EASTERN or the GREAT WESTERN and then returned to Britain in time for his Wedding in Dublin in 1890 to ISABELLA LEVENSTON.
    Can anyone throw light on the above to prove or disprove it,any help would be much appreciated.

    Kind Regards

  2. #2
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Hello firebird

    Both of the ships you mentioned did exist and were designed by the same person. Reading about them I think they were morelikely to have been doing the England to USA run. The Great Eastern was a massive ship and apart from carrying cargo took 4000 passengers. For info about the ships just put their names into a search engine.

    I haven't found any evidence of a voyage to OZ as yet.

    Trove newspapers have many articles on the Great eastern (I only searched for it), one, in 1859, mentioning a possible visit to Sydney.

    Christanel

  3. #3
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Go to this site
    https://www.theshipslist.com/index.html

    click on 'ship' descriptions then on the letter 'G' and you will find both the ships and their voyages. Great Eastern was out of commission by 1888. There were two Great Westerns built 1837 and 1872, the last one being wrecked on Long Island in 1876.

    Christanel

  4. #4
    firebird
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    Default Re BENJAMIN DAVIS 1869-1946

    Thanks for the information,at the back of my mind one of the Ships was used for cable-laying at the end of it's working life.
    The story does sound fanciful but I gather that the stories of his journey seemed real to his Daughter,my Mother and possibly have some basis in truth;no doubt the Australian Govenors were replaced on a regular basis and dates may coincide.

  5. #5
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    Quote Originally Posted by firebird View Post
    the Australian Govenors were replaced on a regular basis and dates may coincide.
    Each of what today are called states/territories (Western Aus, New South Wales Victoria) were effectively independent colonies. That remained the position until 1901 when they decided to come together to form Australia. The only real exception to this being ACT, which came into being with the building of Canberra as the new country's capital.

    Prior to federation each individual state would have had a governor (I think).

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