Ayrshire Menu

The file below was compiled by Campbell Murdoch. The interesting thing about it is that it comes from a different set of sources than those used earlier by researchers.

I’m not sure whether we have been in touch before but I was interested to read your information. We are related as my aunt Margaret Grant Murdoch married David Shaw in Glenbuck, Muirkirk on 4th October 1929. My cousins Tom and Robert Shaw are more closley related to you. However my second cousin mary Kelso Kilpatrick married John Shaw in 1839 in Stevenston.

I have NZ connections as we arrived in Dunedin in 1983 when I was appointed to the Chair of General Practice at the University of Otago in Dunedin. I am now here in WA but we still have a house in Dunedin and will come back there next year. My son John is Deputy Principal at Newlands College and my daughetr Jo is with the Crown Prosecutors in Wellington.

I wonder if you had caught up with the Shaw’s earlier trip from Stevenston to Chile. My research told me that Jennet Shaw, daughter of David Shaw and Janet McIntosh was born in Lota, Chile on 13 Dec 1854. The family returned to Stevenston in Ayrshire, Scotland by 1861 and later emigrated to New Zealand. I contacted Judith Hudson Beattie (a.k.a. Judy Valenzuela) who was researching this episode and yesterday received this email

I am delighted to hear from you. As you can see from the attached information that I have located on the Shaw family, I had not previously had much success. The surgeon's log named one of the children, David, and the signed agreement made in Crosshouse gave the ages, but this information adds the mother's name. Do you also know the names of the other children and those of Thomas Shaw's family and the relationship of the two families? Did the family continue in the coal mining industry in New Zealand? Do you have any photographs of the family at that time (the 1850s)? I would be very interested to know anything else you can add and any family stories about the voyage and about conditions in Chile. I am assuming that you are descended from the Shaws - perhaps you can confirm that.

I am leaving for Chile on 20 February and will be visiting with a descendant of the Miller and Watt families while I am there. I have also traced some of the families through the US and UK censuses, but it is a daunting task with about 40 Ayrshire families and another 40 Norwegians.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my request for information. If you would like more information about the ship (the Colinda) and the voyage, please let me know. I can give you the quotes about the Shaws, if that would be of interest.

Judith Hudson Beattie (a.k.a. Judy Valenzuela)
600-237 Wellington Crescent
Winnipeg MB R3M 0A1
204-475-6666

The Shaws were mentioned in the Surgeon's log:

Saturday 3^rdSeptember 1853: "James Newlands &

David Shaw were quarrelling about a knife[.]

investigation was made & both were in fault."

Wednesday 19^th October:

"Upon looking over the mess lists I find, that one family

have been written in two messes viz Tho^s Shaw & wife &

that both messes have been receiving rations, up to this

day."

Wednesday 3 November:

"This is to certify that 2 months ago my child named

David Shaw slipped down the Hatchway I took it to the

Doctor in his Cabin, he directed me to put it to bed. I did

so, but the Captain came down & rubbed the child over

with vinegar. I sent for the Doctor but he did not come

until he had had his Tea.

Signed David Shaw

I have made this deposition here because I have just been

informed by the man himself that the Captⁿ came down &

rubbed child wh[ich] being contrary to my orders w^d lead

the man to believe that I did not do what was necessary.

Before I sent a reply to the letter sent to me by the

passengers I considered a great deal as to what I sh^d

say." [Note: At this point the dispute between the Captain

and the Surgeon had become an open conflict JHB]

After a difficult trip with high seas and cold as they rounded the Horn of South America, on November 3 they requested that the ship approach land for provisions and to consult with diplomatic representatives. The Captain accused them of mutiny and kept them on the ship in Corral, the harbour of Valdivia, from 7 November to 13 December, when they were escorted to Valparaiso for a trial.

Friday, 18th November [at anchor in Corral harbour]:

"To day I have discovered that four women are affected

with scurvy M^rs David Shaw, M^rs Seal, M^rs Ewart, &

M^rs Lewis. The three former yesterday only had their

gums red & swelled & injected but to day they

have several spots of extravasated blood on their lower

extremities combined with a heaviness, languor, great

depression of nervous energy & listlessness about motion,

with a confinement of their bowels and a sallowness of

their complexion the latter has all these symptoms, but

complicated with diarrhea all four of them have suckling

Infants. The plan of treatment I adopt is this.

To wean all the Infants, To give them (the Mothers) a

wineglassful of Lime juice with 10 grains of Nitrate of

Potass dissolved in it three times a day. Three

tablespoonsful of Brandy one hour before dinner, half a

pint of Stout with two grains of Sulphate of Iron dissolved

in it with their dinner, Some alum wash to rinse the mouth

out to obviate the sponginess of the gums, & the sores on

the leg of M^rs Lewis to [be] treated thus during the day

to be kept wetted with Nitric acid Lotion made by mixing

1 drachon of strong nitric acid to 40 ^oz Water. & at night

covered by some spermaceti ointment.

I have very sanguine hopes that this plan of treatment will

be successful, but the fresh water is still very foul in fact it

has been bad throughout the passage some casks have

been good but now that it is getting nearly done it is very

bad.

I am very anxious to express myself fully in regard to the

cause of this malady. I do not believe it to be caused by

salt meat because I feel confident that they have had

sufficient preserved meat & Potatoes with Lime juice

every other day, but I am fully persuaded that it has been

produced entirely by a collection of causes either of which

in my opinion would be sufficient to impoverish the state

of the blood to that extent so as to produce such a

disorder as scurvy, & these causes have been gradually

accumulating until the last & worst of all has brought the

disease out[.] In the first place the cold weather round

cape horn, & the consequent detainingment [sic] of the

passengers below, the closeness of the atmosphere they

were breathing & the want of proper warmth; for the

stoves they had were not sufficient to make them

comfortable, the sulphurous exhalation was worse than

the cold 2^ndly The leakage of the upper deck making

their berths wet & their lying in them for a length of time

producing colds rheumatism & throwing them out of

health. 3^rdly & lastly the state of alarm & suspense they

have all been constantly subject to this last month coupled

with the incessant wet we have had since we have been in

port."

Sunday 20 November: "Two more cases of scurvy have

made their appearance to day viz M^rs Dickie & David

Shaw. I placed them on the same treatment as the

others."

Tuesday 6 December: "When I appeared on deck this

morning I was informed that several men had left the

vessel clandestinely & without leave, Their names were

Jens Vidoe, Paschon, Pedersen A, Pedersen B, Fred^k

Pedersen, H.P. Berentzen, Christⁿ Ericksen, Lars

Julesen, Slater, Pearson, Brown, McIntyre, Sutherland,

Sim, Gorbold, Ewart, Thos Shaw, Robt Murray,

McMurtrie, Newlands, Foster, Wm Hunter, Peter

Hunter,Rich, Marten ."

Census data