9[Low, James Galloway, Letters, 1904-91, Battye Library, ACC 2612A (listing: MN 681), Letter from Jim to his friend Peggy, 09 May 1909]

The Adelaide Steamship Co. Ltd. S.S. Koombana, Port Fremantle 9th May 1909

Dear Peggy,

We just arrived here this afternoon, the end of our second trip up the Nor'-West, I found quite a lot of letters waiting, seven in all, yours included, it comes home to me that I have been very lazy lately. I intended to get one off to you when we were here three weeks ago and failed, the mail goes out tomorrow evening. With luck I'll catch it if not the letter will have to wait a week for the next.

We have been very unfortunate these two trips, first in Shark's Bay we ran on a sandbank at full speed and stuck there for over a fortnight, had to send down to Fremantle for a ship to help us off it was a long hard job...

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We carry a motor launch about 30ft long and when we ran aground in Shark's Bay it was got out to go to the nearest telegraph station which luckily happened to be only about 14 miles away at a place called Port Denham. The Chief went to drive her and I went to do the work. The Skipper and Purser went to send the telegram, three passengers went for excitement and two quarter masters were carried to bale her out etc. There was a lifebelt for each man, a case of beer and a basket of sandwiches. We got ashore all right in about an hour and a half, most miserable looking wretches soaked to the skin, the weather got bad soon after we left the ship. The inhabitants lent us clothes while our own dried in the sun. When evening came the weather was too bad to go back so we had to stop in the tin hotel that night. The inhabitants thought it was up against them to entertain us so gave a ball and party in a tin shed. All the ladies turned up, the daughters and wives of the pearlers, the wife of the policeman etc etc.

There is no class distinction in Shark's Bay except between White and Black. We had a most enjoyable evening and broke up about 3am. I had to turn out at 5 o'clock to go out with the two sailors and bring the motor in. She was moored out about half a mile. We started back for the ship in good style and halfway out ran short of petrol and had to sail her the rest of the way, a most ignominious return. We were away about 30 hours from the ship. I made an even worse fiasco with her. I was told off one morning at 7 o'clock to go in to Port Denham for ten sheep as we were running short of provisions. I had the 5th Engineer with me and two quarter masters. We got ashore, got the sheep and lugged them out on our shoulders through water up to the waist and dumped them into the launch. When we got out a couple of miles the weather got so bad we had to turn and run for it back to anchorage. We slept out on hard gratings with bits of canvas over us to keep the dew off, a most uncomfortable night, fine and clear but a heavy swell running kept us bobbing like a cork till we were bruised and bumped all over. The poor sheep were worse than we were as we had to hobble them to keep them aboard.

Next morning the weather was better but the boat had taken in water during the night and spoiled our starting battery and there we were 14 miles from the Koombana and not a move out of our engine. So we sailed back and got towed a bit by a lighter that was going out to the ship and when about a mile off, the battery recovered sufficiently to give us a start, then we were all right. We snored up alongside at full speed and the passengers lined up the rails and considered us as returned from the dead. We were nearly dead anyway, nothing to eat for about 30 hours. By good luck we had a little tank of water with us so we weren't thirsty anyway.

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When we stuck on the sand bank it was a sore time of trial for the men of the Nor'-West. They were waiting for fourteen days with parched tongues for the iced drinks. We couldnt make ice enough to go round.

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