Karl wrote a series of letters from the steamship Bezwada to his mother, Mrs. Eben R. Creelman, and excerpts were published in the Truro Daily News.
On September 11, 1900, he wrote:
“Dear Mother, I left Newcastle, Australia on the 9th, and ever since I have been so busy that I’ve scarcely had time to wash my hands. Four of us have charge of 230 horses and such a wild lot I never saw. I’m working my passage, and start work at 5 a.m. and knock off at 8:30 p.m. We shall touch at Gladstone and this letter will be mailed there.
We call at Colombo, Ceylon, and during our stay of two or three days I shall take my wheel and see what I can of the island. Hope to arrive at Calcutta about October 16, and a week or ten days later will strike across to Bombay.”
After posting the letter from Gladstone, Queensland, Karl’s ship continued north along Australia’s coast. He sent another update from Thursday Island:
September 20, 1900
“We arrived here this morning and are taking on water while the pilot is preparing to go ashore. I’ll write a few lines to let you know I’m getting along all right.
After we left Gladstone, we ran onto a reef and were stuck for 24 hours. A hole was stove in the ship’s bottom, but the water is being kept out by closing the collision bulkheads. We had to throw 500 tons of freight overboard while on the reef.
The day before yesterday the bally ship caught fire, but it was soon put out.
We’re now between Australia and New Guinea, in Torres Strait. We hope to be in Colombo by the 6th of October. I’ll write from there.
I’m getting my lot of horses somewhat tamer now and can manage them pretty well.
Please send mail to Bombay, care of Rev. Mr. Wood, “Seaman’s Rest,” until further notice. The pilot is ready to go ashore so I must close. Yours in haste,
Karl”
Karl was travelling aboard the S.S. Bezwada, a large cargo steamship built in 1893 by Alexander Stephen & Sons in Glasgow, Scotland. Originally named London City, it was later purchased by the British India Steam Navigation Co. and renamed.
Karl worked as a hostler, responsible, along with three others, for 230 “Waler” horses bound for service with the Bengal Lancers.
The Walers were a new breed of horse from New South Wales, mixing Arabian, Spanish and Welsh horses, and by 1845, they were being exported to India. The horses were sturdy and bred to travel long distances in hot weather with little water. Walers were recognized for their agility and endurance. Between 1899 and 1902, nearly 16,000 Walers were sent to India to serve in cavalry regiments of the British Army.
It was incumbent on the Australian horse trader to equip the ship to transport the Walers with stalls, fodder and the ‘holsters’, one who takes care of horses, or ‘grooms’. It was a busy job to feed, water and groom the horses, clean out the stalls, and walk the horses if there was room on the ship.
Karl described the animals as “wild, unbroken horses” and said he fared reasonably well, “barring half a dozen kicks and about as many bites.” Days were long, from 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Most horses were sold “wild” with almost no training. This was a preference for many buyers, but it made for challenging work for the holsters. Optimally, a holster-to-horse ratio was one to twenty.
Poor Karl worked with more than double the number of horses per hostler. Once again, the cyclist-turned-seaman was in for a gruelling voyage, wild horses, relentless hours, and all.
Historical footnote: In 1913, the Bezwada was sold to a Japanese shipping company and renamed S.S. Yasukuni Maru. On November 3, 1915, while carrying petroleum products and railway material from Newport News to Salonica, she was sunk by the German submarine U-38 off the Moroccan coast near Alboran Island. There were no casualties.
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