1911-1912 SS Croydon
The SS Croydon diary is essentially a ships log of John John’s time skippering the Steamer. It worked in tandem with a Ketch called the Eclipse. He was working vessels for W.R. Cave and Co who both trade in wheat and running vessels transporting wheat in the Vincent and Spencer Gulfs. The diary covers a close call for the Croydon when it nearly sinks in a storm, problems he has with his staff on the steamer and poor or slow instructions from his overlords. The diary gives a good sense of how he has to balance weather conditions, fuel for the Steamer, his staff, other boats, the process of lightering wheat onto bigger vessels headed for Europe at Pt Vincent and liaison with Ports.
He finally finishes on the Croydon in 1912 when – as he explains in the diary – the SA Government brings in legislation requiring a minimum of 17 pounds per month as a salary for all skippers. Cave and Co aren’t prepared to pay this so both he and the boat are retired from this work.
A point of interest is that the SS Croydon was wrecked in 1919 and is still visible in the Tarkine Forest in Savage River in Tasmania. Cruise boats include a visit to the wreck from Corrine.