BUSINESS SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA
1853-1855
My wife and I in returning to Boston came on a visit that we expected to
be brief. I confidently supposed I should go back to Liverpool and
continue the business of the branch house. But this was not to be.
Instead, I was soon to make a far wider departure in business fields and
methods, and to try my fortune at another end of the earth.
When I arrived in Boston, I had a conference with Colonel Train about
conditions in England, and suggested to him that I should have a
partnership interest in the Boston house, as well as in the house in
Liverpool. To my surprise, Colonel Train was not only astonished, but
indignant. He could not understand how I had pushed ahead so rapidly,
and this swift advance was by no means pleasant to him. He felt that, in
some way, I was pushing him out of his place.
"Would you ride over me roughshod?" he asked, almost fiercely, when I
ventured to suggest a larger partnership interest. I replied that I
thought I had given full value for everything that the house had done
for me, and that I should be able to do so in the future. After some
further discussion, in which the old gentleman was mollified, the matter
was arranged. I received a partnership interest that was equal to
$15,000 a year--and I was only twenty-two years old at the time.
As soon as the contract was signed, and it was in my hand, I
said--because I was still nettled by the manner in which he had received
my suggestion of a partnership--"Colonel, as you do not seem to care to
take me into the firm, here is your contract"; and I tore it in two and
handed him the pieces. "I am going to Australia."
This cool announcement astonished him. He did not know what to do.
Finally, we came to terms. It was decided that I should go to Melbourne
to start my own house with Captain Caldwell, one of our oldest
ship-captains, the house to be known as "Caldwell, Train & Co." It was
Colonel Train's view that this elderly man would act as a check upon my
youthful rashness, he having no interest in the firm but good-will
toward me and one of his captains.
The arrangements once completed, I was eager to be about my work in the
antipodes, and prepared to sail at the first opportunity. Everything was
taken from Boston--clerks, sets of books, business forms, etc. Nothing
was left to the chance of finding or getting in Australia the material
that we might need. And so the new house of "Caldwell, Train & Co."
sailed away from Boston on the Plymouth Rock for Melbourne, Australia,
on a singularly audacious venture.
Captain Caldwell went out in charge of the clerks, while I was to go by
a different route a little later. I went to New York and took passage
from there in the old Whitlock Havre packet, Bavaria, Captain Bailey. I
had two clerks with me, and carried, also, a large amount of office
supplies in duplicate. Duncan, Sherman & Co. had appointed me their
agent for the purchase of gold in Melbourne, which was to be shipped to
London or New York as circumstances permitted, and I had also been
appointed by the Boston underwriters their agent to represent them in
the South Seas. The outlook for business seemed especially bright.
I have traveled a great deal since that time, but this was the longest
period I have ever been on a ship in a single voyage. We were ninety-two
days from New York to Melbourne. I have twice since gone entirely around
the world in less time. It was very dreary at times, and I had to resort
to all manner of things in order to pass the hours. These attempted
diversions were often very amusing.
I have always wanted to do things a little differently from others,
partly because it has been more interesting to do them in a novel
manner, but chiefly because I have found that a better way than the
accepted one could be found. My desire for novelty led me to do some
curious things during this long and tedious voyage to Melbourne. One day
I was looking at the porpoises playing about the ship's bows, and it
occurred to me that I could harpoon one of them. I asked the captain if
he had a harpoon, and he brought me one. I then had a rope tied fast
about me, so that I could be lowered over the bow. I had a good chance
and let fly the harpoon, and, as luck would have it, succeeded in
getting a fine porpoise. My successful throw astonished every
one--myself more than any. The porpoise was brought aboard, and we found
portions of it very good eating.
On another day I hooked a shark, a "man-eater," ten feet long, and this,
also, was brought aboard, but no one proposed to eat it. A little later
we passed into the zone of the albatrosses, and myriads of these
exquisite birds flew over or hovered above the ship. I was desirous to
have one of them, and resorted to stratagems learned years ago in the
days when I used to snare rabbits and net pigeons on the old farm in New
England. I baited a hook with pork, and threw it out upon the water.
Instantly a great albatross swooped down upon it and swallowed the bait.
I drew the bird on board, and found it a magnificent specimen, measuring
twelve feet from tip to tip of its wings. Of course, I released the bird
very soon. In such pastimes, we beguiled the time, until we finally
swept through the great South Seas and into Hobson's Bay, passed Point
Nepean, and anchored off Sandridge.
I had fancied that Melbourne was not a frequented port, off the tracks
of commerce, although springing into life and prominence. Imagine my
surprise when, on rounding the point where one could sweep the expanse
of the bay, I saw before me some six hundred vessels that had reached
the port before we arrived, and all, like ourselves, attracted there by
the rumors of gold, gold, gold! For a second time within a few years,
the whole world had gone wild over a gold discovery, and was now sending
thousands of persons to Australia. Thousands more were deterred from
going only by the fear of starvation, for very few believed at that time
that Australia could feed the hungry searchers after gold, much less
give them a fortune in gold nuggets.
Before I left Boston I had heard much about the perils of starvation in
Australia. I was told that the country produced little, and that its
scant resources would soon be overtaxed by the horde of gold-seekers.
"Starve!" I said; "why there are twenty million sheep in the island." I
was then told that man could not live by mutton alone. But I knew that,
with these millions of sheep, there was little danger of famine.
From the anchorage at Sandridge to Melbourne the distance is about ten
miles, the Yarra-Yarra winding and twisting through the tortuous
channel. As this river is too shallow to admit ships of a greater burden
than sixty tons, all large vessels anchor at Sandridge, or Williamstown.
While the distance up the Yarra-Yarra is ten miles, across the spit of
sand it is only two. I went into Melbourne at once, secured buildings
for our cargo, and arranged for lighters to take it up the Yarra-Yarra.
The very first thing that impressed me in Australia was the miserable
and unnecessary inconvenience of having to send everything up the
twisted channel of the Yarra-Yarra by lighters. I determined to look
into this and see what could be done. The method was too expensive and
too slow to suit me. I immediately called on the most influential men of
the city, like De Graves, Octavius Brown, Dalgetty, Cruikshank & Co.,
and James Henty, and said to them: "This thing of coming by way of the
Yarra-Yarra, ten miles, when it is only two miles by land, is out of the
question. Let us build a railway to Sandridge."
Apparently, this had not occurred to them. They had brought from England
their habits of thought, and accepted things as they found them. But I
kept at the railway suggestion, until the line was built. This was my
first experience in organizing railways. It was not my last.
I also found that it was not possible to get suitable accommodations in
Melbourne for business. There was no building there that was large
enough. In order to get one sufficiently commodious, I had to build it.
Accordingly, we put up at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth Streets,
opposite the railway station, the biggest structure in the city. It cost
a pretty penny. The building was 140 feet deep, 40 feet wide and three
stories high. The date, "1854," was cut in stone at the top. The edifice
cost $60,000. I imported iron shutters from England to make it
fireproof.
It was also necessary to have a building at Sandridge, a warehouse in
which to store our goods until they were needed in Melbourne, or until
they were shipped for America or Europe. In putting up this building, I
resolved to make an experiment. This was to have the building made in
Boston, and shipped out to me to be erected at Sandridge, thousands of
miles away. If successful, the warehouse would cost much less and would
be of better material and in better style than anything I could get in
Australia. It reached Sandridge all right and was put up at the end of
the little line of railway, at a cost of $25,000. It was 60 feet deep by
40 feet wide, and six stories high.
With a warehouse at each end of the line, with all the business credit
that I could wish, and with the best connections in the world, we were
prepared to do a big business in Melbourne. How far we succeeded may be
inferred from the fact that my commissions the first year amounted to
$95,000.
Melbourne was a small but promising city. It had some 20,000 population
at the time of the gold-fever, and had grown tremendously in the last
two or three years, so that, in '54, it must have had something like
30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants. It was, of course, a frontier town, crude
and raw, with few of the advantages of civilization. The people were too
busy with their search for gold and profits to think much of the
conveniences or luxuries of life. The only good hotel, for instance, was
the Squatters' Hotel, at Port Philip. There was not even a merchants'
exchange, although one was greatly needed. The merchants had simply
never heard of such a thing. I arranged with Salmi Morse, who afterward
tried to introduce the Passion Play in this country, to assist him in
putting up a building that could be used for a hotel, theater, and
mercantile exchange. The hotel was the Criterion, and we had a hall in
the building for the exchange. The latter was the means of bringing
together ship captains, merchants, agents, and business men generally,
and a great stimulus was given to business.
I was able to introduce into Australia a great many articles and ideas
from America. I brought over from Boston a lot of "Concord" wagons, of
the same type as the one that "Ben" Holliday drove across the continent,
and I told Freeman Cobb, who was then with Adams & Co., that I wanted
him to start a line of coaches between Melbourne and the gold-mines, a
distance of about sixty miles. I advanced the money for the enterprise,
and a line was established, the first in Australia, to Geelong,
Ballarat, Bendigo, and Castle Maine. These were the first coaches seen
in that continent. The coaches cost in Australia $3,000 apiece.
I had a chaise brought from Boston for my own use. It was so light in
comparison with the great, heavy, lumbering vehicles that were in use in
all English countries, that the people there said it would break down
immediately. They had not heard of Holmes's "Wonderful One-horse Shay
that ran a hundred years to a day," and did not, of course, know the
toughness of all "Yankee" things. It didn't break down, and its
lightness and general serviceableness made it a big advertisement of
American goods. People urged me to import a great many vehicles from
America. Every ship brought out wagons of the Concord make, chaises, and
vehicles of all sorts. Our carriages and buggies attracted much
attention. They were the first vehicles of the sort that had ever been
seen in the country. I sold these at a great profit.
A great disappointment and loss occurred, however, through the
carelessness of the American shippers, on one occasion. They had sent a
cargo of carriages, and I was certain of a large profit on the shipment.
What was my surprise and horror, on the arrival of the cargo, to
discover that the stupid shippers had sent only the tops of the
carriages! The bodies of the vehicles had actually been shipped to San
Francisco!
A thing that greatly surprised me, in a land of Englishmen, Scotchmen,
and Irishmen, was that there were no sports in Australia. It seems more
strange now, after Kipling's fierce denunciation of the "padded fools at
the wickets and the muddied oafs at the goal." As I had always been fond
of outdoor sport, I at once introduced bowling and ten-pins, opened an
alley and organized a club which was composed of Australian
bankers--Manager Blackwood of the Union Bank, MacArthur of the Bank of
Australia, Badcock of the Bank of New South Wales, Bramhall of the
London Chartered Bank, O'Shaughnessy of the Bank of Australasia, and
Mathieson of the Bank of Victoria. I mention these names here merely for
convenience, and to bring together some of the men with whom I was
associated in social and in business life in Melbourne. They represented
some $200,000,000 of capital. MacArthur had a beautiful bungalow four
miles out of Melbourne, where he invited me to shoot.
I found living at a hotel very dreary and very inconvenient, and decided
to have a home of my own. So I got a two-story house at Collingwood,
near the residence of Governor Latrobe, just out of the city. Here I
accommodated my clerks, also. I took the stewardess, Undine, and the
steward from one of our ships, and was able to set up quite an
establishment. The United States consul, J. M. Tarleton, and his wife,
lived with us for a time.
After I had been in Melbourne nearly a year I was guilty of a small
piece of patriotism that has ever since seemed very amusing to me. I had
been reared in the belief that every American-born boy has a chance to
become President of the United States. I had also the idea that a child
born out of the United States was not, in this sense, American-born. My
wife expected to give birth to a child in a few months, and, like most
parents, we fully expected it would be a son. So what should I do, in
order not to rob my son of the chance of becoming President of his
country, but send the mother across the seas to Boston, that he might be
born on the soil of the United States! It was not until some little time
after this that I learned that nationality follows the parents, and that
Presidents may be born anywhere, if they are careful in the matter of
their parents. The expected boy was a girl--if I may be pardoned an
Irish bull. This was my daughter Sue, who could never be President,
unless the Woman's Suffrage movement moves along very much faster than
it has up to this time.
I have not mentioned my partner in the Australian venture, since I said
that he and our clerks sailed away from Boston for Melbourne on the
Plymouth Rock--a curious reversal of history, for the West was going to
exploit the East, and it was singular that a vessel with the historic
name of Plymouth Rock should have been chosen to bear this new
Argonautic expedition into the South Seas. Captain Caldwell, as I have
said, was an elderly man, sober and conservative. He had been a
sea-captain for many years, and was a man of considerable experience. It
was the expectation of the Boston shippers that his conservatism would
serve as a check upon my rashness and venturesomeness.
Captain Caldwell, however, did not like Australia, but his presence did
not prevent my plunging into whatever speculation or enterprise seemed
inviting. The country was full of chances, and I should have been
stupid, indeed, not to have availed myself of them as far as possible.
But the rough life did not suit Captain Caldwell, although he was
accustomed to roughing it at sea; and he wanted to return to America. So
I consented to his return. He went in the same ship with my wife, the
Red Jacket, which, by the way, was then to make one of the
record-breaking voyages of the world. Although he had been in Melbourne
only a few months, I gave him $7,500, which was the share belonging to
him of the estimated profit in our business.
There was still another incident connected with this voyage of the Red
Jacket which made it memorable in my experiences. I have mentioned that
the phrenologist Bridges said, in England, some years before this, that
I should become either a great reformer or a great pirate. In Melbourne,
one day, I found myself face to face with a charge of piracy! I was
accused of trying to make away with some $2,000,000 of gold, which I had
put on the Red Jacket for shipment to London.
It happened in this way. It was of course customary to have all bills of
lading signed by the ship's captain. But Captain Reid, of the Red
Jacket, had been arrested, at the instance of one of the passengers, and
the ship was libeled on account of a claim. For this reason, Captain
Reid had not been present to sign the bills of lading. In Boston, I had
often signed bills of lading in the absence of the captain, so I had had
no hesitancy as to my course in this emergency. I considered that I had
a perfect right to sign the bills, and so I did sign them for the
$2,000,000 in gold, putting it "George Francis Train, for the captain."
Now, the English are a conservative people. When they see anything new
it "frights" them. They can not understand why there should ever be
occasion for any new thing under the sun. When the Melbourne banks saw
that I had signed the papers, they were scared nearly out of their
boots. They had never heard of such a procedure, and thought their
insurance was gone.
But this was not all. The Red Jacket was the fastest clipper that had
then visited Melbourne, and it occurred to these bankers that I was
going to run off with this gold, and become a Captain Kidd or a
buccaneering Morgan. They grounded their fears upon the facts that my
wife was aboard, that Captain Caldwell, my partner and friend, was also
a passenger, and they believed that Captain Reid was on board, although
under arrest. To suspicious bankers, here was a really strong case
against me.
In the meanwhile, the Red Jacket, with her trim sails bellied with the
wind, and sweeping along in a way of her own that nothing in the South
Seas could imitate or approach, was passing down Hobson's Bay. The
Government and the Melbourne authorities despatched two men-of-war after
her. There was no possibility of her being overhauled by these craft,
and I gave orders to make for Point Nepean. The sheriffs from Melbourne,
who thought Captain Reid was aboard, stayed on the ship, but I ordered
them put off at the Point. They were furious, but could do nothing,
since they could not act for Melbourne at sea under the Stars and
Stripes. Accordingly, they were put on a tug and taken back to
Melbourne. Immediately after the sheriffs left the boat, a little yacht,
the Flying Eagle, with Captain Reid aboard, came alongside, and the
captain was put on the Red Jacket, just outside the jurisdiction of
Australia.
The Red Jacket caught the wind again, and showed her clean heels to the
slow-sailing men-of-war giving chase. She made the run to Liverpool in
sixty-four days.
The authorities and the bankers of Melbourne did not like the
proceedings at all, but saw that they could do nothing. There was great
anxiety in Australia for two months and more. When it was learned that
the $2,000,000 of gold had been landed in Liverpool without the loss of
a farthing, I was heartily congratulated, although the British spirit
never forgave the taking of matters into my own hands and making the
best of a bad situation. Their conservatism had received a shock.