Photographs '1900'
 

Aboard R.M.S. OROYA, Sep 1902

Please see narrative below

"My great great uncle Charles William Lee Crompton is the gentleman reclining at bottom right of the picture aboard R.M.S. OROYA.
A surveyor in Queensland, William was en route to the Gold Coast, West Africa to undertake survey work, particularly of the gold mines. On the gold Coast, he barely survived blackwater fever, to later take a post surveying in the Sudan - the Gezira survey - where he died of typhoid fever in 1907.
Another photograph taken at the same time as the photograph in your family album appears in an article in a newspaper - The Queenslander, Saturday 24 January 1903, p. 197. This article publishes a letter from Mrs Stiles who was also travelling with her husband (another surveyor) to the Gold Coast on the RMS Oroya. Apparently, Mr and Mrs Stiles are present in the photographs.
You may see the original paper at the National Library of Australia Website by using its Newspaper search Engine, Trove.
Here is a link to the article:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/21808751 or to read more clearly, click here to see a transcript of the article in a pdf file.
My transcription below of a letter William Crompton wrote to his nephew Charles Crompton, my grandfather then aged 13, when the RMS Oroya was approaching Colombo. The letter describes some of the entertainments the passengers enjoyed."


Mr Ken Crompton LLB, Solicitor
Eltham Victoria, Australia. April, 2011

(The Orient Line Emblem)         R.M.S. "OROYA"

near Colombo,   2 Septr. 02


My Dear Charles

Just a line to let you know that I am in the very best of health & spirits & am really enjoying the trip, which so far is a wonderfully calm one. We have all sorts of games. Quoits, Ping Pong & cricket every afternoon a full length piece of matting is laid on the promenade deck and a net all round from the deck to the awning - of course the bowling & batting is the main game but it is very funny to watch the fielding as the ball bounces from one point to another & sometimes a frantic roll in the gutter - I mean scuppers when a run is being made & mid-on or long off or leg something is trying to field the ball. We have had dances, egg & spoon race, potatoe race - 8 potatoes thread and needle race, ping pong tournament - what with one thing & another we don't seem to get a dull day - the thread needle is good fun. The gentlemen race from one end of the ship with a needle in one hand to a lady with thread & she must thread the needle for him with one hand before he can start back again - they get so excited they cannot hold the needle still & the lady keeps missing the eye & all scream & laugh together.

Since leaving Adelaide we have been going westerly & this running away from the rising sun & then when he gets overhead we race to the West to get there before him & just so that the sun wont feel ashamed of himself for being late we put the clock back every 4 hours & this will go on till we reach London when we will have put our watches back 10 hours altogether.

I had a good choir practice last Saturday & the singing was ever so much better on Sunday. Some of them went off the hack a bit with the long verses of the Jubilate.

Wishing you every success at the Musical Examination. I am with love to all
Yours ever
Uncle Mic
Tell Frank & Dorothy I expect letters from them but as you have most time I expect longest or oftenest from you.