2024 Week 30: Boats #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 When I first visited Cramond Kirk and its churchyard a few years ago in search of my McAra ancestors, I came across a large gravestone, listing some family members and their dates and places of death, two of whom I can associate with the topic of 'Boats'.  The stone itself was erected many years after the deaths of the people listed and some of the dates were definitely inaccurate. James McAra, the first name on the stone was certainly not dead on the stated date - he was, in fact, living in Tasmania having been deported for the accidental killing of his brother, my 3 x great grandfather (More details about that are given here : James McAra ). However, it was not the dates that drew my attention, it was one of the places mentioned as place of death. James' son, Archibald McAra, was listed as dying in Valparaiso, Chile!

McAra gravestone in Cramond Churchyard. Inscription unfortunately not too clear.

That came as quite a surprise. When his father James had been convicted and deported, sailing to Tasmania on the prison ship Indefatigable, he left behind a wife and six children under the age of 11.

Model of the Indefatigable

 I have often wondered what sort of a life the children had. What were they told about their father? Was he just a family secret? The 'wrong' date of death on the gravestone may point to the fact they were told he died and not told what he had done. Young Archibald would have been 6 or 7 at the time. It is hardly surprising that my research into my McAra family, both the victim's and the perpetrator's, has shown that when the children grew up, they moved away from the area, mostly to Lanarkshire. But to move to Chile???? A shorter sail than that of his father to Tasmania and at least he would not have been shackled! But I can't imagine it would have been pleasant.

Emigration from Scotland to Chile had begun in earnest only after Chile gained its independence from Spanish rule. In 1825, when Archibald would have been 21 years old, Scottish newspapers were reporting shiploads of emigrants setting off for South America. For example, the Norval, the Symetry and the Harmony set sail for with bricklayers, toolmakers, blacksmiths, miners, quarriers and farmers on board. Archibald came from a family of metal workers - iron - his brothers and cousins all kept to similar trades. It is therefore not unlikely that the reason he left Scotland for such far away shores was to get work. It is possible, therefore that he was on one of those ships, sailing from Leith.

Image of ship similar to those carrying passengers to South America.

However, the only date we have for him definitely being in Valparaiso is 1846, the year he died. His name is mentioned in a small book " Scots in Latin America" by David Dobson of St Andrew's University, but his primary source for the information is that gravestone! There appears to be no other information available. So, despite my best efforts and research,  I can only surmise that Archibald left Cramond as a young man, seeking to continue his trade by sailing off to a country that needed his talents. Knowledge of his life there and how he died will remain a mystery, as will how news of his death came back to his family.