The human transport of animals across the Northern Atlantic 



165 



II III IV 



VI VII VIII IX 



1823 



XI XII 



DIAGR. 2. Outward ballast from Poole in 1823, regardless of destination. Total 

 4,298 tons. 



Both diagrams (1-2) based on unpublished records from "Lists of Arrivals and 

 Sailings for the Port of Poole", generously made available by Mr. E. E. Kendall, 

 former Harbour Comissioner, Poole. 



However, the kind of ballast used in the Bideford-Barnstaple district seems to 

 have been an exception. Above all the ships would not as a rule take it from the 

 tidal zone because the soil there is almost constantly mixed in with mud, which is 

 difficult to clean away from the hold afterwards, and also because it is moist, 

 requiring too much work in proportion to its weight after it has dried out. 



A vivid picture of how the ballast was obtained in past days comes out from 

 interviews made by Mr. Boyle in 1952 with a number of old sea captains from 

 North Devon, of which the following are cited: — 



Mr. Samuel Daniel, sailor, aged 85, says: "In about 1892 I sailed in a new schooner, 

 the Snowflake, 120 tons, to Newfoundland. We were in ballast. In Runcorn and 

 Liverpool you cannot get gravel from beaches, so we had stone and earth and rubble 

 brought in carts from builders' demolitions, or deads from excavations. Another 

 cargo from Runcorn she took out was coal for Harbour Grace [Avalon Peninsula]. 

 I am not sure but I believe that river mud was never used as ballast in our vessels." 



Captain W. J. Slade, Master of wooden schooners and ketches, Bideford: "Some 

 vessels would sail without ballast, some with little. I once took a cargo of coal to 

 Court Macsherry in Ireland for a farmer. The onus of getting ballast for me to come 

 away was on him. He got me some tons from the site of a tumble-down shed^, 

 stones, broken slates, mortar and rubbish. Then he went off up the lanes and got 

 a few cartloads from a hedge. It was earth and grass. When I got back here I 

 tipped it overside in this river." 



Captain William Quance, aged 83: "In October 1888 I sailed in the wooden 

 barquentine Fanny from Appledore to St. John's, Newfoundland, in ballast. The 

 ship had been built in Barnstaple in 1878. We were loaded with gravel ballast got 



^ An excellent opportunity for the indoor Carabid Pristonychus terricola Hbst. to get on 

 board! 



