Appleyard and Raison

The McKenzie family appears to have taken ownership of the whaler Cherokee around 1861. She was a 260-ton American whaler, previously in command of Captain Smith of New Bedford. She was not registered in Australia but remained registered in New Bedford.

Cherokee was a part of the whaling boat fleet that hunted from Albany to Tasmania and New Zealand. Although based mainly in Australian hunting grounds, the Cherokee ventured as far as the American whaling centre of New Bedford. That took the Australian whalers away for up to 12 months or more at a time.

For John McKenzie, master mariner and captain of the Cherokee, this was a well-paying outfit. By working his own boat and acting as his own agent, he was free to choose where and to whom he sold the whale oil and bones, and the profit was not shared with middlemen.

John McKenzie and his brother Cuthbert were master mariners, sons of Hugh McKenzie, a master mariner who had left school at 14 to go whaling at Cheynes Beach, Albany. Cuthbert became a whaler before entering into a political career.

John was a foundation member of the 1st Freemason Lodge in Albany. He was born in 1838. He married three times in 1861, 1888 and 1887.He had four sons and two daughters. He lived with his family near the Ship Inn, which was his father’s hotel.

Whaling crews were rough and ready men. Jump ships, convict settlers and ticket of leave men made up a large part of the crews. The life was hard, and men jumped ship or ran away from their ships almost every time they were in a port. Some captains refused to enter ports to avoid having to round up their crews after leave. Port costs were high, especially at Albany where that port was the only opportunity to take on fresh food and equipment south of Fremantle.

On 2 January 1864, Richard Paton deserted the Cherokee in Hobart, and John had charged him when he was caught the next day. Deserters were hunted down by police, and once they were fined or imprisoned, they were returned to their ships. In Richard Paton’s case, John took pity and requested his crew man be returned to Cherokee without penalty. They had been away from home for over 40 months.

Abraham Appleyard, born on 12 April 1831, was transported to Australia in 1855 aboard the Clara for stealing books. It seems an odd crime as Abraham was illiterate. He was a cloth maker by trade. He made the stout cotton drill fabric that was used in so many ways in the working class, military and commercial worlds. He gained a ticket of leave in 1857 and joined the Cherokee.

John Raison was born in 1926. He came to Western Australia via the Scindian. He married Sophia Sword in Fremantle in 1851.

In August 1866 Cherokee was chasing whale in Doubtful Island Bay. John was in a whaleboat with crew members including Abraham Appleyard and John Raison. It was common for captains to be directly involved in the capture of whales, particularly when there were multiple whales to chase.

Cherokee was hunting a pod of whales with several whaleboats out. Abraham and John were in a boat with their captain. They had speared a young whale and were attached. The whale turned and struck the whaleboat hard. The boat capsized and the eight men aboard were thrown into the air, and then into the water.

Abraham Appleyard and John Raison drowned. They were buried by the crew of the Cherokee a few metres from Whalers (Flinders) Well. The site was marked with an inscribed whalebone.

John McKenzie sustained a back injury and broken ribs. He did not recover from the injuries well, and for the next seven years he had a “nervous condition”. He gave up the sea and retired to Fairfield Estate, his Broomehill property. His sons chose careers away from whaling. John succumbed to his injuries and their aftereffects. He died at the age of 44 years. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Albany Cemetery.