Graeme, The route taken by sailing ships was designed to make the best of the winds & currents, the course for Australia was very roughly Sth West from say, Plymouth to near the coast of Brazil then roughly Sth East to clear the Cape of Good Hope, then roughly East in the "Roaring Forties" to the chosen Australian Port. The clipper Thermopylae held the record to Melbourne in 63 days, roughly on that route. Incidently I too had a relative that gave birth off the coast of Brazil. Regards, Dave On 1/03/2010 10:17 PM, Graeme Owen wrote: > Hello All, > > Here's a query for the experts who know about such things. > > A month or so back I found the ship that my ancestors came to Australia on > back in 1857. It was 'Invincible' of The Black Ball Line out of Liverpool. > > I established through other means that my 'great great grandmother' gave > birth to a baby during the voyage. The "Born At Sea' Birth Certificate > detailed the date of birth and the co-ordinates as being 9'8 S and 32'29 W. > So I 'fired up' Google Earth to see exactly where it was and was staggered > to find that the given co-ordinates were not far off the coast of Brazil. I > thought they must have been wrong or I was not reading them correctly and > left it at that. > > I then was fortunate to find (at the National Library Of Australia) a diary > written by a female passenger on the Invincible on that exact voyage. > Unfortunately the passenger who wrote the diary was travelling in 'Cabin > Class' and not 'Steerage' so it was not really reflective of my ancestors > journey, but a fascinating and eye opening read just the same. However in > the journal she made mention of an island group which they travelled close > to . . . "we were within 20 miles of an island called Terando Noronba, off > the coast of South America, the northern portion of which is exactly the > shape of a church with a very high steeple" . . Back to Google Earth I went > to find this island, and found (slightly different spelling) 'Fernando de > Noronha' just a small distance due north of where the birth apparently took > place, (and within 'spitting distance' of Brazil!) > > My (very long winded) query is . . "What In The Bloody Hell Were They Doing > Off The Coast Of South America When They Were Sailing From England To > Australia??" > > I'm sure there's a logical explanation but it's got me beat! Anybody got any > thoughts? > By the way there was a small mention in her diary about a birth on board in > Steerage. > > Cheers > > Graeme > Melbourne, Australia > > ------------------------------- > visit TheShipsList Website > http://www.theshipslist.com/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to THESHIPSLIST-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >