The name of Captain John Grono brings to mind many stirring tales of adventure among the sealers on the New Zealand coast in the early portion of the eighteenth century. Grono, who was born in 1763, came out to the Colony in 1799 as a seaman abroad His Majesty’s ship, “Buffalo” (20 guns).
Through the influence of the Governor of the Colony (Captain John Hunter), Grono was enabled to secure his discharge from the Navy, and he settled in the new country. These were the days when whaling and sealing were the principal industries of the port of Sydney. Simeon Lord, Kable & Underwood, Andrew Thompson, the Campbells, and others, were busily engaged in building ships to scour the islands of the Bass Strait in search of seals.
For upwards of thirty years, sealing was carried on extensively in these waters — many large fortunes were made, and very many lives were lost. It was no life for a weakling—the sealers who sailed out of Port Jackson in their little vessels (some not exceeding 18 tons) to brave the treacherous seas of the Straits and along the coast of New Zealand, were hardy, fearless mariners of the old school.
The present generation have little conception of the hardships and dangers endured by the sealers in the early days of the Colony. Their voyages of anything from six to eighteen months were usually crowded with adventures, that even a present day fiction writer could not do.
Many a little vessel sailed out of Sydney and nothing was heard of her again—she was either sunk with all hand’s during a gale, or forced ashore on the coast of New Zealand, and her crew butchered by the natives. John Grono, whose early training in that hard school, the British Navy, had well fitted him for a life of daring and danger — was soon actively engaged in the sealing industry.
We find him in 1804, owner and master of the 18 ton sloop, “Speedwell,” combining trading from Sydney to the Hawkesbury and Newcastle, with a voyage to the sealing grounds. He does not seem to have done too well in this venture, for the following year the “Speedwell” was sold to Andrew Thompson, but Grono still remained in command.
On April 1st, 1807, Andrew Thompson launched from his stocks at the Hawkesbury River, a vessel which he named “The Governor Bligh.” John Grono was placed in command and despatched upon a sealing expedition. It was the custom in those days for the master of a sealing ship, to place a gang of four or five men on the little rocky islands where the seals congregated.
The men were supplied with provisions, rum, and salt, and left there to kill and skin the seals, while the ship cruised further afield in search of new ground. Occasionally through unforeseen circumstances, they failed to return, and the men were left marooned upon a small rocky isle for months and sometimes years.
JOHN GRONO OF THE HAWKESBURY (Part 1) In this issue of the Memories Column in the Hills to Hawkesbury Community News I have decided to republish an article written by W.J. Goold that appeared in the March 10 1932 issue of “The Voice of the North” newspaper. Due to the length of the article I have decided to print over two issues, this is part one.
