If the two learned Doctors despaired of Francis Cobbold, their state of mind was not shared by either Callaghan or Atkins. These men were concerned only with young Cobbold's physique, not his mental development. They saw, with the vision of experts, the physical man the child was destined to become, and they delighted - when the Doctors frowned - in moulding the boy's muscles, hardening his body with constant exercises, training it to accept hardship without complaint - precisely as though they knew in advance the demands that life was to make of him.
Though mentally alert, the boy was not quick to learn from books. Like many other boys, learning did not appeal to him because he could not understand - and no-one took the trouble to explain - how application to study can exercise the mind and make it easier to grapple with life's inevitable problems. Loving most branches of field sports - he won the quarter mile race and the gymnastic trophy for boys under fifteen - nonetheless he still managed to assimilate a sound education which was to be of use to him in understanding, appreciating and adapting himself to the tremendous changes he was to witness, and in which he was to play a large part.
Though familiarity with Latin, Ovid and Virgil may not teach a man to bake a loaf of baking powder bread successfully in the hot ashes of a camp fire, it will still assist in building up a comfortable philosophy cheerfully to accept a blackened loaf, in the centre of which the flour and the water still remain a glutinous mass!
The smell of tar, of canvas and of salt water had an inevitable effect on the growing boy. The sea called softly and insistently, and it was to the sea that Francis Cobbold turned in holiday freedom. The holidays were spent among the fishermen on Mersea Island, when golden days were lived on the smacks at sea; or on the river Deben, near Waldringfield, where the family possessed a sailing boat in which cruises were undertaken to Felixstowe and up river to Woodbridge; or on yachting cruises in Mr Cobbold's cutter-rigged boats, the Stag and the Dewdrop which were kept at Harwich.
The house at Waldringfield was situated on the riverbank, and in winter it was often used as a shooting box for wildfowl. Mr Cobbold was a keen sportsman, who inculcated in his sons the intelligent use of firearms, and created in them an intense interest in the wildlife found on and in the vicinity of the river.
A powerful telescope set up in a top room was used to mark the arrival and landing on the marshes of flighting wild- fowl, and expeditions were taken in the flat-bottom duck punts in which the boys were trained in the craft of stalking ducks - pushing the punts gently and soundlessly through the narrow water-passages among the tall reeds, or hugging the low bank of a mud flat to gain position within gun range.
Sometimes their father took the boys over the surrounding fields and sea-flats, Mr Cobbold carrying the twin barrelled 'Joe Manton' he used so expertly, seldom failing to bring down the zigzagging, darting snipe rising from the sedges. In those days the custom of driving birds was not practised; intelligent pointer dogs being used to 'put up' a covey of partridges, and the liver-and-white Clumber spaniels to retrieve the wild-fowl.
In this way, the boys were taught not only to exercise their mental powers in combating the cunning of birds - especially the alert ducks - but also to cultivate the virtues of patience and pertinacity. Their powers of observation were trained, their minds were widened, and tolerance and goodwill were established in their characters.
If the snow lay thickly on the ground, the hunters donned old white suits and hats, the colour harmonising with the background and making them difficult to be seen by the watchful and suspicious birds. When the Joe Manton was replaced by a more modern pin-fire action type of weapon, the boys accepted it with admiration, and increased their proficiency with its use.
The atmosphere of the sea and foreign countries breathed by Francis, together with occasional visits to his grandfather's ships at Ipswich, definitely planted in his soul the restless urge epitomized by the travels of Ulysses. As his mind and body grew, so did his ambition to go striding across the world.
At first perplexed by this urge, not understanding it and yet spiritually delighting in it, he read Marryat's novels with engrossed interest. He came to know ever more clearly what he wanted to do, what he wanted to be - he wanted to own and sail his own ship through the Southern Seas which had called and had claimed his eldest brother.
On making known this ambition to his parents, he received a severe check. Poignant memories of the fate of her firstborn naturally caused Mrs Cobbold to rebel against the idea. The sea had claimed one of her children: it should not claim another. Mr Cobbold tried to dissuade his son from following such a course, and with much earnestness he painted in vivid colours several careers having greater promise.
Yet the sea was too strong for even this powerful combination, and in the end his parents came to understand the strength of their son's determination to go to sea. They recognised that his ambition was not just obstinate opposition to their wishes but something entirely beyond human control, so they surrendered. At the tender age of fourteen, Francis joined the Ann Duthie as an apprentice. She was a full-rigged clipper built at Aberdeen, was owned by Messrs Duthie, and was engaged in the ever-increasing Australian trade.
It was this ship that cut the knot binding Francis Cobbold to comfort, security and an assured future. It carried him away to a life of strenuous endeavour and no little danger for which, quite unconsciously, his school drill and sports teachers and even his own father had prepared him so well.
Arthur James Cobbold Elliston was the eldest child of Arthur Thomas Cobbold and Sarah Elliston but chose to retain his mother's surname. According to his son Edgar: "…when finished his education [he] entered clerical and office work, it did not appeal to him so he went to sea in the grandfather's sailing ships, later he qualified as 1st Mate. He then went on voyages with cargoes to Baltic Ports, then to the St. Lawrence river Canada, China, Australian ports.'
'He was buffeted for three weeks around Cape Horn before they got a favourable wind. One voyage was to Melbourne, then to Dunedin. Hearing of the gold rush, he left the sailing ship and went to the Otago gold rush where he stayed a while, later moving up to Christchurch where there were a large party of Diggers going around to Hokitika in the ship 'City of Dunedin'. He was asked to go with the party but declined, saying he was tired of the sea and would go overland. The 'City of Dunedin' has not been heard of from that day to this."
Though his parents may have thought they had lost him, Arthur remained in touch with some of his family through his sister Sarah, who had moved to Melbourne. During the influenza epidemic in 1918, Arthur James Elliston worked tirelessly helping to stop the spread of what he termed 'the plague'. Ultimately, however, he caught the virus himself and died on 24th July 1919 in Reefton, New Zealand, aged 79. At his funeral all business houses and public buildings flew their flags at half-mast as a tribute to '… an Esteemed Pioneer's passing on.'
CHAPTER TWO
1867 to 1868
Apprenticed to the Sea
1.
Young Francis Cobbold joined the Ann Duthie during the slow transition of sail to steam in ocean transport. The Act of Parliament had recently been passed which created the Plimsoll Mark, defining the limit of loading any ship could take.
One day late in 1867, Mr Arthur Cobbold took his youngest son to the London Docks, probably in a growler carrying a heavy sea chest in addition to the two passengers. The sight of a forest of tall masts would not be strange to the boy, who was familiar with his grandfather's ships, but the sight of the Ann Duthie must have stirred his heart with admiration.
She was a lovely ship and brand-new. Her cargo was stowed and final preparations for the long maiden voyage were being rapidly completed. In the forecastle, the crew of fourteen able-bodied seamen were in several stages of intoxication, while on the deck the First Mate was roaring and ranting at everyone - his appearance and his expletives shocking and terrifying the new apprentice.