Maritime Motherhood Part 1: The Davison Family and the Alice A. Leigh/Rewa

The Mariner's Mirror Podcast

Join us for the fantastic story of Hannah Davison who gave birth to six children on board the barque Alice A. Leigh (renamed Rewa in 1921), a steel barque which sailed the world between 1889-1930. The largest vessel ever built at Whitehaven in Cumbria, this four masted barque plied the world's sailing routes with a variety of cargo before joining a New Zealand wool merchant's fleet in 1921. Her story is particularly rich because of the family of Captain Davison who lived aboard. His wife Hannah was mother to their six children and kept a detailed scrapbook of their lives. Their large maritime family was well known and featured regularly in local newspapers. The scrapbook now survives in the collections of the New Zealand Maritime Museum/Hui te Ananui a Tang-aroa. Check out our YouTube page for a video exploring the life of the ship and the Davison family. Finally, damaged by a storm, the Alice A. Leigh/Rewa was sunk as a breakwater in Hauraki Gulf, Aukland, New Zealand where her semi-submerged wreck can still be easily seen and provides a tourist attraction for snorkelers and divers.

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