Chapter 15
THE P & O STEAMSHIP SS ‘PEVERIL CASTLE’, SOUTHAMPTON
JULY 18th, 1888
SIR WILLIAM BILLINGTON, ONE TIME GOVERNOR OF NEWGATE PRISON looked around disdainfully at the First Class cabin that was to be his home for several weeks on his unwanted voyage to Australia. It was not even a stateroom. And most annoying of all, he was housed on the starboard side. Sure to catch the worst of the heat as the sun beat endlessly down upon that side of the vessel.
Anyone who was anyone always, always, berthed on the port side. The port side was in shade. Port Out, Starboard Home, hence POSH, everybody knew that. It must be some mistake, Sir William decided, obviously some clerk or underling had organised things badly. ‘Damned incompetence, I can see I’ll have to smarten someone up for this,’ he
