["The Late Captain Thomas Allen", The South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA), Tuesday 15 September 1885, page 5]
The Late Captain Thomas Allen.
Another of the old shipmasters was gathered over to the great majority on Monday afternoon when Captain Thomas Allen breathed his last at his residence at Albeiton. For some time past he had been suffering from an affection of the foot, which necessitated the cutting off of the great toe, and subsequently the foot had to be amputated. Under the effects of the latter operation he succumbed, and quietly passed away. He was amongst the early shipmasters of the Port, and some very strange experiences could be related of his early career. He took the last batch of convicts hence to Hobart, and as the vessel sailing previously with pri soners - the Lady Denison - was never heard of after leaving Port Adelaide, Captain Allen took such precautions that he delivered his freight in good order and condition, though his vessel had a narrow escape from being taken charge of by the prisoners on board, as the following incident will show. Among the convicts committed to Captain Allen's charge was a well known resident in Adelaide, who had formerly held a responsible position in the city. He, however, violated the trust reposed in him by embezzling a large sum of money, and his guilt being clearly proved he was transported for life. His wife also embarked in the convict vessel, ostensibly with a view of taking out her husband as an assigned servant on arrival at Van Diemen's Land. On the passage, however, her intercourse with the prisoners was so frequent that the captain's suspicions were aroused, and as the lady had an immense chest in her cabin this fact added to the captain's mistrust of his lady passenger. After mature consideration, he requested the lady in a polite manner to be allowed to inspect the contents of the chest. She, however, indignantly refused, but the skipper, resolving at all hazards to have his mind set at rest, called the carpenter aft, aud commanded him to force the cabin-door open, which the lady had previously, locked, defying the captain to touch her property. On the door being forced the carpenter waa ordered to break open the chest, and on the lid being removed the captain's suspicions were more than verified, for instead of its contents being lady's wearing apparel, arms, ammunition, charts, sextants, and other essentials necessary for the capture and navigation of a vessel were revealed. It was useless for the lady to protest any longer, and the secret came out. It was her intention to release the prisoners and supply them with the necessary arms to take the vessel, and after capturing the craft the convicts intended sailing for some unknown port. It is needless to add that the prisoners were doubly ironed after this incident, and the lady was not allowed to hold any further intercourse with them. Subsequently Captain Allen had a brigantine of his own, and did very well in the Indian trade. Then he bought into the Schah Jehan, and never ceased to regret an untoward circumstance which lost for him a lot of money. Later on he navigated the barque Contest for a time, and then joined the pilot service, which proved too much for his weight. Of late years he was a constant frequenter of the Port, where his genial manners and varied information on nautical subjects won for him many friends. His death is much regretted, as it severs a link between the long bygone past and the present.
