This is one of those stories where one would like to know more! Young John Passmore had sailed from Starcross to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was bullied on the voyage out so he absconded and it would seem that it was more than a year before he was brought up before the Bench in Exeter, charged as a runaway apprentice.
"John Passmore, apprentice to Mr. Ash, of Starcross, was charged with absconding from his master's service. The prisoner was serving on board one of Mr. Ash's ships, and deserted her at Halifax, in May 1841. He pleaded ill-usage by one of the men on board, but the Bench told him this was no justification, and if his master pressed the case he must go to prison.
"Mr. Ash, however, on the magistrates' suggestion, said if he would consent to serve up the year and a half which he had lost, he would withdraw the complaint.
"This was agreed to, and the boy was discharged."
I find myself wondering what adventures young John Passmore had during the year and a half he was a runaway in Canada. I hope he was not too displeased with this outcome whereby, somehow, he was back with his old master and obliged to go to sea again.
The Exeter Bench, predictably, did not hesitate to rule that being ill-used by a shipmate did not invite investigation and could be no excuse for a young boy to jump ship.
Appropriately, Passmore, [passe-mer], is a grand old Devon surname implying a seafarer. There are a few Passmores up and down the Exe estuary.
Source: The Western Times, 24th December 1842.
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