The times of Captain Charles Bamford Daniel have long since gone. The development from sail power to steam, then to diesel, all occurred in his life time. As a result when Barney, his eldest son exclaimed that he was seeking a seaman’s life, his response was swift and sharp “never as long as my arse points downwards will I consent to you going to sea. It’s a dog’s life, you will well end up a nobody.”
This was enough for Barney to seek a different occupation, one however which still involved the sea.
Barney Daniel, later in life, found the time to write his own life story in “A Kiwi Journal”, alongside this he had other writings where he recorded his thoughts on various subjects. Among some of these writings we have found a short document titled “Captain Charles Daniel” in which he writes about his father.
It has been 20 years since Barney put pen to paper and wrote about his father (March 1995) and finally together with some of Barney’s other publications and added historical notes from newspapers, certificates, records and further notes and photographs from the Barney Daniel and Patrick Skinner Collections, we have been able to assemble a more complete study of Captain Charles Bamford Daniel’s life, and put it together into this book.
Greg Skinner