Early Life
Berry was born, to parents James and Isabel, at Hilltarvit Mains farmhouse, near Cupar in Fife, Scotland during a blinding snowstorm on the evening of 30 November 1781 (St Andrew's Day). He was one of nine siblings.
He was educated at Cupar grammar school, where he was a contemporary of the artist Sir David Wilkie, and studied medicine at St Andrews University and the University of Edinburgh. His youthful intentions were to join the navy, but he was dissuaded from doing so by his father, and he became a surgeon's mate for the East India Company.
Ship's surgeons were permitted to take a substantial amount of cargo, so his responsibilities were both medical and mercantile. He travelled first to China and then to India, aboard the Lord Hawkesbury. The second voyage was profitable for Berry.
He decided to quit the medical profession, as he hated the whippings he was obliged to attend, and he was attracted to the commercial possibilities of shipping.
His third voyage was to the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. On arrival, he heard that New South Wales needed provisions. He purchased a ship, City of Edinburgh, with medical student Francis Shortt, to take provisions to the colony. While travelling as supercargo, he encountered storms which damaged his ship, so he stopped at Port Dalrymple, close to modern day Launceston. He sold half his provisions there and the remainder in Hobart. He then continued to Sydney, where he arrived on 13 January 1808 with only spirits remaining to sell.
There was no cargo available to take from Sydney back to the Cape, so Berry accepted a government job to evacuate settlers from Norfolk Island to Hobart. The timber he was promised in payment was unavailable, so he decided to go to Fiji to load a cargo of sandalwood. He also visited New Zealand, to drop off a Māori who was returning from a visit to England.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Berry
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