Classic TV Drama: The Onedin Line – #59 – S05 E07 – “A Hard Life”

A great Brit TV Classic – this episode

James has bought a steamship called the Shearwater and is carrying Polish immigrants bound for USA. William is on board working on the engines. During the voyage, a steam pipe bursts and a crewmember is killed. James calls into Liverpool for repairs and offers to take the immigrants to America on the Charlotte Rhodes. On his return William greets Elizabeth as ‘Mama’ but Daniel as ‘Sir’ while James tells William that he is not to see Charlotte because they are first cousins. Daniel also reveals his plans to set up seamen’s homes and make charitable donations. Whilst waiting for the repairs one of the Polish girls, Maritza (Lesley Dunlop), takes lace she has made into Robert’s shop. Robert offers to give her a job but Samuel tries to dissuade her as he says the workroom is a sweatshop. He gives her money to go to America but Robert finds out and is furious. He tells Samuel that he can go to work in a store in New York. William meets up with Letty & Charlotte and is invited to tea. James returns while he is there and is not happy. The Shearwater sets sail for America; however, William is sure that things are not right saying that corrosion in the engine is causing a blockage and a build up of pressure. During a storm, the pipe bursts again and they have to finish the trip under sail. Maritza injures her hand in a door during the storm and James has to operate on her saving her hand but she will never make lace again. James decides that owning steamships is too much of a problem and vows to charter them in future.

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series, which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham.

The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886^[1] and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this, it depicts the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner Robert, a ship chandler, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore (mostly lower- and upper-middle-class). The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steamships. It shows the role that ships played in such matters as international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.