Isaac Cock, baptised in 1826 at Calstock (Cornwall, England), changed his surname to Sandoe in the 1850s. He landed at Sydney on 27 May 1857 as Isaac Sandoe, the boatswain and second mate of the John Bunyon of Aberdeen. He was baptised Isaac Cock at Calstock on 28 Feb 1826, the son of Stephen Cock, a miner, and Ann. His mother was Ann Sandoe, the daughter of George and Margaret, who married Stephen Cock in 1815 at Kenwyn. It seems he adopted his mother’s maiden name. As Isaac Cock, he married Sarah Swayne at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, London, in 1852, marrying her a second time at Bethnal Green in 1863 as Sandoe. Their home was always in the East End of London mostly Mile End. They had four children: Jane 1854, Emma 1859, James Isaac 1865, Sarah Jessie 1869.

His father Stephen died at Calstock in 1826. There are no records of Isaac’s boyhood nor was he at home at Calstock for the 1841 census. He was boatswain and second mate at 34, so he probably went to sea as a boy. According to the Register of Seamen’s Service, he was apprenticed in 1837, served seven months in the RN on HMS Caledonia, and was ticketed as Able Seaman in 1845.  Occasional newspaper reports from Australia and New Zealand record fines for being drunk and disorderly.

When Isaac married, he gave his father’s occupation as mariner. At the second marriage, as Isaac Sandoe, his father simply became Stephen Sandoe, mariner. This unknown Isaac Sandoe caused consternation among famiy historians until the Cock cennection became clear. The only eligible Stephen Sandoe was in fact his uncle, 1788-1840, his mother’s brother and a farmer and tinner at St Agnes.

Jane Cock/Sandoe married Thomas Searles in 1882, and died in 1909. Emma Cock/Sandoe married Henry Price in 1878, she was living at Stepney in 1939. Sarah J remained with her mother and died in 1831 at Battersea. James married Alice Smith in 1893 and died in 1921 at Whitechapel.

In 1881, the census records Isaac at home in Mile End, London, with his wife and son James. In 1891 Sarah was a widow and Isaac had died.

Top